Expressing “lack of freedom” among Mexican migrants of La Loma, state of Mexico in the United States

Abstract

In the context of a long history of Mexican migration to the United States and against the background of studies on transnational communities, a group of migrants from La Loma, a town in central Mexico, emphasize the “lack of freedom” in their lives in the United States, which they attribute to excessive working hours and self-imposed restrictions. Through an ethnographic study (interviews and participant observation), this article shows how these individuals—first- and second-generation Mexican migrants—organize and participate in fiestas (parties) during visits to their hometown, where they experience what appears to be a collective catharsis, enjoying a sense of freedom they cannot experience in the United States. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus and the notion of the transnational social field, the analysis explores how migrants understand their roles in both their country of origin and their destination, and how they use their capital—mainly symbolic, economic, and social—to implement strategies of social reproduction and maintain their status, with a view toward an eventual return.