With its origin in Greek where "diaspora" as a noun means "a dispersion" or as a verb means to "scatter about", the term is used in this paper to refer to the dispersion or scattering of Africans from their original African homeland and now live in countries other than their own. Indeed some Africans have dispersed…

The social, cultural, and economic transitions in rural areas across the globe lead us to critique the traditional "top-down" or "bottom-up" distinction as being outdated for contemporary rural policy. In Europe and the United States in particular, high rates of counterurbanization heighten the need for new ways of thinking…

This article describes some of the changes in regional employment over the past decade or so, with particular emphasis on the industrial components of those changes; then it examines some of the reasons for dramatically uneven regional employment growth, focusing on such aspects as population and business migration, regional income inequality, and…

A focus on rurality has been largely absent from much contemporary educational policy discussion. At best, rural education is a peripheral concern just as rural areas are increasingly considered marginal to the development of a globalized, networked, fast capitalism. In Canada rural, coastal, northern, and single-industry communities that were…

Using figures from the 1980 Census, the importance of relative earnings and culture in the choice of immigration destination (Puerto Rico or mainland United States) for immigrants from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean is examined. Not all differences in location decision are attributable to differences in reward structure by location. (SLD)

This report describes research on the impact of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), Public Law 99-603, on Mexico's economy and social structure. The purpose of IRCA is to control illegal immigration to the United States, and a key provision makes it illegal for employers to knowingly hire or continue to employ undocumented…

Explores the individual-level relationship of return migrant status to employment outcomes, taking into account local and regional factors such as the Puerto Rican level of employment. Findings using 1970 and 1980 Census data support a negative influence of return migrant status. Mediating factors are discussed. (SLD)

This report shows that the face of the Puerto Rican population in the United States has changed dramatically in recent years. The analysis is based largely on data from the 1980 and 1990 Censuses of Population, but it is supplemented by other sources. The number of Puerto Ricans in the United States has increased from close to 2 million in 1980 to…

Argues that it is easy to overestimate the additional emigration from rural Mexico that could occur as a result of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) related economic restructuring in Mexico. Four major reasons why Mexican emigration may not increase dramatically are suggested. Phase-in recommendations related to implementation are…

Aside from the growth of world population itself, urbanization is the dominant demographic trend of the late twentieth century. The number of people living in cities increased from six hundred million in 1950 to over two billion in 1986. If this growth continues unabated, more than half of humanity will reside in urban areas shortly after the turn…