Journal of Latin American Studies
Volume 48, Issue 3, 2016, Pages 565-590

Educación o desintegración? Parental Migration, Remittances and Left-behind Children's Education in Western Guatemala (Article)

Davis J.*
  • a Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, United States

Abstract

Many Guatemalan parents migrate to the United States with the intention of returning earned income to improve the human capital prospects of their left-behind children. This laudable goal is achieved by many-arguably benefiting girls more than boys. However, negative international migration externalities including migration failure, familial abandonment, psychosocial harms and a culture of migration that disproportionally limits the educational prospects of boys need to be considered. Based on qualitative field interviews in western Guatemala with parents and educators, this article presents a nuanced view of economic migration and left-behind children's education, capturing both its remittance-related benefits and parental absence harms. © 2016 Cambridge University Press.

Author Keywords

Guatemala Education culture of migration international migration remittances Gender

Index Keywords

international migration education Guatemala [Central America] migrants remittance United States income gender human capital

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84957811196&doi=10.1017%2fS0022216X1600002X&partnerID=40&md5=7026ac21a395716f975645b939fbf786

DOI: 10.1017/S0022216X1600002X
ISSN: 0022216X
Original Language: English