Between Two Dreams : Mexican Workers in Arizona and the Limits of the American Dream, 1910–1968

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines Mexican labor migration to Arizona during two time periods: 1910-1928 and 1942-1968. It asks how Mexican labor migrants understood and made sense of their decision to migrate and of the larger migration process. The study draws on two sets of empirical material: interviews conducted in 1927 with relatively recent migrants and interviews recorded in the early 2000s that reflect back on the Bracero Program of the mid-20th century. Through oral history and narrative analysis, this thesis explores migrant understandings of departure, recruitment, work, return, and identity. It suggests that migrants’ own narratives complicate dominant explanations of Mexico–U.S. migration by showing that migration was often understood not simply through cost-benefit calculation but through a blend of economic, family, and identity-based concerns whose relative weight could change over time. In doing so, this thesis contributes a migrant-centered account of Mexican labor migration that brings oral history into dialogue with migration theory and labor history.