As Time Goes By
Social and Physical Immobility in the Lives of Undocumented Immigrants in California
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/dl.v15i23.113125Keywords:
Undocumented immigration, social and physical immobility, the experience of time, United States, Mexico, Central AmericaAbstract
Contrary to popular belief, the current financial crisis has not made the
undocumented immigrants residing in the United States leave the country.
Accordingly, it continues to be of scholarly interest to investigate how life evolves
for these almost 11 million immigrants of predominantly Latin American origin.
Focusing mainly on women from Mexico and Central America, this article shows
that not only physical but also social immobility is a predominant feature of
undocumented, migrant women’s everyday life in the United States. Based on
anthropological fieldwork in California and drawing on the work of Pierre
Bourdieu, this article focuses on the way time is experienced by undocumented
immigrants as they struggle to obtain social mobility while dealing with the
consequences of their illegal status.
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