Norma Fuentes

Research Topics​

My current book, tentatively titled,When Women Come First: immigration, gender, race and boundary crossing compares the immigrant and work integration experiences of solo migrant mothers with those of mothers who come with spouses or male partners or to reunite with them in New York.  The findings illustrate how solo migrant and single mothers may be better matched for the fluctuating and informal conditions of service work as many are able to travel longer distances to accept live-in jobs or shifts and functions usually frowned upon by mothers with spouses or male partners.  The findings are timely as public officials and scholars once again debate the role of marriage and that of income redistribution as forms of poverty alleviation.  Another theme explored in this book -- building on my earlier research -- is how service jobs structure the racial and ethnic stratification of Latino immigrants in New York. New analysis is focused on how service jobs affect the integration or the crossing of racial and class boundaries among brown and black Latino groups. The findings reveal that gender, race, and immigrant status differently affect the integration and mobility prospects of Dominicans and Mexicans with more negative consequences for black and undocumented workers.  
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I am also completing analysis of field and survey research data for a second book project which will compare the immigration and educational mobility of Moroccan and Dominican mothers and their daughters in Amsterdam and New York City.  In addition, I am collaborating on two independent research papers examining the spatial integration and segregation of the US Hispanic population (with Dr. Marta Tienda, forthcoming in ARS, August 2014) and the role of race in the statehood and identity formation of Brazil and the Dominican Republic (with Dr. Edward Telles). I also continue my long-standing, collaboration with colleagues at Fordham University’s Center for International Policy Studies (CIPS) and El Colegio de Tlaxala, in Tlaxcala, Mexico, on a research project which compares the role of migration, technology and remittances on the mobility of capital and women in the Dominican Republic and Mexico.