Tziscao: A Multiplicity of Migration Experiences

During my time in Tziscao, a village on the southern border of Mexico, I had the opportunity to interview people in the village about their experiences with migration. Jorge Luis, the professor with whom I’m working, has done extensive fieldwork and in-depth interviews in the town, however, being a man, he has had trouble getting interviews with the women. He is working on articles currently that have to do with migration and identity, and he wanted to be able to include more on a woman’s perspective. So he sent me to try to get some interviews.

When we arrived in Tziscao, Jorge Luis introduced me to don Angel, a good friend of his from the time he lived in the village and a community leader. Because of his position in the community, don Angel was able to arrange interviews for me and, by serving as intermediary, helped me establish trust with the interviewees. Overall, I conducted six interviews with community members – four women and two men – primarily relating to their migration experiences. In addition, I was able to talk with a local health promoter and the groundskeeper of the local community-run alternative medicine clinic.

I think what most stands out to me when I consider the interviews as a whole is the wide variety of migration experiences the people had had. There was the mother who longs for her two sons working in the United States, the wife who misses her husband and also has migrated in order to escape violence in Guatemala, the mother who spent a year and a half working in the United States, the husband who spent the years of his children’s childhood working away from home in other parts of Mexico, the woman who worked in factories in Tijuana, and the man (don Angel) who has stubbornly refused to move and has struggled to build community in Tziscao while he watches his family and friends continually pack their bags and head to the United States. In sum, this southern border town has immigrants, international emigrants, national emigrants, transmigrants (immigrants crossing Mexico to get to the U.S.), and the people (mostly women) who stay behind. In just my small sample of interviews, I heard stories related to almost all of these phenomena.

The above posts highlight some of the themes of the interviews that most resonated with me.

[NOTE: I must admit, I felt a bit uncomfortable jumping into doing interviews on my own on such sensitive subjects right at the beginning to my time here. When looking for opportunities to work on research projects in Mexico, I made a concerted effort to search for projects that have already been defined by local researchers – on which I could assist and learn through observing and asking questions of the researcher, but not be directly imposing myself and all that my identity means (as a foreigner, U.S. citizen, well-off first-world resident, etc.) on the participants. I expressed these worries to Jorge Luis before the trip, but he didn’t seem worried and told me that I should just see how it goes this first visit. So I decided I would put my faith in his judgment and go to the community with open eyes and a sensitive heart. In the end, I still am not entirely sure that obtaining these interviews was the "right thing" to do, however they certainly helped me learn a lot and I do plan to follow up with each of the interviewees. Also, I asked each of the interviewees their opinion on why they were willing to share their story with me. Most indicated that they want to share their story with a broader audience. I therefore hope that, in sharing some of these stories here and spreading awareness about the migration experiences of the interviewees, the interviews will inspire others to address these issues and will somehow end up bringing some good to the people of Tziscao.]