Review, Miles, From Cuenca to Queens (U. Texas Press)

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A m er ic an Eth n o l o g i s tV o l u me 3 2 N u mb er 4 N ovember2005 postedNov 2005 Book ReviervsOn-line From Cuencato Queens:An AnthropologicalStory of TransnationalMigration. Ann Miles. Austin: Universityof TexasPress,2004.xiii + 229pp., rt&p, photographs,notes, references,index. Jason Pribilsky Whitman College Ethnographicstudiesof transnationalmigrationfrequentlysuffer from two tendencies:(l) an overly celebratoryperspectivethat seesmigrantsas agentsdefuingthe grip of nation-states and(2) a particularthinnessas researchers choosebreadthover depthin their ethnographic accountsin the nameof multisitedapproaches. From Cuencato Queenssuffersfrom neither of thesehandicapsand, instead,offers an often-sorrowful,experience-near accountof one family in the EcuadorianAndes caughtup in the throesof globalization.The book is a necessaryreminderof how an "extraordinaryevent" (p. 18a)like the migrationof a family membercan illuminateotherwiseeverydayaspectsof raisingchildren,maintaininga marriage,and coping with injuriesof racial and classprejudice. AnthropologistAnn Miles has carriedout fieldwork in Cuencafor over l5 years,pursuing researchinterestsrangingfrom childhoodto commercialnaturalmedicine.Eachfieldwork stint, however,alwaysbroughther into the intimatefolds of one family's life. In From Cuencato Queens,Miles capturesthe hardscrabble lives of the Quitasacasfamily over a tenyear period,chartingthe ups and downsof parentsLucho and Rosaas they try to get aheadin Ecuador'sperpetuallystagnanteconomyand watchingas their childrencareenfitfully throughadolescence. The story detailsthe family's migrationfrom the countrysideto Cuenca (andthe enduringties betweenboth locales),their confrontationwith Cuenca'srigid and racistclasssystem,and the tug-of-warof modernify.To tell this story,Miles revisitsthe lifehistory methodpioneeredby OscarLewis. While attentiveto the criticismsof Lewis's work, includingthe much-maligned"culture of poverty" concept,Miles takesher cuesfrom his ability to locatelargestructuralprocesses expressedin domesticsituations:"[] borrow from him the ideathat a sinsle familv can revealmuch aboutthe meaninesof culturein individual lives" (p. 7). Eachof the centralchaptersof the book profilesa differentfamily member'sperspective regardingthe eldestson Vincente'sundocumented migrationto the United States.The views of both parentsand his youngersiblings(presentedas a combinedchapter)are included. Vincente'sstory capsthesechaptersand further complicatesthe meaningsaccordedto his migration.Eachchapterunfolds in a highly readableformat,includinga brief introductionto the family member(and Miles's relationshipto him or her), a chronologicalselectionof field notes,and a first-personnarrative.In the final chapter,Miles bringsthe variousvoicesinto dialoguewith one anotherand deftly problematizes the black box conceptof "family." At her most perceptive,Miles demonstrates how eachfamily memberascribesdifferentmeaningsto Vincente'smigration.When it is obviousthat Vincente'shasnot met with quick enrichment abroad,Miles showsthe effect of this fact on differentfamily members.Eachpegshis or her life trajectoryand own successup againstVincente'slife abroad.Thejuxtapositionbegsan importantquestion:Who is really transnational? Vincente,who hasphysicallymigrated,or his family members,who havetied their own dreamsin Cuencato his successin the United States?

Candiddiscussionsaboutthe researchprocessalsogive this book the kind of transparency missing in much recentanthropologicalwriting. Specifically,the field notes-arrangedby month and year-stress the ways anthropologicalunderstandings form (often slowly) over time. Throughthis process,Miles putsan incrediblyhonestfaceon the researchexperience. Her chapteron Lucho is perhapsthe most telling in this regard.Miles's field notesare forthright aboutdifficulties shehad liking Lucho at beginningof her research.Yet, by the end of the book, Lucho figuresprominently,both as Miles's main informantand as one whoseown eventualmigrationhas severelychangedthe Quitasacafamily. Becauseof the emphasisplacedon fieldwork, this book would be a fine additionto an ethnographicmethods course.Surely,somereaderswill find the lack of authorialguidancea hindrance,and, indeed,Miles could havepushedthe methodologicalimplicationsof her uniqueapproach farther.Overall this book will be of interestto migrationspecialists, thosestudyingfamily systems,and anyoneseekingways to demystif'the fieldwork experienceand ethnographic analysis.Finally,Miles shouldalsobe commendedfor filling a criticalvoid in Andean ethnographyby providing one of the few ethnographicaccountsfrom the region not about indigenouspeoples.Although shepurposelyshiesaway from affixing an ethnic identityto the Quitasacas(they can be provisionallyrefered to as "chola/o"),her work highlightsthe problematicnatureof ever ascribingfixed labelssuchas "mestizo" and "lndian" to peoples of the Andeanregion.