Doctoral student Maria Diaz Montejo, under the guidance of Dr. Walter E. Little, will undertake research on how transnational migrant flows may influence, reproduce, and change cultural traditions, identities, and social relations. The research goal is to determine if migrants use cultural reproduction to build networks across ethnic, cultural, class, and national boundaries, and what the long term social, economic, and political effects of such efforts might be.
Leveraging previous research in Guatemala, this project will be carried out in a community of Mayan migrants who are originally from Jacaltenango, Guatemala, but now live in Jupiter, Florida. The investigator will conduct in-depth open-ended and semi-structured interviews, surveys, and participant observation. With a particular focus on the transformation of religious and other public observances, she will gather data on possibile connections between Jakaltek festival activities and Jakaltek immigration status, economic strategies, and engagement with extra-community social networks.
The research is significant because it will contribute to social science theory by helping to illuminate the complexities of migrant identity, seen as a dynamic process of innovation and tradition. The research should contribute practically to a better understanding of how relationships between immigrants and residents come into being. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.
The goal of this research was to understand how a culturally specific fiesta celebration from highland Guatemala was transported to Jupiter, Florida and what its significance is to the new migrant and non-migrant participants in Jupiter, Florida. Research activities focused on participant observation before, during and after the fiesta period; survey questionnaires; and the collection of two life histories. Based on my research activities, the primary significance of the fiesta to migrants is cultural nostalgia. Migrant participants agreed that a connection to home is the main reason individuals (they) participate in the fiesta. Since there is no monetary compensation for participating in the fiesta, organizers receive social status in return for their time. Non-migrants on the other hand, participate to celebrate the growing migrant culture and diversity in Jupiter, Florida. In a period of growing tension over migrant presence in the USA, non-migrant participants emphasized supporting and celebrating the new members of the Jupiter and Abacoa community. The overall significance of the fiesta (for migrants and non-migrants) focused on cultural maintenance and the strengthening of migrant identity, not a political or economic means to becoming American citizens. I believe these findings make anthropological contributions to the fields of cultural performance, identity politics, migration, and globalization. This research shows the complex nature in which individuals and accompanying culture(s) move within, across, and between borders. Specifically, it demonstrates how one cultural unit can be shared across borders, in this case, Guatemala to Florida, and that it is adopted by not just Guatemalan migrants but also migrants from across the Americas and non-migrant Americans as well. By analyzing how and why participants participate the research demonstrates that participants operate under a number of identities that they call upon to create a community experience that separates them from non-fiesta participants. These findings reaffirm the flexibility of culture, the desire and need for culture by individuals, and the strengthening of global connection between migrants and their sending community.
