Maya identity underscores the fact that there are many students who identify themselves as

indigenous in the town as well. Although there are no past baseline numbers with which to

compare, locals report that the presence of Maya in junior high and high school is recent, a result

of remittances from the United States. As reported in my work, Maya migrants' ability to send

their children to the municipal capital of Jalapa to attend high school also illustrates a marked

increase in indigenous education.

 Future Research

 What is the future of transnational migration research, and how does this research

contribute? Transnational migration research stresses the interconnectedness of individuals

within local, national, and global frameworks. Future studies need to focus on these different

relationship levels in order to further understand how global processes impact individuals and

communities, as well as how people respond to development. Within the many links of

individual-societal networks resulting from transnational migration, several key issues include

gender and ethnicity within the home community, and xenophobia and assimilation within the

receiving country.

Gender and Ethnicity in the Home Community

 If we continue to look at how transnational migration manifests itself in the home and host

communities, issues of identity will remain significant. Whether ethnic and gender inequality

will eventually diminish or disappear as a basis for individual migration depends on the

establishment of a long migration history (see Moran-Taylor 2003). There are many important

questions that need to be addressed: Will migration be able to change hundreds of years of

colonial power structures and enable indigenous peoples to regain economic and social status?

How will other national concerns, such as an increase in violence and economic and political

stability/turmoil in Guatemala, impede transnational migration's transformative qualities?