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This paper aims to show the sociocultural adaptation strategy of a group of mestizo migrants from Chiapas residing in "Buenavistita," Laurel, Maryland, U.S. The methodology is qualitative, based on interviews and participant observation. The findings allow us to argue that the migratory experience forces them to loosen their identity boundaries inward the ethnic group to reconstitute themselves, survive away, and maintain their Mexican mestizo status. Resulting in the formation of territorial enclaves where they identified against those who label them as illegal, this being the way to defend themselves in a racialized society. This work contributes empirically to migration studies with the case of Chiapanecos mestizos. Although we conclude that the enclave is for them a refuge area, little can be said about other experiences of migrants from Chiapas around ethnicity and the blend of cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows how embodiment (ethnicity, gender and nationality) works as representations in the migratory process. This anthropological study about immigrant women in Chiapas uses the perspective of cultural racism. The analysis focuses on the way women from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador deal with representations of their otherness in Mexican territory. This work is the result of a postdoctoral research in Ecosur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]