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Posthumous Transnationalism: Postmortem Repatriation from the United States to Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Adrián Félix
Adrián Félix*
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Cruz
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Abstract

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This article discusses the sustained and increasingly institutionalized transnational practice of repatriating the bodies of deceased Mexican migrants from the United States to their hometowns in Mexico. Far from being a strictly private transnational practice, migrants' desire for a posthumous return and burial in their homelands is popularly expressed in the memories, music, and everyday exchanges of the Mexican diaspora. Drawing on transnational ethnographic research in Los Angeles, California, and Zacatecas, Mexico, this article documents how the Mexican state has institutionalized this process at the transnational, national, state, and municipal levels of governance. Last, the article discusses the role of migrant family and social networks in these repatriations. The goals of this article are to provide a preliminary cultural and institutional understanding of the practice of repatriating cadavers from the United States to Mexico and to discuss the implications of this process for the scholarly debate on migrant transnationalism.

Resumen

Resumen

Este artículo documenta la institucionalización de la repatriación de los cuerpos de migrantes fallecidos en Estados Unidos a sus comunidades de origen en México. Lejos de ser un acto de transnacionalismo estrictamente privado, el deseo de regresar a la comunidad de origen, aun después de la muerte, se expresa en la memoria colectiva, producción cultural e intercambios cotidianos de la diáspora Mexicana. Basado en investigación etnográfica en ambos lados de la frontera, tomando como punto de partida Los Angeles, California y Zacatecas, México, este artículo documenta la formalización de este proceso por parte del estado Mexicano a nivel transnacional, nacional, estadal y municipal. Correspondientemente, el artículo también considera el papel de las familias y redes sociales en estas repatriaciones. Los propósitos de este ensayo son desarrollar un marco cultural e institucional para analizar el proceso transnacional de repatriar cadáveres de Estados Unidos a México e identificar su significado para el debate académico sobre el transnacionalismo de los migrantes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , 2011 , pp. 157 - 179
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

I would like to thank Ricardo Ramírez, Janelle Wong, Nora Hamilton, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, Carol Wise, Apichai Shipper, Robin D. G. Kelley, and Rodolfo García Zamora. The faculty at the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida allowed me to present working versions of this research and provided critical feedback and suggestions. The anonymous LARR reviewers provided many insightful comments and criticisms that improved this article. The author is solely responsible for any errors or misinterpretations.

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