Ecuador's economic crisis of the late 1990s led to rapid expansion of transnational migration networks in the southern Andean provinces of Azuay and Canar. While previous scholarship studied the effects of migrant remittances in Ecuador, this project examines ways in which the processes related to migration have themselves become an important component of daily life for people in this region of high emigration. The research will investigate the relationship between U.S. and Ecuadorian policies attempting to thwart illicit migration, and local experiences linked to initiating international migration. The project asks the following questions: 1) What is the relationship between U.S. and Ecuadorian government policy and the industries and processes of migration from Ecuador to the U.S.? and 2) In what ways are these industries and processes embedded in daily political, economic, and social life in Azuay and Canar? A mixed-methods analysis will provide data on the strategies behind and effects of migration policy, and the role of out-migration in local life. Research will involve in-depth interviews with Ecuadorian policy makers; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Ecuador; non-state organizations, local level officials, and households with U.S. migrants. Methods will also include participant observation and household surveys. Fieldwork will take place over nine months in Quito (Ecuador's capital) and in three cities of the Azuay and Cañar provinces. The findings will address disjunctures between national and international approaches toward illicit migration, and individuals' perceptions, decisions, and actions. The investigators will ask what kind of results are yielded by migration control policies designed in settings removed from migrants' and potential migrants' daily lives.
The results of this research will contribute to policy making in countries of migrant origin and destination. In source countries of the global South, international migration has become central to the economy and is of increasing political, economic, and cultural concern. Meanwhile, as the United States pursues more restrictive immigration policies and encourages other countries to do the same, this project evaluates the wide-ranging impacts of such an approach. By conducting research in a site of migrant origin, the study aims for greater understanding of the many ways in which migration infiltrates daily life in sending areas. The project will therefore contribute to debates concerning the relationship between immigration policy and individual decisions regarding emigration. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.
