MACMILLAN The Migration of Chinese Women to Mexico City (Historical and Cultural Interconnections between Latin America and Asia)

This book focuses on the migration strategies of Chinese women who travel to Mexico City in search of opportunities and survival. Specifically, it explores the experiences and contributions of women who have placed themselves within the local and conflictive networks of Mexico City´s downtown street markets (particularly in Tepito), where they work as suppliers and petty vendors of inexpensive products made in China (specifically in Yiwu). Street markets are the vital nodes of Mexican “popular” economy ( economía popular), but the people that work and live among them have a long history of marginalization in relation to formal economic networks in Mexico City. Despite the difficult conditions of these spaces, in the last three decades they have become a new source of economic opportunities and labor market access for Chinese migrants, particularly for women. Through their commerce, these migrants have introduced new commodities and new trade dynamics into these markets, which are thereby transformed into  alternative spaces of globalization. From the Back Cover "Alba Villalever's fascinating ethnography is a careful examination of the crucial role that Chinese migrant women play in Mexico City's ubiquitous popular markets, and a necessary new perspective on the rapidly increasing trade between China and Latin America. Its excellent writing and sharp methodology and analysis will make this book a must read for scholars in Anthropology as well as Asian and Latin American studies." -Fredy González, Associate Professor of Global Asian Studies and History, University of Illinois Chicago, USA This book focuses on the migration strategies of Chinese women who travel to Mexico City in search of opportunities and survival. Specifically, it explores the experiences and contributions of women who have placed themselves within the local and conflictive networks of Mexico City´s downtown street markets (particularly in Tepito), where they work as suppliers and petty vendors of inexpensive products made in China (specifically in Yiwu). Street markets are the vital nodes of Mexican “popular” economy ( economía popular), but the people that work and live among them have a long history of marginalization in relation to formal economic networks in Mexico City. Despite the difficult conditions of these spaces, in the last three decades they have become a new source of economic opportunities and labor market access for Chinese migrants, particularly for women. Through their commerce, these migrants have introduced new commodities and new trade dynamics into these markets, which are thereby transformed into alternative spaces of globalization. Ximena Alba Villalever earned her PhD in Anthropology from the Institute for Latin American Studies of the Free University of Berlin, Germany. Her research interests revolve around gender, migration, inequality and globalization. She has researched Chinese migration to Mexico for more than a decade. More recently, she has turned her sight to processes of forced migration and organized violence in Mexico. She is currently working as a Postdoctoral Fellow in a project founded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in the Institute for Latin American Studies of the Free University of Berlin. About the Author Ximena Alba Villalever earned her PhD in Anthropology from the Institute for Latin American Studies of the Free University of Berlin, Germany. Her research interests revolve around gender, migration, inequality and globalization. She has researched Chinese migration to Mexico for more than a decade. More recently, she has turned her sight to processes of forced migration and organized violence in Mexico. She is currently working as a Postdoctoral Fellow in a project founded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft in the Institute for Latin American Studies of the Free University of Berlin.