The Ties that Bind: Mexicana Caretakers and Aging Americans Construct Kinship

In this paper, I examine how close care relations, sometimes resulting in kinship, are made between Mexican immigrant women employed as private care providers by aging Anglo‐Americans. This study is based on ethnographic fieldwork in Santa Barbara, California, between 2009 and 2011 and focuses on the informal care market. I discuss three case studies, applying insights from the new kinship literature, and I focus on one extended case to show how it reflects and challenges traditional notions of family in the United States. At a time when questions about what constitutes appropriate intimacy in paid care are rife, studies such as this are crucial to better understand the contexts in which other forms of kin relations may be created and solidified.