Missionary to migrant: How serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints impacts migration decisions

Gifford, Heather

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/112975 Copy

Description

Title

Missionary to migrant: How serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints impacts migration decisions

Author(s)

Gifford, Heather

Issue Date

2021-07-12

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Liao, Tim

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Liao, Tim

Committee Member(s)

• Leicht, Kevin
• Dill, Brian
• Manalansan, Martin

Department of Study

Sociology

Discipline

Sociology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Migration
• Religion
• Missions

Abstract

This project aims to gain a greater understanding of the role continued global hierarchical power differences between the Global North and South play in driving domestic, international, and transnational migration trends. The Philippines is one of the greatest sending nations of migrants to countries throughout the world, which is immensely driven by individual and household economic strategy as well as national economic infrastructure that buoys the countries financial survival and development making it an ideal focus for migration studies. This study asks: How does participation in western-based, immersive mission experiences change Filipinos’ views of their household’s relative economic situation and what impact do these views have on post-mission decisions?; How are these factors impacted by gender dynamics?; and What extended impact is there on household migration strategies and processes? Findings indicate that exposure to more diverse ranges of socioeconomic statuses during mission service caused missionaries to express increased levels of gratitude and contentedness for their pre and post mission lives and provided perspectives and tools that allowed them to create new blueprints and strategies for economic and familial success. Although increased contentedness after mission service should have mitigated missionary’s likelihood to migrate the wide array of resources provided by the mission such as social networking and church resources overcame this effect to pull missionaries into migrant flows. Gendered nuances showed that migration decisions were heavily impacted by stereotypical religious ideologies with women migrating prior to being married and having a family while men migrated after marrying in order to provide for their families and compensate for their wives wanting to follow central church doctrine and be stay-at-home mothers. Household focus groups demonstrated the cultural import placed on international migration as a status marker and its necessity for survival and economic progress while revealing an emerging trend of Filipinos circumventing household structures to migrate abroad without informing their families until arrival in the receiving nation. Non-informing migrants accepted contracts in Middle Eastern countries in order to avoid upfront costs that their households couldn’t shoulder and chose to leave without informing their family to avoid dissuasion and fear they knew their family would express about working in this region of the world. This study’s findings shed light on how foreign organizations of the Global North interact in complex ways with local cultures and livelihoods that infuse new ideologies, motivate new behaviors, and significantly impact migration trends.

Graduation Semester

2021-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/112975

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2021 Heather Gifford

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