Active citizenship exercises and resilience processes in migrant families of mixed immigration status in families from central-western Mexico residing in California and Illinois.

Abstract

Experiences of contemporary migration defy the fundamental assumptions of modern nations such as citizenship notions, statehood, and legality parameters. This phenomenon exposes the shortcomings of conceptual frameworks and practices to analyse the migrant populations insertion in transnational contexts, those who do not fit to the traditional logic of citizenship. This work was carried out through a qualitative study with Mexican families that live in the United States in a mixed immigratory status. The conceptual intersection between resilience strategies and active citizenship exercises in the context of the migration process was reviewed. For this purpose, some interview fragments were analyzed through a narrative approach, and migratory experiences and resilience policies were identified, highlighting the importance of migrant families on the citizenship and human rights debate. This interdisciplinary research offers a reflection of the way that migrants react to the adverse context demands through exercises of active citizenship.