Practicing solidarity: Mexican Hometown Associations in New York City

Araby Smyth, University of Kentucky, Department of Geography

I am interested in how people cope with and resist neoliberal governance and mainstream economic development in the US, Central America and the Caribbean. My recent research project analyzed how Mexican hometown associations in New York City surpass their initial goal of sending remittances and also offer wide-ranging community services. Commonly formed by immigrants in the US, hometown associations are organizations which send money collectively to their home countries in order to support public infrastructure and community projects. Much of the literature on hometown associations focuses on remittances within an economic development framework and the receiving region, while some scholars have shown how hometown associations are a gateway to new immigrant involvement in civil society. I add to this conversation, and argue that the activities that hometown associations initiate are a vital part of the creation of new immigrant spaces, shaping Mexican immigrant presence in New York City. Acting in solidarity, a concept I borrow from current diverse economies literature, hometown associations are motivated by mutual aid and support, practices that distance them from the neoliberal state, and I argue, are a form of resistance.