Being Present when Forced to be Absent: Understanding Mayan Families' Cross-border Relationships and Separation Experiences Author: Rachel Masha Hershberg Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:101498 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2012 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. BOSTON COLLEGE Lynch School of Education Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology Program BEING PRESENT WHEN FORCED TO BE ABSENT: UNDERSTANDING MAYAN FAMILIES' CROSS-BORDER RELATIONSHIPS AND SEPARATION EXPERIENCES Dissertation by RACHEL M. HERSHBERG submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2012 © Copyright by Rachel Hershberg 2012 Abstract Being Present when Forced to be Absent: Understanding Mayan Families' Cross-border Relationships and Separation Experiences Rachel M. Hershberg Dissertation Chair: M. Brinton Lykes A growing number of families in the U.S. are of mixed-status with at least one undocumented relative who is threatened by deportation. Many also are simultaneously involved in cross-border or transnational families. Despite these challenging contexts, these families rarely are attended to in psychological research. This dissertation presents findings from research with nine intergenerational Maya K´iche´ transnational and mixed -status families who live across the United States and Guatemala. The study explored relationships within these families and how they are maintained in contexts of family separation as influenced by U.S. immigration and deportation systems. A grounded theory analysis of in-depth interviews with at least one U.S.-based undocumented migrant parent, and one Guatemala-based child and caregiver from each family was developed to better understand and characterize the ways in which diverse family members perceive and experience their family relationships and separations. The middle-range theory developed from this study is called “being present when forced to be absent.” This theory describes the main strategies family members in Guatemala and the U.S. utilize to maintain relationships over time and across space, which include communication, remittances or financial support, and the provision of life advice or consejos. Findings suggest that while these strategies mitigate challenges experienced in transnational family relationships, families view contextual strains in Guatemala and the U.S. as continuing to influence their cross-border relationships and family processes. Finally, this study showed that families leverage an additional strategy identified as reconfiguring the transnational family, wherein they alter the transnational configuration of their family to confront challenges of family separation. This study shows that U.S.-based undocumented migrant parent(s) and children and elected caregivers in Guatemala contribute to their transnational families in unique ways. It also supports previous research arguing that immigration and deportation policies violate the rights of families from the global south who migrate north to support their relatives in origin countries. Implications for comprehensive immigration reform and new directions for research in psychology with migrant and transnational families are discussed. i Acknowledgements I am grateful to all of the family members, mentors, and friends who have contributed to my intellectual development and educational trajectory since the beginning. Mom and Dad, your unwavering support and enthusiasm for my academic pursuits have kept me on the steady path towards completion and have meant more to me than you can ever know. Thank you, Dad, for reading the entire dissertation and improving the caliber of the writing with your stellar editing skills. Thank you also for joining the cause from your journalist post in Louisville, KY. Mom, thank you for having more faith in me than anyone and total confidence that I would graduate and find a job. Your support and love have meant so much to me and I would not be who I am without you. To my siblings, Jacob, Esther, and Raanan, thank you for supporting me throughout my doctoral studies and research and for checking in on the progress of my dissertation regularly, especially during the final months. I am so lucky to have you. I have to acknowledge my late grandparents, Bob and Miriam Flusberg, who taught me to appreciate the immigrant experience, both the losses it entails and the opportunities it can yield, from a very early age. My grandpa, like the mothers and fathers in this dissertation, never stopped contributing to the United States since the moment he arrived here at age 12. My grandma, who lost her family in WW2, taught me that family and family ties are the most important things in a person’s life and when they are ruptured, one never fully recovers. I am grateful for the years we spent together. ii Thank you, my dear friends in Boston and from Louisville—especially my study partner and my traveling companion—for all your love and support over the years. My dearest Jeffrey, thank you for always believing in me and for going on long diatribes about how the work on which this dissertation is based is important. Thank you especially for being my intellectual partner in life and challenging me to think more complexly about U.S. policy. This dissertation would not have been possible without the participation of the incredibly brave transnational families, the community organizations in the HRMP, and the Espiritu Santo Church in Zacualpa. Thank you for inviting me in over the years and for sharing your knowledge about what life is like for 21st century migrants and their transnational families. I hope I have done some justice to your words and stories with this dissertation. I must also acknowledge the various institutions that have supported the HRMP and my own research pursuits. Thank you to the Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College for supporting this research, and for continuing to provide opportunities for graduate students to learn about and advocate for human rights and international justice. Thank you to the Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology Program and the Lynch School of Education at Boston College for supporting my educational and professional development. Thanks especially to the American Association of University Women for facilitating the completion of this dissertation. Last but not least, thank you to the members of my dissertation committee— iii Dr. M. Brinton Lykes (Chair), Dr. Jacqueline Lerner, and Dr. Lisa Dodson—for agreeing to support this work from its beginnings and for your flexibility throughout. Jackie, thank you for being there for me throughout my doctoral studies and for your willingness to engage in and support the research or which I have been a part since 2007. Thanks especially for helping me connect this research to the best of developmental theory. Finally, to my mentor, teacher, and friend—Brinton—thank you for taking me under your wing and for giving me the opportunity to work on such important research and actions throughout my doctoral program. You have taught me how a successful person can act on and in the world in a way that is commensurate with her philosophies. I am blessed to have had the chance to see you do this, and learn how to hopefully do some of this in the next chapter of my life. Thank you also for always supporting and fighting for all of your students, we would be lost without you. iv Table of Contents Page LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………........... viii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………….... ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK, LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………….. 1 I. Introduction……………………………………………………… 1 Purpose of the Study...………………………………………. 9 Research Questions……………………………………….... 10 Organization of the Research……………………………..... 11 II. Theoretical Framework………………………………………… 12 Transnational Theory………………………………………. 13 Socio-legal Approach……………………………………… 19 Family Systems Theory…………………………………… 20 II. Literature Review………………………………………………. 23 Research with Transnational and Mixed-Status Families…. 24 Family Systems Research with Migrant Families…………. 33 Research with the Maya from Guatemala………………… 38 Research on Contexts of Illegality in the United States….... 53 CHAPTER 2: METHODS…………………………………………………. 59 I. Research Design…………………………………………………. 59 Overview of Approach…………………………………….. 59 v Grounded Theory………………………………………….. 62 II. Participants…………………………………………………….. 68 Identifying and Defining the Population………………….. 68 Recruitment……………………………………………….. 80 Informed Consent…………………………………………. 90 III. Data Collection………………………………………………... 91 Method……………………………………………………. 91 Procedure………………………………………………….. 94 IV. Data Analysis…………………………………………………. 104 Summary of Analysis……………………………………... 104 Memo Writing…………………………………………….. 105 Computer Software and Transcription……………………. 107 Reflexivity……………………………………………….... 108 Triangulation…………………………………………….... 119 Rigor………………………………………………………. 123 CHAPTER 3: BEING PRESENT WHEN FORCED TO BE ABSENT….. 127 Summary of Findings..……………………………………………. 127 Grounded Theory Visual Models…………………………………. 133 Outline.……….………………………………………………….... 137 I. Defining the Middle-Range Theory………………………….... 139 Being Present when Forced to be Absent…………………. 139 II. Communication, Remittances, and Consejos…………………… 144