HGSE Faculty and Researchers Release Definitive Six-Volume Series on the New Wave of Immigration

During the second half of the 20th Century the United States has undergone a profound demographic transformation. At the end of World War II, the population of the United States was largely of white, European origin. At the new millennium, more than a quarter of the U.S. population is composed of members of ethnic minorities, including African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians. The future augurs further diversity: census projections suggest that in fifty years, the United States will be the only major post-industrial democracy in the world with ethnic minorities constituting nearly half of its total population.

In their six-volume series, Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the New Immigration (Routledge Press), editors Marcelo and Carola Suárez-Orozco and Desirée Qin-Hilliard of the Harvard Graduate School of Education explore the major features of the new immigration to the United States. The series contains the major scholarly contributions to the study of the new immigration to the United States published in recent years.

• Theoretical Perspectives on the New Immigration (Volume I) examines recent theoretical contributions to the study of the new immigration. Topics include differences between this new wave of immigration and large-scale immigration at the turn of the century; social, economic, and political motivations for immigration in the post-1965 migratory wave; and new immigrants' roles as actors in a globalized, transnational society.
• The New Immigrant and the American Economy (Volume II) explores the most significant debates around the economics of the new immigration, such as the fiscal implications of large-scale immigration; the economic progress of new immigrants over time; and the issue of competition between new immigrants and native-born workers.
• The New Immigrant in American Society (Volume III) look at how large-scale immigration leads to cultural changes for both new arrivals and native citizens. The essays in this volume explore issues concerning cultural assimilation; the idea of the "melting pot;" and views of native-born Americans toward new immigrants.
• The New Immigrant and the Family (Volume IV) brings together articles on the psychological consequences of immigration on the individual and the family. Topics include responding to the inherent stresses of immigration; changing gender relationships within the family as a result of immigration; how immigrant families protect their children; and intergenerational and cultural conflicts.
• The New Immigrant and Schools (Volume V) examines the educational adaptations of new immigrant children in our schools. The articles include new work on immigrant children, the issue of variability in the educational outcomes and processes among various immigrant groups, and the changes that take place over time as immigrant groups adapt to various sectors of society.
• Language and the New Immigrant (Volume VI) brings together essays by the leading researchers in the fields of language acquisition and sociolinguistics on a topic that has generated much debate: language practices among new immigrants. The essays in this volume focus on bilingualism and second language learning; language assimilation; the problem of first language loss among the children of immigrants; and the struggle of immigrant parents concerning which language their children speak.

Each volume stands as an independent contribution to immigration studies and is introduced by a brief preface written by the editors that outlines the major themes and debates emerging in the included articles and chapters. A bibliography of further recommended readings is also included. In addition to the six volumes, the most influential and seminal articles found in the series were selected for a single-volume paperback edition.

About the Editors

Marcelo Suárez-Orozco is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.Carola Suárez-Orozco is a senior research associate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The Suárez-Orozco's are leading authorities on the field of immigration and have published extensively in this area. They are the authors of the award winning Transformations: Immigration Family Life, and Achievement Motivation Among Latino Adolescents (Stanford University Press, 1995) and Children of Immigration (Harvard University Press, 2001). They are co-directors of the Harvard Immigration Project-an interdisciplinary, longitudinal, and comparative study of immigrant children and families from Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean funded by the National Science Foundation, the W. T. Grant Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation.

Desirée Baolian Qin-Hilliard is an advanced doctoral student at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research focuses on identity formation of immigrant Chinese girls. She is currently working for the Harvard Immigration Project and serving on the editorial board for Harvard Educational Review.

For More Information

Contact Margaret R. Haas at 617-496-1884 or margaret_haas@harvard.edu