textThe United States Department of Homeland Security reported 354, 982 deportation events in 2010. This number has fallen short, though not by much, of the 400,000 deportations per year “goal” cited by DHS. Though many have begun research on the subsequent repercussions of this well oiled deportation regime, not many have asked questions about the effects south of the border. Those questions are the subject of the pilot research study on which this thesis is based.
This document is the narration of the findings and occurrences while conducting fieldwork in Jalisco, Mexico, the goal of which, was to inform on the social impacts of deportations from the U.S. to Mexico on three levels, the individual, the familial and the institutional. The particularities of this thesis stem from the perspective taken by the author. Finding the author’s very own return to Mexico as an educated Xicana, an important part of the story she would set out to find about deportees , their families, and the reality they face upon experiencing a deportation event, this thesis is heavily concentrated on the experiences of the author and the narrations of the interviewees. Discovering her own epistemological and methodological postures on social science research while in the field, the author discusses the importance of these shifts to the future of her work and that of social science research. Taking on the pivotal questions on the effects of a social phenomenon , namely deportation, from a sociological perspective was the intention of the author, yet it was those questions and the process of attempting to gain insight on those inquiries that incited questions about the forms of knowledge production, the results and usefulness of social science research as tools for activism and social change and legitimacy of the subaltern voice within the academe. While the author does draw on her own experiences and that of interviewees to discuss the situation lived in Mexico by deportees, the base of much of the analysis also lies in data-driven questions and conclusions.Latin American Studie
