I admit it: I liked calling myself an expat. Something about the word sounded cool, even though no Mexican has ever called me, or any other foreigner I know, an “expatriada.” They refer to us as either extranjeros or gringos.
I thought of this recently when two Mexico News Daily readers commented that my use of the word ‘expat’ in an article I wrote was offensive and elitist. I pointed out, defensively, that the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of expat is pretty innocuous: “a person who lives outside their native country.”
What’s not to like? But while the word ‘expat’ may seem neutral at first, its implications are not. As you probably remember from high school English class, there’s denotation, the literal, textbook meaning of a word, as opposed to connotation, the subjective idea or sense — positive or negative, but rarely neutral — associated with that word. And it turns out, the connotation of the word “expat” is very charged.
Unpacking the terms expat, immigrant, and migrant
What makes one person an expat and another an immigrant? I doubt most foreigners who move to Mexico think of themselves as ‘immigrants’. Moving here, for most of us, is a lifestyle choice and not the result of economic deprivation or dire circumstances in our home country, such as oppression or persecution. Even those foreigners who move to Mexico because they can’t afford to buy a home in the U.S. are still privileged economically, compared to most Mexicans.
The truth is, the word expat carries assumptions about class, race, education, affluence, and privilege, and usually refers to Western white people working or retiring abroad.
There are a few exceptions. For example, I’ve met professionals from India who work in the US high-tech sector. Although they’re not White, the kind of work they do gives them expat status (although they may be perceived as immigrants because they’re dark-skinned, just as affluent African Americans are sometimes stereotyped as people on welfare).
“Migrants” are people searching for higher pay and better living conditions, who move back and forth across a border to find work, like seasonal crop harvesting or construction. I’ve never met a foreign resident in Mexico who picks avocados and sends money back to their family in the U.S., the way Latino migrants in California pick strawberries and send money back to Mexico.
Then there are the foreigners who work within the Mexican economy, who don’t fit into any of these categories. In Guanajuato, for example, where my husband and I live, we know foreign residents who teach English at the University of Guanajuato or perform as musicians in the university symphony. Their salary is decent only by Mexican standards, and their pensions are small. These foreigners have the privilege that comes with skin color, without the usual economic advantages.
To me, the word “immigrant” sounds less affluent, more like a person searching for better economic opportunities, than the word expat, which sounds classy and hip. No wonder I liked the sound of it.
Changing the words we use will not, by itself, change the inequities that privilege brings, but it’s a start. How we refer to ourselves and others carries weight. I, for one, have decided not to use the term ‘expat’ anymore. I’m an extranjera, a foreign resident of Mexico.
How do you feel about the word expat being offensive in nature? Does it describe us best, or is there another word you would use when describing yourself?
Louisa Rogers and her husband Barry Evans divide their lives between Guanajuato and Eureka, on California’s North Coast. Louisa writes articles and essays about expat life, Mexico, travel, physical and psychological health, retirement and spirituality. Her recent articles are on her website, https://authory.com/LouisaRogers.
The author unwittingly identifies the exact problem with these terms – they have connotations which, as the author point out, are **subjective** associations with the word. A very vocal group apparently sees classist, racist, colonialist, what have you, connotations to the word ex pat or immigrant but not everyone does. So you get people trying to dictate what words people use based on their subjective associations with the terms. And no, the connotations are not universal and not perceived by everyone. I personally feel ex pat vs. immigrant has more to do with reflecting the level of commitment to the host country, i.e. does the person own property, pay taxes, earn in the local job market and perceive the host country to be their main or permanent home Do they perceive themselves to be part of the local society and their lives as inextricably linked to the fate of their host country or are they just passing through, seeing the host country as just some place they are “staying” for the moment, while their social, financial focus, etc. is on their country of origin? I think people would benefit immensely if they would realize that, besides the dictionary definition of the word, different words have different associations to different people and how they understand it might not be how you understand it.
That’s the problem with the thin skinned woke nowadays. Who cares what you want to call yourself . . . mind your own business and enjoy your Country of choice.
I have instructed my reporters to use “Expat” as “foreigner” has negative connotations in English and my readers are English speakers for the most part. I understand that Expat also has connotations, but we recognize that we are people who now live in an adopted county. As editor of Lakeside News in Ajijic, I publish many stories about expats and have had no complaints.
But there is always opportunity for change. Yes you publish for “expats” but your publications also directs “expats” on how they see themselves. Perhaps it’s time to look how those who are native to this country see as you call “expats” and what would improve their impression of those who have chosed to live in this wonderful country. In Canada I do not call people from another country an expat. I identify them as possibly an immigrant or foreigner.
In places that have expat”communities I’m sure that word is perfectly acceptable and if that is your primary audience makes perfect sense
As a person who came to share Mexico’s real culture, I live within the Mexican community, the city at large and most of my life is populated with everyday Mexican people I don’t care for that label. My dream of Mexico has finally come to exist after a lifetime of visits and 10 years of living. My Spanish is good enough to now have more Mexican friends than foreigners, and I live in a wonerful working class colonia in Zihuatanejo. I do have very good friends, those considered expats, who speak little Spanish and occupy large homes with new cars but mostly the heart of Mexico finally fills most of my life. I will forever have the privilege of being a foreigner when I choose, as a white. man with an American passport. My intention is th live long enough to get my Mexican passport, The only gringo I’ve ever known who was a true immigrant was the woodcarver Gerald Shaw. an African American from Boston who moved to Zihuatanejo in the early l960’s and lived as an artisan and as a campesino harvesting corn and other crops. He lived in a small palapa house and studio entirely off the grid which he bult with his own hands.
I will never be Mexican, but this country and it’s culture is what I admire most. and have chosen for myself and I live daily with the intention and joy of assimilating and sharing its roots as much and as deeply as possible.
I think your ideas about “expat” are worth seriously thinking about.
How expressing those thoughts becomes something to “mind your own business” about is baffling, because you didn’t force anyone read them. Maybe don’t read it if you are thin-skinned.
It would also help if people learned what “woke” really means. Maybe? Nope. They don’t have the civility to cope.
Here is an unconscious assumption on the author’s part:
““Migrants” are people searching for higher pay and better living conditions”
This is objectively untrue. A “migrant” is a person who moves from one country to another, period. Migrants can move for many different reasons.
My view of a migrant is someone (people) who are looking for a better life, work…yes they may move through or may be only in one location for work and returning to their home country.
When I lived and worked in Pto Vallarta tourism we called ourselves “gringos” because that’s what the Mexicans called us. It was good natured and non-judgemental. “Expat” was not a commonly used description in the 90’s as it is now. The term came into popular usage in the 1920s-1930s to describe artists/writers who had moved to Paris from the US to ply their trade in the creative (and inexpensive) atmosphere. Since I retired and having been living in Baja for the last 7 years, we don’t call each other anything but our given names. No assumptions or labels required except by the media.
Well, ro me, an expat is a person who decides to leave his or her home country to try to reside in another, with the freedom to go back and forth, to decide to try another country or just go back home.
An immigrant is someone who decides to move to an other country, settle down and establish roots. To gain employment, establish a family, kinda cut off ties to the home country but still have the citizenship to head back, etc.
My ancestors in the mid-1600s were British subjects who immigrated from England to the English Colony of Virginia in the Americas. In the 1770s, my Grandfather, a farmer in the Culpeper County Piedmont area, also was a Captain in the Culpeper Minutemen (a well-regulated militia). He turned traitor and fought with Washington to establish Virginia as a free and independent State in what became the United States of America.
A migrant, as the article says, is kinda like a person with no intended roots who often moves around to where the work opportunities are, often seasonal as in agriculture planting and harvesting. Or forestry, fishing, digital nomads who can work on-line anywhere if there’s Internet, etc.
Well, to me, an expat is a person who decides to leave his or her home country to try to reside in another, with the freedom to go back and forth, to decide to try another country or just go back home.
An immigrant is someone who decides to move to an other country, settle down and establish roots. To gain employment, establish a family, kinda cut off ties to the home country but still have the citizenship to head back, etc.
My ancestors in the mid-1600s were British subjects who immigrated from England to the English Colony of Virginia in the Americas. In the 1770s, my Grandfather, a farmer in the Culpeper County Piedmont area, also was a Captain in the Culpeper Minutemen (a well-regulated militia). He turned traitor and fought with Washington to establish Virginia as a free and independent State in what became the United States of America.
A migrant, as the article says, is kinda like a person with no intended roots who often moves around to where the work opportunities are, often seasonal as in agriculture planting and harvesting. Or forestry, fishing, digital nomads who can work on-line anywhere if there’s Internet, etc.
I am a “permanent resident” of Mexico as the law defines my status. The immigration law also provides for “temporary residents.” The vast majority of those who enter Mexico come as “tourists.” Some come to Mexico as Asylum seekers, which is a legal status. Many others, especially poor, those who cannot afford to obtain a legal status come as illegals. Permanent residents can become citizens and as best I know have all the legal rights of a naturally born Mexican.
As I am a citizen of the USA, could be a citizen of Mexico by simply applying, and am a permanent resident of Ecuador, I prefer to think of myself as an ” internationalist.”