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"Guatemalan Transnationalism in
Los Angeles"
Linda Quiquivix
Graduate Student
California
State University, Northridge
ABSTRACT:
Perhaps surprising to some, immigrants working and making new lives in the
United States do not always renounce their previous nationality and
completely assimilate into American lifestyles. Rather, they continue to
participate in the economic, political, and social aspects of their
country of origin. This set of practices has been branded as "transnationalism,"
and is increasingly influential in the field of migrant studies. Immigrant
assimilation has been a long standing presupposition among social
commentators within the United States. Despite these nationalist
assumptions, transnationalism has been a regular component of immigrant
lives for many generations. Capital, goods, people, ideas and cultures
have always cris-crossed borders. What makes today's study of
transnationalism so novel is that its intensity and growth is
unprecedented and rapidly accelerating, due to ever blurring borders in
today's globalized world. Technological advances in travel and
communication have enabled one to "exist" in two places at the
same time. For this research, I interviewed 50 Guatemalans in the Los
Angeles area to learn how immigration is directly affecting the people in
each of these places. My interest in the Guatemalan community, as the
specific focus of this research, stems from my
family's own personal affiliation within the United States' immigrant
Guatemalan population.
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