Transnationalism and the political economy of mesoamerica

A young Maya woman sits at a sewing machine by the open door of a small adobe room, the only source of light. She is putting together a black sport jacket. It is a shiny polyester-and-cotton blend with a fashionable style. Her employer, who likes to copy some styles and innovate others, designed it. He purchases the materials in the city, designs and cuts the pieces, and then hires young, single women and men to assemble them. The woman is using his sewing machine, whereas other workers whom he employs work at home using their own equipment. While she sews jackets, two of her brothers with their father are planting their cornfields. Her older sister and her mother are at a tourism resort, a few hours away, selling handmade textiles to foreign tourists. And her uncle is in Los Angeles, California, working as a landscaper with other men from other Mesoamerican towns.