Transnational Peasants

Migrations, Networks, and Ethnicity in Andean Ecuador

David Kyle

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Year: 2003
• eBook ISBN: 9780801876332
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean History
• Index: Social Sciences

Why do two groups from the same country pursue radically different economic strategies of transnational mobility? David Kyle examines the lives of people from four rural communities in two regions of the Andean highlands of Ecuador. Migrants from the southern province of Azuay shuttle back and forth to New York City, mostly as undocumented laborers. In contrast, an indigenous group of Quichua-speakers from the northern canton of Otavalo travel the world as handicraft merchants and musicians playing Andean music. In one village, Kyle found that Otavalans were migrating to 23 different countries and returning within a year. Transnational Peasants provides an intriguing historical and sociological exploration of a contemporary migration mystery.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Maps, Figures, and Tables
• Preface
• 1 Introduction: Transnational Peasants?
• 2 Common Context, Divergent Outcomes
• 3 The Panama Hat Trail from Azuay
• 4 Azuayan Villages: Tomebamba and Quipal
• 5 Tourist Trails out of Otavalo
• 6 Otavalan Villages: Peguche and Guanansi
• 7 Conclusion: Of Migration Merchants and Merchant Migrants
• Appendix A: Study Design
• Appendix B: Statistical Overview of Migration
• Glossary: Spanish Terms Used in Text
• References
• Index
• Footnotes