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“In this probing investigation, a team of scholars in political science, religion, and Latin American studies offers a considered account of the complex global dynamics that shape immigration in America. . . .  In its compassionate and well-reasoned exploration of why migrants come to the U.S. and how they integrate into American Society, this book appeals to what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature” and makes a well-reasoned case for humane immigration policy.”

-       Publisher’s Weekly (read the entire review here)

“This is one of the most important recent books about immigration. … Focusing on the actual experiences of a wide range of unauthorized immigrants, the authors describe the texture of their lives, their contributions to their respective communities, and their intense urge not only to assimilate but to become productive citizens.”

            -  “20 Best Books from Independent Presses,” Huffington Post (read more here)

 

 

Marie Friedmann Marquardt

http://www.candler.emory.edu/faculty/faculty-bios/marquardt.cfm

Marie T. Friedmann Marquardt is a Scholar-in-Residence at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and the lead author of Living” Illegal”: The Human Face of Unauthorized Immigration (New Press, 2011). She earned a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Princeton University, an M.A. in Religion and Latin American Studies from University of Florida, and a Ph.D. in Ethics and Society from Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion.  She co -authored (with Manuel A. Vasquez) Globalizing the Sacred: Religion Across the Americas (Rutgers University Press, 2003) and has published several articles on religion, inter-ethnic relations, and civic participation of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. South.  In addition to her research on immigration, Marquardt has worked extensively as an advocate among immigrants in Atlanta.  She helped to organize and implement the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta’s “Justice for Immigrants” campaign, and she has convened and participated in several interfaith immigration forums.  She also is a founding organizer of El Refugio, a hospitality house outside the gates of the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.  Marquardt lives with her husband and four children in a very busy household in Decatur, Georgia.

 


Timothy J. Steigenga

http://www.timsteigenga.com/

Dr. Steigenga is a professor of political science and chair of the social sciences and humanities at the Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University (FAU).  He received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1996.  He is the author/editor of five books and numerous other publications on topics ranging from social movements in Latin America to immigration and religion and politics. Since moving to South Florida in 1999, he has worked closely with non-profits and local government authorities to do outreach and education on behalf of Palm Beach County’s Mayan immigrant community and has collaborated with civil society organizations in Guatemala to educate policy makers on immigration issues and foster positive transnational linkages. He has also volunteered as a fundraiser, grant-writer, public spokesperson, consultant, and conference organizer for multiple local and international non-profit organizations and academic institutions. In 2006, Dr. Steigenga served for six months in Guatemala as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar.  For the past  8 years, he has also served as co-principle investigator on two major Ford Foundation grants focused on the lives of Latin American immigrants in Florida and Georgia. During the summers of 2010 and 2011 he served as a public policy fellow  in Washington D.C. at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  Since 1999, he has been honored with multiple awards for his service and research, including a Dwight Allison Fellowship (2004), the Presidential Leadership Award (2005), the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Award of Excellence (2007), and the FAU Researcher of the Year Award (2008). 

 

Philip Williams

 http://www.latam.ufl.edu/People/williams.stm

Dr. Williams is Director of the Center for Latin American Studies and Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. Williams received his M.Phil in Latin American Studies and D.Phil in Politics from the University of Oxford in 1986.  In addition to Living ‘Illegal’: The Human Face of Unauthorized Immigration, he is author of The Catholic Church and Politics in Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Macmillan 1989), Militarization and Demilitarization in El Salvador's Transition to Democracy (University of Pittsburgh 1997), and co-editor of Christianity, Globalization, and Social Change in the Americas (Rutgers University 2001) and A Place to Be: Brazilian, Guatemalan, and Mexican Immigrants in Florida’s New Destinations (Rutgers University Press, 2009).  Williams has received a number of prestigious fellowships and grants from Fulbright, North-South Center, United States Institute of Peace, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.

 

 Manuel A. Vásquez

http://web.religion.ufl.edu/faculty/vasquez.html

 Manuel A. Vásquez is Professor of religion at the University of Florida.  He received his B.S. from Georgetown University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Temple University.  He was an Andrew W. Mellon fellow at Wesleyan University’s Center for the Americas. His area of expertise is the intersection of religion, immigration, and globalization in the Americas.  In addition to Living ‘Illegal’: The Human Face of Unauthorized Immigration, Vásquez is the author, co-author, and co-editor of number of books, including More than Belief:  A Materialist Theory of Religion (Oxford, 2011), A Place to Be: Brazilian, Guatemalan, and Mexican Immigrants in Florida’s New Destinations (Rutgers, 2009), Immigrant Faiths: Transforming Religious Life in America (AltaMira, 2005), Globalizing the Sacred: Religion across the Americas (Rutgers, 2003), and The Brazilian Popular Church and the Crisis of Modernity (Cambridge, 1998).