Secado y desintegración de conglomerados en el azúcar natural.

The notion of migration is not new for people from Quialana. There is a long tradition of religious pilgrimages, taking Quialanense to Guatemala to pay respect to the Christ of Esquipulas, a four month trip by foot or donkey (Koch 1989 cited in

136

Hulshof 1991). Today the pilgrimage still takes place, although it is less popular and modern pilgrims use public transport. Labour migration from Quialana started at the beginning of the twentieth century with the sale of firewood and charcoal, and tomatoes in   Oaxaca   City’s   main   market116. However, the construction of the

Panamericana motorway, the entrance of competitors, and the over exploitation of natural resources lowered the prices and the profit margins, taking Quialanense out of the market.

In the 1930s men and women from Quialana found an important supply of work in Tapachula Chiapas harvesting cotton, coffee and sugar cane. From December to March, entire families would travel to Chiapas to work in the fincas (farms). Most of the families came back after the season but some settled there117. Around the 1960s the labour migration to Tapachula was not attractive anymore due to low salaries and was replaced by migration to the industrial agricultural areas in the north of Mexico, which later created a stepping stone for migrating to the US (Hulshof 1991).

Koch in her M.A. thesis (1989) reported the migratory movements of Quialana up to the 1980s period. She noted that in the 1960s men and women, but especially men, migrated to Sinaloa, Sonora and Veracruz. In the 1970s and 1980s migration of women from Quialana was reported, to work mainly as cleaners for upper middle class and upper class families in Tlacolula, Oaxaca City and Mexico City. Beyond Mexico around 20 men from Quialana got involved in the Bracero Programme to work in the tomato fields of Stockton and Salinas in California (Koch 1989, p. 26-

116 _{The journey to Oaxaca City was done weekly by donkey and took 12 hours.}

117 _{Several men and women from Quialana in their 40s and 50s were born in Chiapas and/or worked} there during their childhood.

137

27). From the 1970s male migration to the US was on an undocumented basis, mainly to work in Californian agriculture.

In the 1980s Quialanense migrants to the US began to move into the service industry (Hulshof 1991), men and women from Quialana settled down in the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Ana and Santa Monica and started working in the restaurant sector.

To   date   “working   in   a   restaurant”   in   Greater   Los   Angeles is still one of the most common jobs for Quialanense migrants, together with working as a gardener, mainly in the city of Anaheim. These transitions in terms of destination and employment reflect the growth of the service sector in US urban centres in the late 20th century (López and Rusten 2004, París 2008).

The age and civil status profile of indigenous migrants from Quialana has also changed. Koch (1989) mentions that until 1980 the great majority of migrants were married and around 20 to 30 years old; over the last 20 years migrants have become younger (13 to 16 years old at first migration, some still in primary school), and are single.

Moreover,  Quialanense  migrants  are  no  longer  migrating  “in  phases”  as  in  the  1960s  

(first to border states in Mexico and then to the US); nowadays for many Quialanense their first migratory experience is directly to the US: “I  came  to  the  US  

when I was 14 years old. I never went out [to other places]; I only went to Tlacolula, San Marcos and San Lucas [neighbouring towns]. I think I only went three times to

Oaxaca  City,  and  then  I  came  to  the  US”  (Rey). Like Rey, many Quialaneneses have

never  visited  the  capital  city  of  their  state,  let  alone  Mexico’s  capital  city.  Mexican  

border cities (i.e. Tijuana) and the US are for many Quialanense their first time outside their community.

138

Map 5 Vintage and Patterns of Migration from San Bartolomé Quialana

Source:  Author’s  design

Migration within the state of Oaxaca Migration to other parts of Mexico Migration to the US

It can be concluded that lack of employment opportunities in their communities of origin, combined with opportunities in the US and the income disparity between Mexico and the US, have fuelled migration (Durand 2004). Cacaleño and Quialanense recognise that in the US they can earn up to three times more than in Mexico: “The   money   I   earn   in   one day in the US I will earn in Mexico in two

weeks”  (Cesar); “I   came  here  [US]  because   I   want   to   be   rich.   I  wanted  to  build  a   house  for  my  mum,  I  hate  poverty”  (Rafael).

139

Sometimes a particular migration is stimulated by a specific need for money, to build a house, educate children or sponsor a social event (Cohen 2001), in this case weddings, christenings, fifteen year birthdays, etc. At the same time and as in many other communities in Mexico in the last decade male migration within Mexico and to the US has been assumed, creating what Cohen (2004) calls   a   “culture   of   migration”.  At  some  point  in  their  lives  Quialanense  and  Caceleño  men  are  expected  

to work outside their communities because having a migration experience is a step towards manhood (Rosas 2007). In fact, to migrate means doing what other men in the town are doing: to fulfil a public commitment118.  As  Arturo  states:  “I  came  here  

[US] because of the adventure and because all of us [men] do it. I wanted to see with

my  own  eyes  how  much  money  I  could  actually  earn  in  the  US”.