Description
Book SynopsisAbandoning Their Beloved Landoffers an essential new history of the Bracero Program, a bilateral initiative that allowed Mexican men to work in the United States as seasonal contract farmworkers from 1942 to 1964. Using national and local archives in Mexico, historian Alberto García uncovers previously unexamined political factors that shaped the direction of the program, including how officials administered the bracero selection process and what motivated campesinos from central states to migrate. Notably, García's book reveals how and why the Mexican government's delegation of Bracero Programrelated responsibilities, the powerful influence of conservative Catholic opposition groups in central Mexico, and the failures of the revolution's agrarian reform all profoundly influenced the program's administration and individuals' decisions to migrate as braceros.
Trade Review"
Abandoning Their Beloved Land adds a much-needed Mexican perspective on a program that encompassed thousands of lives in different political spheres and localities for over two decades." * H-Migration *
"A major contribution to the literature on Chicana/o and ethnic studies, this volume will be invaluable for future research and scholarship on this critical subject." * CHOICE *
"Meticulously researched,
Abandoning Their Beloved Land provides an engaging narrative that makes this book accessible to non-academics, undergraduates, and graduate students alike." * Journal of Arizona History *
Table of ContentsContents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 • “The Urgent Need to Regulate Departures”: Federal-Level Administration of the Bracero Program
2 • “According to the Jurisdiction’s Necessities”: State-Level Administration of the Bracero Program
3 • “Long-Standing Political and Religious Differences”: Political-Religious Conflicts and Bracero Migration in the Greater Bajío
4 • “Lack of Work and Lands to Sow”: The Agrarian Reform and Bracero Migration in the Greater Bajío
5 • A “Mockery of Responsibility”: Municipal-Level Administration of the Bracero Program
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
