ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the experiences of privileged marginality of Colombian and Puerto Rican software engineers that migrated to Boston's Route 128 during and after the 1990s dot-com boom. It examines the influence that Boston's Route 128as a particular urban suburban locality has in shaping the experiences and the meanings they create throughout their migration and settlement processes. The chapter presents analysis, which is based on qualitative interviews and ethnographic observations at the homes and offices of eight Colombians and seven Puerto Rican software engineers who migrated to Route 128 between 1996 and 2003. The chapter explores the lives and social identities of Colombian and Puerto Rican software engineers and discusses how their privileged marginality was experienced differently in urban versus suburban spaces and in the workplace. The rest of the sample used discourses that expressed neutrality towards nation-based constructs such as racial classification or Americanism, but that were founded on their class background and the cosmopolitan inclinations.