Consejos as a Family Process in Transnational and Mixed‐Status Mayan Families

• Author: Rachel M. Hershberg
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12452
• Published date: 01 April 2018
• Date: 01 April 2018

R M. H University of Washington Tacoma

Consejos as a Family Process in Transnational

and Mixed-Status Mayan Families

This article describes a constructivist grounded

theory study about cross-border relation-

ships within Mayan families divided between

the United States and Guatemala. Nine

families participated, and each included a

U.S.-based undocumented migrant parent and

a Guatemala-based adolescent and caregiver.

Findings pertaining to the family process of

consejos—dened as a communication practice

in Latino families wherein older family members

pass on conventional wisdom to younger family

members—are discussed. Although consejos

has been identied as an important cultural

practice in Latino families, it has rarely been

examined in Mayan families or explored as

an important aspect of transnational family

relationships. Findings suggest that for some

transnational and mixed-status Mayan fami-

lies, consejos has become an important family

process and a way in which migrant parents

maintain a presence in their children’s lives

despite being physically separated. Implications

for future research with transnational migrant

families, and Mayan families in particular, are

discussed.

Approximately 11.7 million undocumented

migrants in the United States are part of

mixed-status families, which typically include

School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of

Washington Tacoma, 1900 Commerce Street, Box 358436,

Tacoma, WA 98402 (rmhersh@uw.edu).

Key Words: family process, grounded theory, migrant fami-

lies, transnationalism.

undocumented migrant parents and U.S.-citizen

children (Brabeck, Lykes, & Hunter, 2014).

Many of these mixed-status families are also

transnational families because they include

relatives in origin nations to whom migrants

are emotionally connected despite physical

separation (Zentgraf & Stoltz Chinchilla, 2012).

These transnational and mixed-status families

often experience strains in family relationships

because of the heightened stress from threats

of detention and deportation, a lack of opportu-

nity for increasing economic and social capital

with which to support the entire family, and

the separation across borders (e.g., Brabeck

et al., 2014; Zentgraf & Stoltz Chinchilla,

2012). It is important to note that millions of

families experience separation as a result of

unprecedented rates of migration in the 21st

century. Thus, many children in origin nations

grow up with some expectation of separation

and some level of adaptability (Hershberg &

Lykes, 2015).

Nevertheless, fewstudies have examined rela-

tionships within these families while attending

to transnational and mixed-status dimensions of

family life. This limitation is due in part to a lack

of research with family members in the multiple

countries across which their entire family unit

is divided (Mazzucato & Schans, 2011). Thus,

little is known about cross-border family rela-

tionships from the perspectives of the various

participating family members despite research

conrming that transnational family members do

maintain ties to one another (e.g., Mazzucato

& Schans, 2011; Sørensen & Vammen, 2014).

Moreover, little is known about the processes

334 Journal of Marriage and Family 80 (April 2018): 334–348

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12452