Modeling Migration and Defining Transnational Outcomes in Rural Oaxaca, Mexico

Jeffrey H. Cohen, Pennsylvania State University
Alicia Sylvia Gijon-Cruz, Universidad Autonoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca
Rafael Reyes-Morales, Instituto Tecnológico de Oaxaca
Garry Chick, Pennsylvania State University

Anthropologists have embraced the concept of transnationalism. This is nowhere more evident than in the discussion of Mexican-US migration patterns. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to defining methods that can aid in measuring, explaining and predicting transnational outcomes. We use data from an investigation of migration in the central valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico to show that we can measure and quantify transnational outcomes; explain community and household variation; and develop a systematic model of migration outcomes in the central valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico. Our data come from an ethnosurvey conducted with 590 randomly selected households located in 11 randomly selected communities located in the central valleys of Oaxaca, the intermountaine region surrounding the state’s capital.