Reimagining the Immigrant (PDF)

BRIAN D. HALEY is Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the State University of New York College at Oneonta, USA and co-editor of Imagining Globalization: Language, Identities, and Boundaries (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

"The main focus of this book is the seasonal migration and permanent immigration of a complex array of Mexicans into the rural California town of Shandon and their and Shandon s subsequent transformations. Haley is able to extensively document and comprehensively analyze the complex dynamics of this migration and immigration because of his broad framing of the topic and his innovative methodology, based on long-term participant observation supplemented with relevant micro and macro quantitative and qualitative methods. Haley s documentation and analysis of the recent historic and ongoing complex changing sociology, culture, economics, governance, demography, and identity politics of Shandon and the region around it will be of great practical use to local administrators, government agents, and residents. But anthropologists will also appreciate Haley s incisive analysis of how all these pieces of Shandon fit together in larger macro contexts shaped by past and ongoing changes in California agribusiness and the politics, demography, economics, and identity dynamics of immigration. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the deep changes that California agrarian communities have and are undergoing." - Michael Kearney, Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, University of California, Riverside

"Haley provides fresh perspectives about the integration of Mexican immigrants in a small agricultural community undergoing tremendous transformation. He illuminates the significance of place for understanding how class and ethnic categories, identities, and a sense of community shift over time." - Patricia Zavella, co-editor of Women and Migration in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

"Reimagining the Immigrant tells an important story, the adjustment of a small U.S. town to new immigration from Mexico. It is notable for attending to the challenges and transformations faced by hosts as well as entrants. Haley's approach is nuanced and revealing, and