For those opposed to immigration, Miami is a nightmare. Miami is the de facto capital of Latin America; it is a city where immigrants dominate, Spanish is ubiquitous, and Denny's is an ethnic restaurant. Are Miami's immigrants representative of a trend that is undermining American culture and identity?
Drawing from in-depth fieldwork in the city and looking closely at recent events such as the Elian Gonzalez case, This Land Is Our Land examines interactions between immigrants and established Americans in Miami to address fundamental questions of American identity and...

Recent immigration is changing American religion. No longer only a Protestant, Christian, or even Judeo-Christian nation, the United States is increasingly home to religious traditions from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. The history, spirit, and institutions of Protestantism often shape the beliefs and practices of new immigrants and their societies of faith. But immigrants are also creating their own unique religious communities within existing denominations or developing hybrid identities that combine strands of several faiths or traditions. These changes call for new...

Documents and dramatizes the changing face of the American workplace, transformed in the 1980s by immigrant workers in all sectors. This collection of ethnographies aims to capture the stench of meatpacking plants, the clatter of sewing machines, the sweat of construction sites, and the strain of management-employee relations.

In addition to being a religious countryuover ninety percent of Americans believe in God--the United States is also home to more immigrants than ever before. "Churches and Charity in the Immigrant City "focuses on the intersection of religion and civic engagement among Miami's immigrant and minority groups. The contributors examine the role of religious organizations in developing social relationships and how these relationships affect the broader civic world. Essays, for example, consider the role of leadership in the promotion and creation of "civic social capital" in a Haitian Catholic...

Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, significant numbers of Haitian immigrants began to arrive and settle in Miami. Overcoming some of the most foreboding obstacles ever to face immigrants in America, they, their children, and now their grandchildren, as well as more recently arriving immigrants from Haiti, have diversified socioeconomically. Together, they have made South Florida home to the largest population of native-born Haitians and diasporic Haitians outside of the Caribbean and one of the most significant Caribbean immigrant communities in the world. Religion has played a...