Latin American Research Group (LARG)

There is growing evidence that today’s migrants are making use of new technologies to maintain

meaningful relationships with people and institutions in their places of origin. At the same time, governments in migrant- and refugee-producing countries are increasingly interested in making or maintaining ties with emigrants. The diffusion of time-space compressing technologies makes it relatively easy for migrants to share news and make joint decisions with distant family members, travel back and forth to manage multiple residences, and send or receive remittances. They may also facilitate federal and local governments’ abilities to maintain contact with overseas constituents. Immigrants are engaging in transnational collective action, forming grassroots institutions that facilitate their ongoing economic and political participation in places of origin, and states are modifying citizenship regulations and foreign policy in order to include diasporas. While transnational linkages are gaining increased visibility, questions remain about the relationship between immigrant incorporation and transnational engagements.

The Latin American Research Group (LARG) is part of a York University based project on “Social Cohesion and International Migration in a Globalizing Era: Transnational Solidarities and Newcomer’s Incorporation in Canada” (Michael Lanphier, P.I.). The LARG research team focuses on the experiences of Latin American immigrants from Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and Ecuador and explores four main areas: 1) Families –particularly the experience of geographic separation among family members-; 2) Organizations –focusing on the institutional history of Latin American immigrants in Toronto; 3) States – addressing state policies toward emigrants in countries of origin; and 4) Remittances. The LARG team consists of faculty members Judith Bernhard (ECE, Ryerson University), Luin Goldring (Sociology, York University), and Patricia Landolt (Sociology, University of Toronto) as well as several graduate students. Reports and papers are being posted on the website as they become available.

For more information on Latin Americans in Canada, visit RELAC at http://reel.utsc.utoronto.ca/relac/

OR: http://www.yorku.ca/cohesion/LARG/html/families.htm