ABSTRACT
To date the great volume of urban migration research in Latin America has largely dealt with the adaptive processes which people experience as they move permanently to cities (Butterworth 1971; Germani 1961; Lewis 1952; Mangin 1967; Matos-Mar 1961; Morse 1965, 1971; Pearse 1961; Schaedel 1974). Little attention has been paid to the effects temporary urban movements (Nelson 1976) have on people when they return to their home communities or towns, largely because these movements are not as prevalent as the former and also because it is somewhat difficult to locate and question returning or circulating migrants (Feindt and Browning 1972; Simmons and Cardona 1972). This paper discusses the impact an urban experience has on adolescent Yucatec shoemakers who move from the Maya speaking town of Ticul in Mexico to Belize City, the port and largest city of Belize (formerly British Honduras). The back-and-forth movements of these shoemakers fall into the ‘circulation’ definition of Zelinsky (1971: 225–6). They accelerate the process of attaining adult status in Ticul and instil a stronger feeling of Mexican national identity (mexicanidad) in those who move. Although the time they spend in Belize City is not long enough to effect changes in their basic value structures they become aware of values quite different from those in Ticul.
