Research & Outreach on Latinos and Changing Communities in Missouri

Cambio Center News - June 8, 2006

New faculty fellow - Deborah Cohen, UMSL

Let us give a warm welcome to Deborah Cohen, Assistant Professor of History and the Institute for Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Missouri–St. Louis. She specializes in the interrelationship between migration and questions of race, gender, and nation formation in Mexico and the U.S. Her manuscript, "Bordering Modernities: Race, Masculinity, and the Cultural Politics of Mexico-US Migration," examines mid-twentieth century Mexican migration to the United States to show how race, modernity, and national identity in Mexico and the United States have been made in relation to each other and have reinforced the differences screened for at the border.
She will bring to the Cambio Center the much needed historic perspective.

USDA National Research Initiative Grant award!

I am very pleased to report that USDA-CSREES has approved a Cambio Center's research proposal led by fellows Corinne Valdivia (Agricultural Economics) and Anne Dannerbeck-Janku (Social Work), submitted to their very competitive and peer-reviewed National Research Initiative 2006 grants program. The proposal is titled "Asset Accumulation Strategies in Three New Settlement Communities," and will span research work for three years, starting in October 2006. Besides the co-PIs, fellows participating in this project are Steve Jeanetta (Community Development), Keith Jamtgaard (OSEDA), and Domingo Martínez. Also, other fellows provided ideas and took part in the discussions to write the proposal, back in December and January.This award --given to the Cambio Center's very first full fledged competitive grant proposal-- is a clear indication of the high quality of our researchers, the original and unique approach of the Cambio Center to the issues of immigration --including philosophy and multidisciplinary work--, and the urgency and relevance of the subject matter.

Cambio Center activities

• SW Missouri One-Day Cambio de Colores conference. We have narrowed down the dates to September 15 (most likely) or some other Friday in that month. Possible venues are MSSU (Joplin) and Crowder College (Neosho). We are working this in cooperation with the Ozark Regional Alliance and multiple stakeholders in the region. There will be another meeting Friday next week at Monett.
• Cambio de colores 2007: We will start soon to lay the groundwork towards Cambio de colores 2007.
• Cambio de colores Proceedings: We have sent to the publisher (MU Extension) the final copy of the Proceedings for Cambio de Colores 2004.

New Books at the Cambio Center

• National Research Council's Multiple origins, uncertain destinies – Hispanics and the American future (PDFs available upon request for fellows use only)
• The tortilla curtain by TC Boyle
• English-Spanish dictionary of health related terms
• Pocket guide to minority health resource 2005-2006

Some external reports and papers of interest

• New Mexico Fiscal Policy Project: "Undocumented Immigrants in New Mexico: State Tax Contributions and Fiscal Concerns. An estimate of tax contributions and service costs"
  http://www.nmvoices.org/attachments/immigrant_tax_report.pdf
• Executive summary of the report "Mexico-U.S. Migration Management: A Binational Approach," written by Agustín Escobar Latapí (Center of Investigation and Higher Studies in Western Social Anthropology) and Susan Martin (University of Georgetown).
  Executive Report:
  http://www.sre.gob.mx/eventos/fenomenomigratorio/docs/lagetionmigrengl.PDF
• UC Davis Migration Dialogue - Check especially the Rural Migration News
  http://migration.ucdavis.edu/

• The State of American Public Opinion on Immigration in Spring 2006: A Review of Major Surveys
  http://pewhispanic.org/factsheets/factsheet.php?FactsheetID=18
• Hispanic Attitudes Toward Learning English
  http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/20.pdf
• The Labor Force Status of Short-term Unauthorized Workers
  http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/16.pdf
• Estimates of the Unauthorized Migrant Population for States based on the March 2005 CPS
  http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/17.pdf
• Modes of Entry for the Unauthorized Migrant Population
  http://pewhispanic.org/factsheets/factsheet.php?FactsheetID=19