Date of Graduation

Spring 5-18-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Migration Studies

College/School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Migration Studies

First Advisor

Amy Argenal

Abstract

This paper examines the impact remittances have in Latin-American families across borders through qualitative interviews. Remittances, or international transfers of money, are a common support strategy of global migrant communities. There are divergent opinions on remittances, either positioning them as a great potential for developing lower and middle-income countries, or critiquing them as too heavily depended on by states and created as a survival support mechanism by communities to compensate for state neglect. While they are a massive cash flow at the international level, there is a greater need to blend analyses of remittances at the international level at the household level and how they contribute to sustainable household development. This research examines the unique status and impact of remittances on Latine people working in the US and their family abroad, specifically those of Salvadoran and Mexican descent. In order to do so, the research is a qualitative case study that employs testimonio-style qualitative interviews of remitters. Five qualitative individual interviews were conducted, where participants discuss their feelings about: financial wellbeing, remittance arrangements, relationships with receiving family, financial stress levels, senses of obligation, reflections about remitting and more. The participant’s shared their motivation for sending remittances, how the arrangement began, and what their purposes were. During the interviews, the participant’s expressed a firm belief in the necessity of the money they sent. However, all participants believed the money would always be needed, and shared other complicated social factors in the impact and outcomes of their remitting.

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