Migration, Mobilities and Masculinities

My Ph.D. research, funded by a dissertation grant from the National Science Foundation, examines the role of mobility and place in shaping the lives of undocumented migrants. To answer this question, I conducted a multi-sited ethnography of a network of migrants who travel from Veracruz, Mexico to the new immigrant destination of rural Wisconsin, U.S. to work in the dairy industry. Drawing on transnational migration scholarship and emerging work on mobility theory, I show that migrants occupied a space of limbo, a tension point between mobility and immobility, which was shaped by the particularity of place. Further, in line with other transnational migration scholars, I found that the construction of masculinities spans the borders of nation-states, and these transnational masculinities are weaved into the social space of limbo experienced by migrants. Using limbo as a conceptual tool brings place to the center of transnational migration studies, while also providing opportunities for dialogue between this literature and mobilities scholarship.

Women, Work and Femininities

For my Master’s thesis, I focused on women working in the male-dominated rural occupation of farming to inquire about the potential challenges women face in being “legible” as a farmer in their communities. I also wanted to understand how women may be re-shaping femininities in rural places in their efforts to become legible. Using data from a case study of 12 Wisconsin women farmers, I found that women face considerable cultural and material barriers as they attempt to become legible as farmers. Yet, women resist the gender regime of farming by redefining the title of farmer and constructing an alternative rural femininity in the process. This work contributes toward understanding how place shapes gender relations, while emphasizing that femininities are relational.