Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Power of Place: Ethnic Urban Geographies and the Negotiation of Central American Immigrant Identities in Atlanta, Georgia

对移民调整的传统理解假设，随着时间的推移，新移民逐渐融入一个规范的北美白人环境，逐渐失去他们的种族和/或国家身份。虽然同化研究往往过于简单化，并以种族身份的静态分类概念为基础，但最近的研究强调了身份的流动和变化性质。本博士论文研究改进项目将考察地方的重要性，概念化为社会空间背景，在谈判过程中由中美洲出生的亚特兰大，乔治亚州的居民的种族/国家认同。最近的中美洲移民不仅要驾驭他们在亚特兰大遇到的二元却又动态的种族结构，他们还必须就他们不断演变的个人种族认同观念与他人的看法进行协商，比如他们是谁，他们属于哪里。将采用定量和定性相结合的方法来解决以下研究问题：(1)中美洲移民如何适应亚特兰大种族结构但动态的定居地理？(2)亚特兰大最近的中美洲移民的种族/国家身份如何以及在多大程度上对亚特兰大的种族等级作出反应？(3)中美洲移民生活和体验日常生活的社会空间背景（如家庭和工作场所、娱乐场所、礼拜场所和购物场所）如何影响身份谈判的过程？连接这三个问题的一个关键主题涉及亚特兰大的中美洲移民接受泛种族“拉丁裔”身份的程度，以及种族身份的表达和意义在定义日常生活的各种社会空间背景中可能或可能不会发生变化的程度。该项目将拓宽当代美国移民经历的研究范围，并将为那些处理移民政策和/或移民生计和福利的人提供新的见解。此外，该研究项目将突出移民对亚特兰大等非传统目的地日益增长的影响。拉丁裔移民人口在美国南部迅速增长，这是一个历史上以缺乏移民和强烈的黑人/白人种族等级为标志的地区。亚特兰大经历了拉丁裔移民的迅速涌入，来自中美洲的新移民构成拉丁裔移民流动日益重要的组成部分。拟议的研究提供的见解将指导未来对亚特兰大和其他地方的中美洲移民的研究。通过加强地方和身份研究与新移民适应经验研究之间的联系，本项目也将为研究其他背景下的其他群体提供一个模式。该项目应具有一般的公共政策影响，因为它将强调需要针对特定群体的移民调整政策和倡议，以便了解这些群体与他们居住的地方之间的相互作用。最后，作为博士论文进步奖，该资助将为有前途的青年学者建立一个坚实的独立研究项目。

Conventional understandings of immigrant adjustment assume that newcomers progressively lose their ethnic and/or national identifications over time as they assimilate into a normatively white North American context. Although assimilation research too often is overly simplistic and based on static categorical notions of racial identity, recent research has stressed the fluid and shifting nature of identities. This Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement project will examine the importance of place, conceptualized as socio-spatial context, in the process of negotiating ethnic/national identity by Central American-born residents of Atlanta, Georgia. Not only must recent Central American immigrants navigate the binary yet dynamic racial structure they encounter in Atlanta, they must also negotiate their evolving personal notions of ethnic identity with perceptions of others as to who they are and where they belong. A mixture of quantitative and qualitative approaches will be used to address the following research questions: (1) How are Central American immigrants fitting in to Atlanta's racially structured yet dynamic settlement geographies? (2) How and to what degree do the ethnic/national identities of Atlanta's recent Central American immigrants shift in response to Atlanta's racial hierarchy? (3) How do the socio-spatial contexts in which Central American immigrants live and experience their daily lives (such as home and places of work, recreation, worship, and shopping) affect the process of identity negotiation? A key theme connecting the three questions concerns the degree to which Central American immigrants in Atlanta embrace a pan-ethnic "Latino" identity, and the degree to which the expression and meaning of ethnic identity may, or may not, shift across the various socio-spatial contexts that define everyday life.This project will broaden the range of research on the experiences of contemporary immigrants in the U.S., and it will provide new insights that may be useful for those who deal with immigration policy and/or the livelihoods and welfare of immigrants. In addition, this research project will highlight the growing impact of immigration on non-traditional destinations like Atlanta. Latino immigrant populations are rapidly growing in the southern United States, a region marked historically by the absence of immigration and a strong black/white racial hierarchy. Atlanta has experienced rapid influxes of Latino immigrants, and newcomers from Central America constitute an increasingly important component of Latino immigration flows. The insight provided by the proposed research will guide future research on Central American immigrants in Atlanta and other locations. By strengthening the links between studies of place and identities and research on the adjustment experiences of newly arriving immigrants, this project also will provide a model for research on other groups in other contexts. The project should have general public policy implications, as it will emphasize the need for immigrant adjustment policies and initiatives that target specific groups in order to understand the interplay between these groups and the places in which they reside. Finally, as a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award, the support will facilitate the establishment of a solid independent research program for a promising young scholar.