Struggle in Dreams: “Good Life” and Work Ethics in Indigenous Guatemalan migrants in Georgia, US.

Approximately 10% of the Guatemalan population lives in the United States, which makes up 3% of the Hispanic immigrant population since 2021. Between 2000 and 2021, there has been a 336% increase in the Guatemalan-origin population In the United States from 410,000 to 1.8 million (Noe-Bustamante, Flores, and Barroso 2022). This qualitative research explores the factors driving this migration and aims to humanize perceptions of Indigenous Guatemalan immigrants by examining their pursuit of el buen vivir (the good life) and economic opportunities. This research considers what the ‘’good life” entail for the Indigenous Guatemalan communities in Georgia, and how work facilitates these aspirations. I use semi-structured interviews and the Photovoice technique, a community-based participatory research approach that gathers participant-taken photographs and narratives to translate experience into knowledge, with Indigenous Guatemalan migrants in Georgia. The Photovoice technique allows for triangulation with the semi-structured interviews to facilitate deeper insights into aspirations and lived experiences. Data from the interviews and photographs will be qualitatively coded to identify recurring themes related to aspirations, economic opportunities, and perceptions of the good life. Expected results include conceptualizing the good life for the Indigenous Guatemalan community members as a sense of purpose contributing to socio-economic advances such as sending remittances to family members back in Guatemala or contributing to local development within their native communities. (Nezahualcoyotl, 2015, 42) Identified economic opportunities contribute to conceptions of el buen vivir from afar. The findings highlight a paradox: economic opportunities in the US, and the lack of them in Guatemala means that immigrants must leave in order to provide the good life for themselves and their extended family back home, which is also what the emigration statistics out of Guatemala demonstrate.