Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Sociology

First Advisor

Bienvenido Ruiz

Second Advisor

Leticia Zavala

Third Advisor

Rosalynn Vega

Abstract

There has been abundant research on transnational families and their lived realities, but most of this research focuses on analyzing family relations across long distances. This thesis examines transnational life at the borderlands and develops new frameworks for understanding family unity and separation. Using concepts from the sociology of emotions, I find that economic and opportunity inequalities structure much of transborder life and that the emotional work different family members do for the sake of their family unity is largely based on mobility privilege and the idea that the U.S. is economically better off, even as the relative poverty between family members on both sides of national divide may not be as large as imagined. From concepts in affect theory, I argue how family relations are embedded in environmental spaces which shape their emotional dispositions toward each other. Finally, I argue that more research on intergenerational and extended transborder family is needed to better understand the power that social and financial capital have on the structuring of families across the divide over time.

Comments

Copyright 2024 Aaron Alejandro Adame Sosa.

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/utrgv.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/pqdtglobal1/dissertations-theses/affective-life-mobility-unity-u-s-mexico/docview/3085297533/sem-2?accountid=7119

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