Alternative Spaces > Research Components > Oaxacan Migrant Associ...

Transnational Civil Society among Oaxacan Migrants

PhD fellow Lars Ove Trans  

Marginalization and political mobilization 

Mexican indigenous communities, predominantly located in rural areas, have a long history of marginalization, economically and politically, by the Mexican government. Indeed, the rural development strategy of the government has been based on the assumption that a large proportion of the rural poor would move to the cities or to the United States (Fox and Rivera-Salgado 2004). However, as migrants, these indigenous communities have become the focus of politicians and the government who have sought to mobilize the diaspora for political purposes and not least to attract remittances from abroad. Thus, outside the nation state, the migrants have acquired recognition and a voice, which they frequently lacked in Mexico. The migrants, on their part, typically organized into hometown associations (HTAs) or larger, pan-ethnic organizations, have used this newfound interest from the government to enter into negotiations on issues relating to their rights and obligations as migrants and citizens.

Research objective 

Taking migrant NGOs from the state of Oaxaca in Mexico as the empirical focus, the present project proposes to analyze the new political and social spaces created through the transnational economic and political involvement of migrants in their home country and the alterations in the hegemony of the nation-state as it extends its reach beyond the territory. In particular, by focusing on one aspect of remittances, known as "collective remittances," sent by migrant HTAs to finance public works in their villages of origin, I intend to explore the relationship between civil, transnational engagement and state-centered politics and "practices" of government in a transnational context.