Two UF professors receive $450,000 grant to study Atlanta immigration

March 20, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Building on previous research, two University of Florida professors will use a $450,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to study social interaction between Latino immigrants and the established Atlanta community, as well as the multiple roles religion plays in shaping immigrant acceptance and incorporation.

Philip Williams, professor of political science, and Manuel Vasquez, professor of religion, are interested in the politics of encounter, a term used to describe what happens when a new immigrant group arrives in an area and makes its voice heard.

In Atlanta, ethnic relations have historically been shaped by the divide between blacks and whites, Williams said. But now, Atlanta has become a popular destination for Latino immigrants because of its burgeoning economy and increasingly cosmopolitan atmosphere, he said.

Williams and Vasquez will focus on immigrants from Guatemala, Mexico and Brazil and will work alongside scholars from those three countries who have been invited to participate in the project.

“Building linkages with intellectuals in Latin America can give the University of Florida an international dimension,” Vasquez said. “Immigration is not just a national issue. It’s a global issue.”

During the three-year study, the researchers will work with the immigrant communities and members of the receiving Atlanta community to promote peaceful and effective communication and cooperation between the ethnic groups.

The research and outreach programs will concentrate on places where disparate ethnic groups frequently come in contact, such as schools, churches and neighborhoods.
Focus groups and workshops will allow people to interact and understand each other better as well as provide an example for local organizations that will be dealing with these social relationships for years, Williams said.

“The project will produce academic publications, but we hope also to produce publications that are more useful to local organizations,” Williams said. This could include pamphlets, media articles and a Web site that could help organizations in Atlanta and all over the country, he said.

There is a long history of Latino immigration to places like New York, Miami and Los Angeles, but the expansion of Latino immigration to nontraditional destinations means that many communities will be dealing with these social issues in the near future.

Since nontraditional destinations like Atlanta have few pre-established immigrant networks, religious organizations are crucial to the adaptation, survival and well-being of new immigrants. Latinos are able to form new churches or join pre-existing ones and begin to join the community.

Williams and Vasquez studied the experiences of newly immigrated Latinos in Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach and Jupiter, Fla. for a previous project also funded by the Ford Foundation.

They found that there was a great deal of conflict at the local level due to the influx of immigrants for which the community wasn’t prepared. For example, in Jupiter, local residents were upset by the visibility of immigrant day workers who waited on street corners to be picked up by contractors, Williams said.

The researchers worked with the community to create a labor center that would address the problem, but even that solution was problematic. Many of the day laborers were undocumented immigrants, so the use of local government funds for the project generated controversy.

The professors knew the foundation was pleased with their previous work, and they were encouraged to apply for this second grant, Vasquez said.

“Obviously we are delighted to have the opportunity to continue our research,” Williams said.