CAREER: Rural Transformation and Latino Transnational Migration and Settlement in the U.S. South

在过去的十年里，拉丁裔跨国移民的“新地理”已经出现，他们向美国东南部转移，并更多地“永久”定居。这种增长大部分发生在农村地区，这些地区已经从历史上的混血社区迅速转变为多民族社区。在过去十年中，北卡罗来纳州是美国所有州中拉丁裔人口增长率最高的州，为分析“早期”移民和定居过程提供了独特的机会。项目研究目标包括：1)确定关键的微观和宏观因素如何影响拉丁美洲人在南方农村的迁移和定居；2)解释拉丁裔移民和定居在南方农村如何重构了原籍和目的地社区的经济、社会和种族/民族关系；3)分析拉丁美洲人在时间和空间上建立的跨国网络和关系，将他们与祖国原籍地、美国门户城市和南方新农村家庭社区联系起来；4)确定最有效的方法来建立包括拉丁美洲人在内的新社区和经济发展倡议。这个多地点项目的地理重点包括北卡罗来纳州东部的三个农村社区，东部的邻近城市和米却肯州（墨西哥）Tierra Caliente地区的一个城镇，与北卡罗来纳州东部有很强的跨国联系。该项目将采用理论折衷的方法，包括多层次分析，性别分析，群体间关系和跨国范式。该研究将采用“混合方法”方法，包括：1)对北卡罗来纳州农村社区的拉丁裔家庭和非拉丁裔居民以及关键线人进行定性访谈；北卡东部非拉丁裔居民对拉丁裔移民和定居的态度和看法的定量调查；3)与墨西哥移民项目（MMP）合作的“米却卡罗来纳”跨国案例研究。通过一项研究、教育和推广的综合方案，该项目力求对日益增多的关于拉丁裔移民特别是向南方农村地区移民的新地理的学术文献作出重大贡献；开发迫切需要的课程，将移民研究纳入欧洲经委会的各种学术课程；指导和支持专门研究移民问题的少数民族研究生；并提供外联服务，以改善针对拉丁裔社区的服务提供。

Over the past decade a "new geography" of Latino transnational immigration has emerged with a shift towards the southeastern U.S. and more "permanent" settlement of families. Much of this growth has occurred in rural areas that have transformed rapidly from historically biracial to multi-ethnic communities. North Carolina, with the highest Latino growth rate among all U.S. states over the past decade, provides a unique opportunity to analyze "early stage" migration and settlement processes. Project research objectives include: 1) Identify how key micro and macro factors have shaped the migration and settlement of Latinos in the rural South; 2) Explain how Latino migration and settlement in the rural South has restructured economic, social and racial/ethnic relations in both origin and destination communities; 3) Analyze the transnational networks and relations Latinos construct over time and space linking them to homeland place of origin, U.S. gateway cities and new rural home communities in the South; and 4) Identify the most effective approaches to building new community and economic development initiatives that incorporate Latinos. The geographic focus of this multi-sited project includes three rural eastern N.C. communities, neighboring cities of the east and a town in the Tierra Caliente region of Michoacan (Mexico) with strong transnational ties to eastern N.C. This project will take a theoretically eclectic approach including multi-level analysis, gender analysis, inter-group relations and transnational paradigms. The research will employ a "mixed method" approach including: 1) Qualitative Interviews with Latino Families and Non-Latino residents in N.C. Rural Communities and with Key Informants; 2) Quantitative eastern N.C. Survey of Non-Latino Resident Attitudes and Perceptions of Latino Migration and Settlement; and 3) "Michoacarolina" Transnational Case Study in collaboration with the Mexican Migration Project (MMP).Through an integrated program of research, education and outreach, this project seeks to make a significant contribution to the growing academic literature on the new geography of Latino migration, particularly to rural areas in the South; to develop urgently needed curricula that will integrate migration studies into various ECU academic programs; to mentor and support minority graduate students specializing in migration; and to provide outreach that will improve service delivery for initiatives targeting Latino communities.