Major and Classification
American Studies
Faculty Mentor
- Roberto Lint Sagarena, Ph.D.
Department
- Religion
McNair Project
Women without Borders:The Migration Experience of the Bracero Wife
The range of scholarly literature on the experiences of Mexican American women in the twentieth century is somewhat limited and until recently scholars had not developed the study of this important subject matter. My research on Mexican women’s migration will begin by focusing on the lives of women in Mexico that were often left behind by their migrant husbands. In particular, the Bracero Program will be carefully examined since it is a historical event that deeply affected the family unit as well as women who were left husbandless. Focusing on women’s experience will provide a deeper insight as to how women survived these circumstances. My study covers the lives of female Mexican immigrants prior to crossing the border as well as after their arrival in the United States. It will be a process of transnationalizing the migration of women from Mexico to the U.S. through a gendered lens. In addition to histories collected from secondary sources, I will be making use of my grandmother’s narration of her experiences as the wife of a Bracero to deepen and complicate our understanding of the experiences of Mexican women.