KSU Professors Publish New Book Examining Immigrant Integration in Metro Areas

Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States, Edited by Paul N. McDaniel and Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez

KENNESAW, Ga. (Jul 11, 2024) — Have you ever wondered where and how immigrants are settling and integrating into cities and metropolitan regions in the United States? Kennesaw State University researchers Dr. Paul N. McDaniel, Associate Professor of Geography in the Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Dr. Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez, Associate Professor of Social Work and Human Services in the Wellstar College of Health and Human Services, explore this very question with their new edited book, Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States, from Lexington Books (an Imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, now part of Bloomsbury), which publishes cutting-edge, award-winning, peer-reviewed monographs in the social sciences and humanities written by both emerging and established scholars. This timely volume explores the ever-changing landscape of immigrant experiences in our nation’s metropolitan areas, and joins a long list of scholarly books that faculty across different disciplines at Kennesaw State University have authored and edited, including many published by Lexington Books. 

“Despite the velocity and scale of the cumulative changes of immigrant integration and receptivity infrastructures in fast growing regions of the United States, less research has focused on the new and evolving experiences in these regions in recent years,” Lexington Books describes. “Editors Paul N. McDaniel and Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez and the contributors in Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States fill this gap through case studies of different types of immigrant gateway metro areas. They provide insight into how immigrant settlement, integration, and receptivity processes and practices within each metro area have continued to evolve beyond the nascent experiences documented in the early 2000s. This interdisciplinary volume examines ongoing processes in not only well-established immigrant gateways, but also in previously overlooked regions. This book is a resource for researchers, students, and practitioners to contextualize the ongoing changes in new destination metropolitan regions in the United States and to learn from the challenges, opportunities, and best practices emerging from different metropolitan regional contexts.”

The book ventures beyond the well-known and well-researched gateway cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. Co-editors Dr. McDaniel and Dr. Rodriguez have assembled an interdisciplinary team of contributors, ranging from highly regarded senior scholars in the field, to emerging scholars and early career faculty, from across the U.S. to examine 14 fascinating case study metropolitan regions. These cases range from former and established immigrant gateways like Detroit, Washington DC, and Miami, to the emerging and fast-growing destinations of Atlanta, Charlotte, Greensboro, Nashville, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, and to the lesser-known immigrant gateway metro areas of Burlington, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Birmingham, Des Moines, and Reno.

“Assembling a diverse group of scholars and professionals, Paul N. McDaniel and Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez have produced an impressive volume on the transformative settlements of and receptivity for immigrants within fourteen U.S. metropolitan areas,” notes Wei Li, Professor in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University, co-editor of Immigrant Geographies of North American Cities (2012, Oxford University Press) and author of Ethnoburb: The New Ethnic Community in Urban America (2009, University of Hawaii Press). “This book provides an in-depth knowledge on different kinds of immigrant gateways and is good for both course reading and scholarly references.”

Through these in-depth explorations, the book sheds light on how immigrant settlement patterns continue to shift across the U.S.; how immigrants are navigating the challenges and opportunities of integrating into new communities; and how cities and metropolitan regions are cultivating a receptive environment for newcomers.

“The ‘overlooked’ metropolitan regions covered in Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States are particularly intriguing, as these are important sites of immigrant integration that prompt new questions and theoretical contributions,” observes Emily Skop, Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and Past-Chair of the Ethnic Geography Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers. “The editors of this interdisciplinary volume do a fine job weaving together key and emerging themes in immigration studies that is both smart and inviting to the reader.”

Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States is an interdisciplinary work presenting findings in each chapter that can shape future research and inform policymaking. This makes it a valuable resource for a wide range of readers, including:

• Researchers seeking the latest insights on immigration trends in different case study metropolitan regions.
• Students interested in migration studies and immigration, which transcends many disciplinary fields of study.
• Policymakers at multiple levels working on initiatives related to immigration and immigrant integration.
• Anyone curious about the complexities of immigration in the United States today.

The book was made possible in part through sources of support within Kennesaw State University that encouraged and uplifted the significance of this project. These include the Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences 2021–2022 Scholarship Support Grant and a 2022 Tenured Faculty Enhancement Program award, a highly competitive program funded by the President and Provost and administered through the Kennesaw State University Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (in partnership with the Kennesaw State University Office of Research). The multiple levels of support from Kennesaw State not only facilitated the realization of this volume but also validated the importance of understanding the evolving immigrant experiences within different metropolitan regions, including our own metro region of Atlanta in the southeastern United States.

Integration and Receptivity in Immigrant Gateway Metro Regions in the United States is the latest example of scholarship that places Kennesaw State University at the forefront of research on immigrant integration in the U.S. The research presented in the book provides a foundation for further exploration of human migration in the 21st century and is an example of work aligning with the mission of the Department of Geography and Anthropology and the Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences to prepare students with a liberal arts education that empowers them to understand the human condition, to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and to become contributing citizens in a global society along with Kennesaw State University’s R2 Roadmap goal to promote interdisciplinary research with relevance.