ABSTRACTTRANSBORDER HEALTH: HEALTH MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES OF IMMIGRANTS JOURNEYING FROM MICHOACAN TO MICHIGAN ByIsabel Montemayor In recent years the increasing number of Mexican immigrants entering the United States, both documented and undocumented, has attracted great political controversy. It is a highly charged issue given the current economic, political and social situation on either side of the border, making for a particularly complicated experience for immigrants traveling from one country to another. This dissertation explores how the contentious socio-political arena of the Mexico/U.S. immigration relationship impacts the daily lives of those immigrants on the fringes of society. Unfortunately, it appears the rules and large scale institutional policies set in place by the U.S., such as those regarding health care and immigration, may fail to engage with the humanitarian issues of survival faced by one particular immigrant community. To date, studies addressing Mexican immigrant health needs have primarily focused on the border areas of the South and Southwest. However, given their increased population and new trends for geographical dispersion, Midwestern Mexican immigrants and their family members in Mexico, provide a window for understanding New Hispanic Growth Communities and how this underserved population navigates the health care and immigration arenas set in place by larger institutional policy. This research highlights the impact of governmentality in the form of macro-level institutional policy on the daily lives of transnational immigrants in three interconnected spaces, that is, while living in Mexico, while crossing the border, and while incorporating into U.S. society. The study made use of qualitative ethnographic interviews in both Michoacán and Michigan and participant observation in a transnational "Hometown Association" to answer the question: Given the individual, social and macro-level political barriers involved; what are the adaptive health management strategies used by a group of transnational Mexican immigrants? This study further investigates how these immigrants generate and employ agency in order to devise creative adaptations for addressing barriers to healthcare in their community, across various borders. I found that despite multiple social and structural limitations, Latino immigrants are individuals with strong family ties and a transnational identity. These characteristics along with a long political history between Mexico and the U.S. provide these individuals with a particular leverage in creatively adapting, understanding, and making use of limited resources on either side of the border to alleviate health related needs. Access to remittances, family members living in the U.S., and community efforts of a hometown association provide continued support and palanca for family members left behind in Mexico. Surrendering ones agency to coyotes and making life or death agentive choices during the border crossing experience allows for survival in a space free of standard communal resources. Upon incorporation into U.S. society an informal chain of information along with government sponsored public resources allow for undocumented immigrants to function while maintaining anonymity and a cultural link to Mexico that has proven to be useful in attending to health related issues.
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