Significance of the mass media in mid-higher education and university indigenous students inmigrated to Monterrey

The recent but intense flow of indigenous migrants to the Mexican border state of Nuevo León has made this region the primary recipient of Mexico's indigenous migrant population. Based on the hypothesis that the entry of indigenous youth into high-school and university education has a marked effect on the transformation of their ethnic identity, we examine the uses that these indigenous students have for certain mass media and the meanings that they award to such media. Using a qualitative method and in-depth interviews, we analyze how the different uses and meanings of film, television, and radio symbolize the process of identity transition for these youth who have migrated to Monterrey. Similarly, we identify how the "level of education" and "ethnic group" variables have a significant explanatory weight in interpreting these identity-construction processes.