Transnational (after)life: Migrant transnationalism and engagement in U.S. and Mexican politics

Contemporary migrants in the United States demonstrate an interest and capacity for political engagement in both their country of residence and of origin. In the case of Mexico-U.S. migration, why do some migrants engage in the cultural and political life of their country of residence and of origin while others disengage altogether? Does engagement in one political system hinder participation in the other? Research in political science addresses these questions using surveys that capture individual-level data on transnational attitudes and behaviors at a single point in time. These studies often conclude that participation in one political system comes at the expense of participation in the other.;Drawing on a multi-site, multi-method analysis, this dissertation traces transnationalism at different stages of the migrant political life course, beginning with the "political baptism" (naturalization in the U.S.) and ending with repatriation to Mexico after death. First, I use ethnographic methods to capture the collective experiences of Mexican migrants who are in the process of becoming U.S. citizens to understand why transnational attachments persist even as the formal process of political enfranchisement in the U.S. begins. These findings are then tested systematically with data from the Latino National Survey, a nationally representative survey with a large Mexican-born sub-sample. Next, I turn to transnational ethnography to understand how and why migrants engage the political life of Mexico by analyzing a sample of migrants who have run for office there and address why this act of political transnationalism can have wider mobilizing effects among their co-ethnics in the U.S. Lastly, I discuss one of the policy priorities of these migrant officials: the repatriation of bodies of deceased Mexican migrants from the U.S. to their communities of origin in Mexico. Like other diaspora affairs, this chapter traces how the Mexican government's position regarding posthumous repatriations has changed from a "policy of having no policy" to one that is highly institutionalized.