Multiple belongings and Composite identities of young people from the South of Guanajuato, Mexico

Abstract

This article is based on semi-structured interviews with young high-school and sophomore students who came back from the United States to Guanajuato intending to analyse the life trajectory of young migrants based on the notion of multiple belongings and composite identities proposed by Amín Maalouf. Based on it we want to advance the idea that the perspectives that emphasize assimilation or transnationalism do not help explain the process of coming back, on a generation of young people who grew up irregularly in the United States and were forced to return to Mexico. We propose that a compound identity is emerging in the North American region, one that allows migrants and their children to develop multiple belongings to cultures, territories and jobs that facilitate the resilience of these young people in their life trajectories on different social spaces.