SOME OF THE OTHER REASONS WHY PEOPLE MIGRATE Jorge A. Flores Ochoa In Peruvian anthropological literature there has come to be a tacit acceptance of the fact that so-called economic factors--sometimes not at all clearly defined--are the principal and almost sole motives for the movement of rural population toward the cities. This generalization is especially common in those studies directed toward practical ends such as application by various governmental agencies interested in bringing about socio-economic change (cf., for example, Arquinio and others 1966; Ayllon and others 1967; Castillo and others 1965; Dobyns and Vasquez 1963; Martinez 1963; Matos 1963; Ramon and others 1967; Vallejos and others 1967). Without discussing the question of what such studies really mean by economic, we feel it is necessary to call some attention to other factors that we have observed to be important motivating factors in emigration. Most frequently the generalization noted above is the result of brief periods of field work, almost always based on the use of questionnaires that are hurriedly filled, thus preventing the investigator from observing in greater detail the real motivations people have had for migrating. On the other hand, the people being questioned have discovered that an easy answer that will keep them out of trouble is to say that, "there's no work," "there's no land, " "there's a lot of poverty," "we are very poor," "we need a bit of money," "we have to get ahead," and so on through the entire spectrum of answers that can quite easily be grouped under the broad and sometimes dif- fuse rubric of economic factors. 40 Nevertheless, when a fairly lengthy period is spent in a community, it is probable that one will begin to note other and sometimes quite covert reasons that lead people to emigrate. After conversing personally with those who have decided to venture forth, hearing their stories, questioning rela- tives, friends and neighbors, becoming acquainted with the type of relation- ships existing within the family and community, it may be possible to determine with some degree of security how the mechanisms function that precede the initial decision to emigrate. Our intention is to indicate some of these factors on the basis of field data. In the village of Kaykay, capital of the district of the same name in the province of Paucartambo, department of Cuzco, the following work was carried out in 1965. Not only was a census with accompanying questionnaire admin- istered, but also enough time was spent on the site to become personally acquainted with almost all the inhabitants and to establish with them rela- tively intimate friendly relationships. Such activity was not especially difficult since the village contained only 74 nuclear families, a total popu- lation of 287 people, in permanent residence. Of these, 146 were men and 141 were women; and of the total, 129 were under 21 years of age. Agriculture is the basic economic activity in Kaykay. Crops include maize, some potatoes, broadbeans, peas, other garden vegetables and a fair number of fruit trees which are given little care and attention. Maize is of special importance since the local variety, called 'uchugullu, is in great demand in the area being renowned as an excellent ingredient in the preparation of 'aha (corn beer), giving special flavor and quality to the drink. Potatoes that provide the greatest volume as food, are acquired by barter, in exchange for work, and/or by sharecropping contracts with the Indians of the communities 41 of the punas or high plains. Cash is acquired mainly by women through small scale trading in the nearby railroad station of Huambutio, and through the sale of various prepared foods to the passengers of the railroad and of the trucks that ply the route to Paucartambo and the upper zones of the tropical forest. By means of this economic contribution, women exercise a certain amount of power and control over the family and their husbands. Cultivable fields are small and private property is very fragmented (com- munal lands are used only for pasture). The average holding is 0.65 topo (about 2,500 square meters per tpo) per person. Of 188.5 topo of privately owned land, we were able to determine that 105 are irrigated and 79 dry. Only sixteen families own more than 2 t of irrigated land. Even this land is of nominal value since water for irrigation is scarce and the greater part of the lands depend on rain for their production. This situation has caused the residents of the area to develop the variety of maize already mentioned, 'uchugullu, which is extremely drought-resistant and requires very little moisture to produce. Conflicts over land and water are constant and a perma- nent source of social tension. There is effectively no livestock raising since there is little pasture, although some families own an ox or cow and perhaps 3 or 4 sheep. Those who have more animals keep them on the high plains through contracts of aparcerfa (half share in increase) with the Indians. Nevertheless, many people engage in the sale of meat by buying butchering animals in the uplands for sale in the markets of Cuzco. There are certain aspects of social organization that are worthy of note. Within the nuclear family preference is given to relationships through the maternal line and it is the mother who, in the final account, maintains 42 family unity by the use of various means to force the children to maintain harmony. When the mother dies, thus breaking the control that upheld--at least formally--unity and cohesion among the children, discord begins to appear some- times reaching the point of verbal or even physical aggression. Numerous dis- putes originate in problems regarding inheritance and how to divide it. The accepted norm is for siblings to become enemies. "I don't know why we are like that, but we always fight among siblings," they affirm. If siblings aid one another in times of crisis it is more due to fear of public censure than because they actually want to do so. To counteract the weakness of family ties, informal groups based on friendship are formed in which one can find the help that would generally be sought within the family. It is these "friends" who collaborate in agri- cultural work, the building and roofing of houses, funerals, weddings, and cases of sickness and indeed in all cases where collaboration is needed. Such help is understood to be reciprocal. This small community has been a source of extremely active out-migration in approximately the last 15 years. No less than 181 persons have left the village during that time. Of 167 migrants for whom data were available, 56 were currently residing in the city of Cuzco and 53 in Lima. It is logical that Cuzco is the destination chosen by so many of the migrants because it is both close to Kaykay and accessible by road and railroad, as well as being the departmental capital. Lima, the national capital, is the great center of national migration and occupies second place among preferences for emi- grants from Kaykay. In addition to these two major groups, many migrants are situated in nearby locales such as Andahuaylillas, Huaro, San Salvador, and Rumiqolqa, which range from 3 to 15 km. distant from Kaykay (see Table 1 for details of distribution). 43 Fewer than one-third of all families in Kaykay had all members present at the time of the study, while 51 had one or more members living outside the community (see Table II). Although the length of residence outside the com- munity varies from less than one year to more than 21 years, of a total of 172 people for whom precise data were available, 116 had been absent less than 10 years (see Table III). On the basis of 181 responses, the distribution of emigrants by sex and age is as follows: ize Male Female Total 0-14 3 10 13 15-29 53 43 96 30-44 27 29 56 45-70+ 10 6 16 Total 93 88 181 The youth of the migrants is obvious. We believe that most of those younger than fourteen are children who accompanied their parents. There are, however, references to children who "ran away" from home. The following list indicates the reasons given for migrating as revealed by 180 responses to the questionnaire. It should be noted that these data are the result of information presented by relatives who remained in the village and not by the emigrants themselves. Reason for migrating Number of Persons Work 124 Study 14 Marriage 19 Other 23 44 We believe that it is in the category of "other" that we will find the real reasons for migration. On the questionnaire we encounter, under this cate- gory, such explanations as sickness, moving to live with relatives, accompany- ing siblings, serving godparents, eec. On the basis of the preceding data, it would appear that Kaykay is ideally suited to confirm the stereotype formed by many anthropologists and sociolo- gists who have attempted to study the motivations behind the migratory process. However, as was noted initially, when one remains in the field longer than the two or three days that a questionnaire requires, and begins to relate person- ally to members of the community, and listens to talk, and talks to someone who is planning to leave, one may learn of other motives that are not the stereo- typed and "known" ones. It is these other motives that we are attempting to show here using as a reference point the eleven migrants who left Kaykay during the six months that our control on migratory movement lasted. We believe that this number is an adequate sample since it represents more than twice--almost three times--the annual average for Kaykay. The eleven cases are outlined below. I. V.A., 18 years old, was studying in the village school. His father owned farmland considered as "good" relative to the rest of the com- munity, as well as a house and lot and fruit trees. As an only son, he had certain privileges such as a bicycle and some spending money. He was courting a little girl from the village and as they "went too far," he decided to leave the village and go to Lima where he had relatives, to avoid later problems. II. J.P., 9 years old, lived with a maiden aunt who cared for him. His father, a policeman, was frequently transferred until he finally settled in Puno where he married and, some years later, sent for his son in order to 45 have him close by. The child went under great protest, leaving his aunt disconsolate. III. N.L., a widower about 55 years old, lived alone. His daughter came to visit him. She had been living in Lima for about ten years, gotten married, and found a steady job. For two weeks she worked on convincing her father that he should decide to go to Lima. The most telling argument in obtaining his agreement was the fact that 'agha is also sold in Lima and, that near her house, there was a chicherLa (establishment where corn beer is sold) frequented by many people from Kaykay. IV. J.P., 19 years old, was the son of one of the "important people" of the village, a member of the municipal Council. He left town because his father decided he would. The father thought that a young man with a high school education should not continue to live in the village and that he should go to Lima to join the police force. J.P., as a good son, had to obey. It should be pointed out that his father was not a native of the village but rather a "son-in-law," a term applied in a rather contemptuous fashion to outsiders married to Kaykay women. He therefore did not have a very high opinion of the village. Also, J.P. had a brother, already a policeman, a fact that undoubtedly influenced the father's decision. V. N.M., 17 years old, had completed his studies in the local school. His is one of the clearest and neatest cases we have, since he was completely aware of his situation and explained that he wanted to emigrate because he wanted to see the world. He was one of those people who seek adventure; and when he decided to start out in the direction of Toquepala, he did it thinking in terms of adventure and seeing other places and finally going to settle in Lima. We could compare him to students who hitchhike all over the world with packs on their backs. 46 VI. F.N., 20 years old, got pregnant and, since she could not get married, had to leave the village in order "not to be ashamed" and not "to have to be seen.'" VII. E.Q., 17 years old, is a case very similar to that of N.M. He also, however, had a feeling that the rest of the community was continually watching him. He was always complaining that he could not do anything in the village because, "they are always looking at me," "everyone is always talking." Perhaps an excess of social control was what obliged this boy to leave, although it is also possible that he had certain psychological prob- lems that made him feel followed and watched. VIII. L.D., 16 years old, had a bitter fight with his father over the loss of a sheep and, very angry and upset, went by night to the nearby town of Huambutfo where he boarded the first truck that passed and went to Marcapata where he began to work in a sawmill. After two months he returned, contrite and repentant, but did not remain much longer in the village, soon traveling again, this time to Lima. IX. H.Y., 15 years old, left because his elder brother who lived in Lima sent for him to help, since there was no one to tend the house while the brother went out to work. The respect due to an older brother, together with his desire to know Lima, induced H.Y. to travel to the capital. K. F.H. was the son of a man of some means, owner of several pieces of farmland who also engaged in the sale of meat. When F.H. finished primary school, his father decided that he should attend high school in Cuzco. XI. R.H. was the twin brother of F.H. He left for the same reason as his brother. 47 An examination of these cases permits us to state that such reasons as "lack of work," "lack of lands," "lack of money," "desire to earn more," etc., do not always function in the way generally indicated--at least in this local- ity. We believe that if migratory processes were investigated in greater depth elsewhere, it would be found that similar results would be obtained with considerable regularity and consistency. To corroborate our own work, we cite the work of Aurelio Carmona who, in studying migration in Pampachiri, province of Andahuaylas, department of Apurfmac, made a number of valuable and inter- esting observations. It was possible to establish that one of the principal causes of emigration is the psychological need to experience new things although this need is expressed overtly as the search for economic security. In this respect, a student 18 years old said to us, "I can hardly wait until classes end so I can go to work in Lima. . 0 ." His parents are quite well-to-do peasants who live on a ranch, caring for their herds. They are paying for the secondary education of their son. Among their aspirations is that of having the help and presence of their son, since he is the eldest, with four younger siblings whom (said his father) "he has to guide in their studies, and help me to educate them; I am old now and one day my son will replace me." Nevertheless, during vacations the student (informant) left his village in search of work. He told us confidentially, "when I went to Lima I spent a lot of money. I did not find work, but I liked to know all the places. There I was with my mouth hanging open and my belly asked for food all the time, but I always remembered my parents, I felt really bad and wanted to go home. And now that I am here I want to go to Lima again. I wish I could go with my parents because now I do not like to live on the ranch. Last year I went with my parents to Cuzco. The city is very pretty. We were there several dayso My mother liked it more because she says that there is everything in the market, the only thing lacking is money. That time we went for pleasure, taking along some alpaca ponchos to sell. I stayed because I wanted to get a job so I could stay and study. The money ran out and I returned. ... Apparently the causes motivating the exodus are not only lack of work and economic resources, but also the desire to vary the monotony of the surroundings. Thus a state of expectation and experimental tendencies are created that are partly satisfied by living away from home territory although this process creates in the individual an anxiety of separation that periodically forces him to return to the old home ground. . . . (Carmona 1968:115-116) 48 In summary, when emigrants are questioned about the reasons that caused them to leave their homelands, among the most common responses is the state- ment that work or land were lacking. It appears to us that these responses represent a form of rationalizing the true motives and, at times, a means of giving an answer that will satisfy the investigator without compromising the informant. The study of migration is generally carried out by means of ques- tionnaires with a very short time spent in the field, permitting neither close acquaintance with informants nor recognition of the real decision making mechanisms. We recommend that factors other than those that have been accepted so uncritically up to the present be considered in explaining the motivations behind migratory processes, especially migration from rural to urban areas. 49 Table I CURRENT LOCATION OF FORMER KAYKAY Location Department Male Cuzco Cuzco 23 Lima Lima 26 Arequipa Arequipa 4 Huambutlo Cuzco 4 Qosnipata Cuzco 6 Paucartambo Cuzco 1 Quillabamba Cuzco 3 Quincemil Cuzco 1 Juliaca Puno 1 Sicuani Cuzco 2 Inkilpata Cuzco 2 Lamay Cuzco 1 San Salvador Cuzco Ilo Moquegua Huarochirf Lima 1 Hacienda Siqllabamba Cuzco 1 Ollanta Cuzco Quiquijana Cuzco 1 Huaro Cuzco Hacienda Qollotaru Cuzco - Vilcabamba Cuzco Andahuaylillas Cuzco 1 Urpay Cuzco 1 RESIDENTS Female 33 27 6 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1W 1 50 Total 56 53 10 7 6 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - Echarate Ma ldonado Santa Teresa Rumiqolqa Cajamarca Cuzco Madre de Dios Cuzco Cuzco Ca iamarca Totals TABLE II NUMBER OF EMIGRANTS PER FAMILY Total Number of emigrants 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 171 Number of families 11 5 16 6 6 4 1 1 1 51 51 1 1 1 1 1 84 1 1 1 1 1 167 83 LENGTH O0 Length of less thar Table III2 TIME SINCE LEAVING KAYKAY absence Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21+ (in years) of persons 12 19 8 12 15 10 11 4 10 4 11 4 7 1 3 8 2 1 2 3 9 16 Total 172 52 F NOTES 1The original title of this work is "Algunas de las otras razones por las cuales la gente emigra." It was published in Wayka 3, pp. 72-81, Cuzco, Peru, 1970. The present version was translated and edited by Patricia J. Lyon. Both Jorge A. Flores Ochoa and Aurelio Carmona Cruz have seen and approved the translation. Publication of the translation has been authorized by Flores. 2 The variation in totals shown on the tables reflects differential response to the questions asked. It was not possible to gather complete data on each of the 181 known migrants. 53 REFERENCES Arquinio Bringas, Jose, and others 1966 Sociedad, cultura y economia en 10 areas andino-peruanas: Asillo, Chumbao, Chuyas-Huaycho, Huata y Quita, Julcamarca, Layo, Pirapi, Soras, Taraco, Yancao. [Each study is separately paged, and they are authored variously by: ] Jose Arquinio Bringas, Francisco Boluarte, Cesar Fonseca Martel, Raul Galdo Pagaza, Humberto Ghersi Barrera, Hector Martinez Arellano, Juan Murrugarra, and Rolando Turpaud. 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