Recordando El Porvenir: Four Generations of Memory, Migration and Place-Making among California-Baja California Transborder Families

Maritza Maksimow
Anthropology
UC Santa Barbara

Through a multisited ethnographic study of California-Baja California transborder families, and relying heavily on multigenerational life histories, this research illustrated the various strategies families have employed to negotiate state policies and economic incongruity between the U.S. and Mexico, since 1930 to the present day. Documenting the history of national and transnational power relations as they are experienced in quotidian life enabled the examination of processes involved in place-making and cultural identity formation, while also allowing for a more nuanced and dynamic understanding of California-Baja California borderland culture. This research contributed to the theoretical knowledge of border communities and filled voids in current ethnographic literature. At the same time, this research also had significant implications for contemporary policies regarding Mexican to U.S. immigration, particularly as they relate to transborder and mix-status families.