United States Nationals in Argentina: The Relevance of the Middle Class Abroad to Migration Studies

Abstract

A concentration on the economic, social, and political impact of new arrivals on the United States has obscured understanding of the departure of United States middle-class cohorts abroad. This article claims that United States emigration and expatriation are relevant to understanding the United States nation-state. This human geographical displacement remains understudied by researchers and unnoticed by policymakers. Addressing two research questions—Who are the United States nationals abroad? And how do they experience otherness?—the article offers a roadmap for enhancing research on emigrant populations to guide policymakers on how to better understand the expatriates. First, we overview existing knowledge on this population from several perspectives, and then we provide descriptive and thematic anthropological analyses of a sample of United States nationals in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An explanatory framework interweaving three conceptual frameworks: dark anthropology, searching for elsewhere, and mobility, is suggested to contribute to understanding the social category of expat and further the understanding of the United States middle class abroad to benefit research, policymaking, and civic education.