Sheds new light on the study of gender and kinship, as well as understandings of the state and transnational migration.

In her research with transnational Mexicans, Deborah A. Boehm has often asked individuals: if there were no barriers to your movement between Mexico and the United States, where would you choose to live? Almost always, they desire the freedom to “come and go.” Yet the barriers preventing such movement are many. Because of the United States’ rigid immigration policies, Mexican immigrants often find themselves living long distances from family members and unable to easily cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Transnational Mexicans experience what Boehm calls “intimate migrations,” flows that both shape and are structured by gendered and familial actions and interactions, but are always defined by the presence of the U.S. state.

Intimate Migrations is based on over a decade of ethnographic research, focusing on Mexican immigrants with ties to a small, rural community in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí and several states in the U.S. West. By showing how intimate relations direct migration, and by looking at kin and gender relationships through the lens of illegality, Boehm sheds new light on the study of gender and kinship, as well as understandings of the state and transnational migration.

"Boehm crafts an enthralling piece of feminist, anthropological writing that weaves the human side of immigration into her scholarship." - Journal of Youth and Adolescence

"Boehm's monograph is a poignant ethnographic account of displacement and resilience among Mexican transnationals who feel that they are 'neither from here nor from there.' It's also a critical review of current US border enforcement policies which exacerbate illegality and precariousness among migrants." - Border Criminologies

"[A] wonderful book that demonstrates that combining interviews with participant observationand doing it wellcan produce multiple benefits....There is a lot to learn from this timely book, and it should be read widely. I particularly recommend it to anyone interested in immigrant families, immigration law, citizenship, and families in general, but its appeal should go beyond academia. This book would be ideal for helping politicians and pundits to understand that political decisions regarding immigration law have broad and deep consequences, often beyond the territory in which laws are enacted." - Journal of Latin American Studies

"Fortuitously published just as the U.S enters new discussions about what to do with the legal status (and, thus, lives) of the very undocumented Mexicans she studied. Hopefully policymakers will read it and hear voices not likely to be at the negotiating tables. It is precisely this type of serious yet humane and deeply human scholarship that might change a few minds." - International Migration Review

"Recommended for all levels/libraries." - CHOICE