Fragmented Ties: Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America

In one of the most comprehensive treatments of Salvadoran immigration to date, Cecilia Menj var gives a vivid and detailed account of the inner workings of the networks by which immigrants leave their homes in Central America to start new lives in the Mission District of San Francisco. Menj var traces crucial aspects of the immigrant experience, from reasons for leaving El Salvador, to the long and perilous journey through Mexico, to the difficulty of finding work, housing, and daily necessities in San Francisco. Fragmented Ties argues that hostile immigration policies, shrinking economic opportunities, and a resource-poor community make assistance conditional and uneven, deflating expectations both on the part of the new immigrants and the relatives who preceded them. In contrast to most studies of immigrant life that identify networks as viable sources of assistance, this one focuses on a case in which poverty makes it difficult for immigrants to accumulate enough resources to help each other.

Menj var also examines how class, gender, and age affect immigrants' access to social networks and scarce community resources. The immigrants' voices are stirring and distinctive: they describe the dangers they face both during the journey and once they arrive, and bring to life the disappointments and joys that they experience in their daily struggle to survive in their adopted community.

Author: Cecilia Menjívar
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 07/21/2000
Pages: 319
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.99h x 5.98w x 0.76d
ISBN13: 9780520222113
ISBN10: 0520222113
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Minority Studies
- Social Science | Anthropology | Cultural & Social
- Social Science | Emigration & Immigration

About the Author
Cecilia Menjívar is Professor and Dorothy L. Meier Social Equities Chair in the Department of Sociology at UCLA. She is the author of Fragmented Ties: Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America (UC Press), among other books. Menjivar won the Julian Samora Distinguished Career Award from the Latino/a Sociology section of the American Sociological Association.