Transnational Peasants: Migrations, Networks, And Ethnicity In Andean Ecuador by David Kyle

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Synopsis

Why do two groups from the same country pursue radically different economic strategies of transnational mobility? David Kyle examines the lives of people from four rural communities in two regions of the Andean highlands of Ecuador. Migrants from the southern province of Azuay shuttle back and forth to New York City, mostly as undocumented laborers. In contrast, an indigenous group of Quichua-speakers from the northern canton of Otavalo travel the world as handicraft merchants and musicians playing Andean music. In one village, Kyle found that Otavalans were migrating to 23 different countries and returning within a year. Transnational Peasants provides an intriguing historical and sociological exploration of a contemporary migration mystery.

Booknews

Finding that the two divergent regions of Ecuador sending streams of immigrants to the US did not fit with existing theories of migration, Kyle (sociology, U. of California-Davis) gathered data at several conceptual levels<-->individual, household, community, and region. He also used multiple methods in order to engage diverse theories of migration, which differ in the types and scale of the data they privilege. Though the different theories are usually thought of a competing, he finds that each has something to contribute to the whole picture. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Biography

David Kyle is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Davis.