ABSTRACT
Introduction The U.S. South has become a significant new destination region for Latino immigrants (Murphy et al., 2001; Cravey, 2003; Fink, 2003; Furuseth, 2003; Mohl, 2003; Hernández-León and Zúñiga, 2002 and 2005). Scholars have examined the ‘supply-side’ factors driving this change in terms of three broad causes: the ongoing crisis in Mexico (Griffith and Kissam, 1995; Wiggins et al., 2002; Cabello, 2003); the role of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) (HernándezLeón and Zúñiga, 2000; Massey, Durand and Malone, 2003); and increasing hostility toward Latinos in traditional gateway regions (Durand and Massey, 1999; Massey, Durand and Malone, 2003). These factors alone, however, do not explain the changing dynamics of Latino migration in the South, or the fact that some areas have witnessed dramatic increases in their Latino population in recent years (in some counties, more than 1000 per cent). This suggests a need to examine the local context for these processes, including the political-economic changes driving the ‘demand-side’ of Latino migration, as well as the subjective dimensions of these new forms of migration. In our view, this means paying close attention to the ways in which rural context conditions the experiences of Latino migrants into the region. This is underscored by the fact that Latinos are increasingly settling in nonmetropolitan and rural areas of the U.S., many of which have experienced the highest Latino population growth rates (McHugh, 1989; Cantú, 1995; JohnsonWebb, 2002; Gozdziak and Bump, 2004; Kandel and Cromartie, 2004). Some scholars suggest that smaller nonmetro locations may feel a greater impact from migration (Hernández-León and Zúñiga, 2000) given the dramatic demographic shifts, the compressed migratory cycle and lack of experience with immigrants. Yet migration studies have paid less attention to the role of rural political economy in structuring migratory processes or how rurality shapes the subjective dimensions of the migrant experience. Our examination of Latino migration and settlement to
the rural South seeks to address this lacuna by elucidating how and why rurality matters in understanding migratory processes and how migration and settlement is experienced by newcomers in rural contexts.
