|
|
|
MARIAL CENTER COLLOQUIUM La Gran Familia Mexicana: Wednesday, September 24, 4 - 6 p.m. The MARIAL Center Emory West, 4th Floor, Room 415E What happens to family members in Mexico when the man of the house migrates to the United States for work? When Martha Woodson Rees began to study that question, she discovered something that American and Mexican women have in common. That is the fact that in general, women's work is undervalued and undercounted in both countries. Rees, associate professor of anthropology at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, traveled to the central valley of Oaxaca to meet the women who are managing life on their own after their husbands migrated to the U.S. Her research, funded through a National Science Foundation grant, explores the characteristics of migrant households and how ethnicity plays into the equation. Agnes Scott students helped Rees develop the survey instrument, conduct interviews, collect data and prepare field notes. "We in the United States may think we are very sophisticated, eating ethnic Thai food in restaurants that have sprung up in every town," says Rees. "But think about the worldliness of the Mexicans: they hop a train or a plane to find work, their wives open bank accounts and discuss the peso/dollar exchange rate every day. How many of us do that?" Rees' presentation describes the characteristics of Latino (and Mexican) families in Atlanta, Georgia in the 21st century and aims at some conclusions about families, immigrants and Atlanta. Latino refers to people of Latin American origin. The term Hispanics may include people from Europe. Latinos are now the largest “minority” group in the United States, and most of those are Mexican. Anthropologists define family as the folks you live with, whether or not they are your blood kin (spouses, after all, are usually not blood relatives). Increasingly families are composed of groups of people who are not related. Number of children, marriage age, number and kind of workers (including migrants), and household extension (for example, including non nuclear members) are among the variables that households can alter in response to external conditions: When the economy contracts, households find it more difficult to meet the demands and needs of their members, especially non-producing members. Households expel or retain members by encouraging or postponing migration or marriage, by marriage locality, or by putting more members to work. This is the case even if it means migrating to a foreign land. Rees's teaching and scholarly interests include cross cultural study of immigration, Mexican migrants in the United States, especially Atlanta, experiential learning, and Oaxaca, Mexico. She also studies peasant household economics, focusing on migration, agriculture and women's work. Earlier this year, she presented the first Joseph R. Gladden Public Lecture at Agnes Scott on "Cómo Vivimos: Hispanic Lives in Atlanta." The lecture was named to honor Gladden, who served 10 years as chairman of the board of Agnes Scott College.
DIRECTIONS TO THE MARIAL CENTER The MARIAL Center is located on the 4th floor of the main building of Emory's Briarcliff Campus, 1256 Briarcliff Road. There is ample parking close to the building. Alternatively, you may take the Emory shuttle (Route A). The Emory shuttle (Route A) provides transportation from the main campus to the MARIAL Center every 20 minutes (a 5-10 minute ride). For the shortest travel time, board the shuttle in front of the B. Jones Center or at the corner of Dowman and Fishburne (across from Glenn Memorial) at approximately 4, 24, and 44 minutes after each hour. A complete schedule and the route map are available on the web at http://www.epcs.emory.edu/AltTransp/route-a.htm Please tell the receptionist at the front window
that you are here for the
|