Going to Carolina del Norte: Narrating Mexican Migrant Experiences

Going to Carolina presents the stories and art of immigrants living in Orange County, North Carolina and their families in Guanajuato, Mexico. In Orange County, most immigrants have moved from the city of Celaya in the state of Guanajuato to work and join their families here. In the Triangle’s service industry – restaurants, hotels, cleaning services, construction, for example – migrants make wages that average seven times what they make in Mexico. In their jobs as night-shift office cleaners, restaurant dishwashers, and agricultural workers with little English, living in segregated low-cost housing, Celayenses and other Latino immigrants fill a marginal and often invisible place in society. In Going to Carolina, their first-hand accounts reflect why and how they have settled in the United States (specifically North Carolina) and how migration has impacted child-raising, education, gender roles, and class divisions in origin communities in Mexico. Their artwork, inspired by the Mexican tradition of ex-voto religious painting, expresses their individual migratory experiences.

Books are available at the Bullshead Bookstore at UNC-Chapel Hill, The University Center for International Studies (223 E. Franklin Street Chapel Hill) or may be ordered online at www.ucis.unc.edu or by emailing ucis@unc.edu.

Contact: Hannah Gill (hgill@email.unc.edu)
University Center for International Studies
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
223 E. Franklin Street
CB#5145
Chapel Hill, NC 27599

78 pages (37 photos)
$10.00 ($3.50 extra for shipping and handling, checks or money orders accepted)