ABSTRACT

This paper contributes to the understanding of the dynamic and the relational nature of identity-formation among skilled middle-class migrants. Following the idea that identities are never singular nor static, but multifaceted, active and have a processual character, the authors specifically analyse two dimensions to the identity of qualified Mexican migrants in the US and the interplay between them. Drawing on findings from a mixed-methods research project (an online survey and semi-structured interviews) with skilled Mexican middle-class migrants in the US, the paper explores how skilled Mexican migrants preserve their ethno-national identity (their ‘Mexicanness’) in reaction to a hostile socio-political reception context in the US. This study further shows how these migrants recreate their class identity and show tendencies to distance themselves from what they perceive as lower-class Mexican migrants and the dominant popular Mexican and Latin-American cultural expressions. Throughout the paper the lived experience of migration is examined while highlighting the ways in which it impacts the migrants’ identities, their concept of self and feelings of being and belonging.

摘要

本文有助于理解熟练的中产阶级移民身份形成的动态和关系性质。遵循身份从来不是单一的或静态的，而是多方面的、积极的并具有过程特征的想法，作者具体分析了美国合格墨西哥移民身份的两个维度以及它们之间的相互作用。根据对美国熟练墨西哥中产阶级移民的混合方法研究项目（在线调查和半结构化访谈）的结果，本文探讨了熟练的墨西哥移民如何保持他们的民族身份（他们的“墨西哥性”）以应对美国敌对的社会政治接待环境。这项研究进一步显示了这些移民如何重建他们的阶级身份，并表现出与他们认为的下层墨西哥移民以及主要流行的墨西哥和拉丁美洲文化表现形式保持距离的趋势。整篇论文都考察了移民的生活经历，同时强调了它影响移民身份、他们的自我概念以及存在感和归属感的方式。