Schooling in Micropolitan America: An Ethnographic Study of Diversity and Rural Transformation

• In Event: 66.079 - Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: 66.079-7 - Policy and Power in Rural Schools

Abstract

Rural settings are often characterized as stagnant and inherently devoid of difference. This obscures the reality that in recent years, immigrants have increasingly settled in small towns where low-wage, low-skilled jobs have been created as part of a broad restructuring of the U.S economy. Immigration to these “new destinations” has spurred not only their rapid growth but also their demographic, linguistic, and cultural transformation. Drawing upon the micropolitan classification adopted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2003 and an emerging body of social science research, we present our own ethnographic data from one notable community to develop a preliminary foundation for understanding the circumstances, opportunities, and struggles of education in these places immigrants are calling home.

Author

• Jennifer C. Ng, The University of Kansas