COMMUNITY CASE STUDY article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Once a Useful Engine: A Multilevel Ethnographic Case Study on the Transgenerational Transmission of Migratory Trauma in Mexican-American Families in a Sanctuary City
Provisionally accepted
- Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
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This article explores migratory trauma from an anthropological perspective, using the case study of Dani , a Mexican-American adolescent diagnosed with autism and anxiety. Through an extended case methodology and the use of ethnographic vignettes, it examines the transgenerational transmission of trauma in migratory contexts, along with the school, linguistic, and emotional barriers migrant families face. The interpretive analysis of Dani 's drawing, Once a Useful Engine, serves as a central narrative device, symbolizing the tension between agency and structure in the lived experience of trauma. The article offers a situated reading of suffering, grounded in the concepts of memory, structural violence, and the micro, meso, and macro-level dynamics shaping Dani 's and his family's trajectory. Findings underscore the need for culturally responsive intervention models and propose public policy recommendations aimed at addressing the complexity of migrant family experiences in a more integrative and just manner.
Keywords: Migratory trauma, Neurodivergence, Transgenerational migration, Mexican-American families, high school, extended case study, ethnography
Received: 27 Jun 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 FERNANDEZ and Hamui-Sutton. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
MARIA LUISA FERNANDEZ, luisafernandex@gmail.com
Liz Hamui-Sutton, lizhamui@hotmail.com
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