Return to the Homeland: Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Colombians in the United States

• In Event: 20862 - Section on International Migration Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 15: Citizenship and Transnationalism

Abstract

While sociologists in the last half century have often focused their research on immigration, they have seldom studied return migration. This research focuses on the possibility of return migration to their homeland for three major but quite different migrations of Latin American immigrants who live in the US -- the Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban. As part of the historical comparative methodology, these cases are both similar and different, rendering the comparison enlightening. The cases ae similar in that they are all communities of Latin American immigrants that migrated to the US from 1960 until today. They also share a basic culture – Latin American – and language – predominantly Spanish – as well as religion – overwhelmingly Catholic, though also Protestant Evangelical and Jewish. They are different in the causes of their migration, as well as the manner in which their immigrant community settled in various regions of the country. Contrasting them for their similarities and differences serves to give us insights on the different meanings and possibilities for return migration back to their homeland – back to Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Relying on various methodologies -- historical comparative, participant observation, and in-depth semi structured interviews -- Pedraza analyses the possibilities for return migration to the homeland for these three groups of immigrants who have come to the U.S. from 1960-2024. Of particular interest are issues of gender and family in the homeland; the laws of both countries that facilitate or impede the return; and the local circumstances, both in their communities in the U.S. as well as in their homeland.

Author

• Silvia Pedraza, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor