Date of Submission
Spring 2023
Academic Program
Human Rights; Latin American and Iberian Studies
Project Advisor 1
Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco
Abstract/Artist's Statement
This thesis aims to provide context to the history of Guatemala and the different waves of migration that occurred during the Civil War until the present. Over all, the themes of family, migration, relationships and conflict will be revealed. We start at the Civil War because this was one of the biggest events in Guatemalan history that redefined its demographic, especially among Mayan people, but also with great respect to how many families, individual members and children would migrate during and after this tortured period in time. The effects of the war, as well as migration and its impact on family relationships is still felt today, both in Guatemala and in the U.S. Even though there is much more to Guatemalan history than its history of violence, it matters for connecting the migration patterns that we have seen, which still continue into the present.
The first chapter examines the psychological impacts of migration on children and their relationships with the migrated parents or other guardians. Next, the second chapter speaks more directly about American politics in a more contemporary setting during President Obama and President Trump’s presidencies, as well as detention centers, forced separation and militarization of the border, specifically keeping children in mind and what all of these different key elements mean for them. The third chapter examines a case study done in Houston, USA on Guatemalan families, and also the torn identities of young immigrant adolescents and intergenerational conflicts that arise as a result of growing up in a culturally diverse household. In each chapter, like in each step of crossing into a new country, there are new challenges one has to face that are both physical and mental.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Baumann, Hannah Isabelle Thao, "From Guatemala to the United States: Migration and Family Ties" (2023). Senior Projects Spring 2023. 71.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2023/71
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.
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