Dreams and Challenges in the Lives of Migrants: Returning Migrants in Rural Guatemala

Abstract

In recent years, the deportations from the US have increased. This study explores the social and economic lives of returned migrants in a rural village in Guatemala. Return is a challenging process for migrants and their dependents. This study focuses on the lives, challenges and possibilities of migrants and on how they experience their return to the village. The social narrative in the village is about achieving certain goals, such as to buy land and a house, to improve one’s life situation. The life in the village consists of navigation between the challenges and possibilities of migrating. The return to the village is an ambivalent process as the socioeconomic conditions upon return depend on the level of success as a migrant. This study argues that return is a difficult process as social expectations, shame and unachieved dreams create emotional distress and challenges in everyday lives. This study builds on theories on migration and deportation as well as theories on the social and economic effects of migration. To conceptualize data, concepts such as social capital, in-betweenness and shame have been used in the analysis of the collected data. These theories and concepts help in the understanding of social pressure and the considerations of migrating again. The main methods used in this study were semi-structured interviews and participant observations. The interviews helped approach the field and the participants, while participant observations were important to gain a holistic understanding of the dynamics of migration in the village. This study is written in English.