Transnational Communities in Eastern North Carolina: Results from a Survey of Latino Families in Greene County

Over the past twenty years, changing processes of globalization and economic integration have sparked an increase in Latino transnational migration to the United States. According to the most recent U.S. Census, Latinos are now the nation’s largest minority group, comprising 12.5% of the total U.S. population (U.S. Census 2001). The majority of Latinos qualify as recent immigrants, with more than 70% having been born outside the U.S. (Boorstein 1997; Suarez-Orozco 1995). One noteworthy feature of recent Latino migration has been the emergence of new destination areas, outside of the traditional gateway states of California, Texas and Florida. Among the most significant of these new growth areas has been the Southeastern United States. Census figures show that the Hispanic populations of the states in the Southeast grew an average of more than 200% between 1990 and 2000.1 As indicated in Table 1, no state in the country experienced a more dramatic increase during this time than North Carolina, which saw its Hispanic population grow 394% (Chatham County nd; Hyde and Leiter 2000; Johnson-Webb 2000; U.S. Census 2000a; Vargas 2000). This accelerated immigration and settlement of Latino families is profoundly reshaping the demographic, economic, cultural and social landscape of North Carolina (Cravey 1997 and 2000; ECU Regional Development Institute 1999; Johnson-Webb 2000; Johnson-Webb and Johnson 1996; Leiter et al. 2001; Skaggs et al. nd). Yet there is little understanding of the processes of migration at work or the reality of Latinos in specific locales within the state. Our contention is that the Latino migration experience involves a complex set of relationships that link spaces and communities across borders, in a fluid dynamic that we here call transnationalism (Glick Schiller et al. 1992; Glick Schiller and Basch 1995). We use this term to capture the ways in which Latinos maintain familial, cultural and economic ties to their ‘home’ and ‘host’ counties simultaneously, and thereby build and maintain networks and relationships that straddle nationstate boundaries (Cravey 2003). In what follows, we present initial results from the first phase of a study focused on better understanding Latino transnational migration in Greene County, a tier-1 agricultural county in eastern North Carolina that has experienced dramatic growth in its Latino population during the past decade (Figure 1). The overarching goal of the study is to specify the patterns, processes and impacts of Latino transnational migration and community building in Greene County as a means of understanding some of the broader migration trends impacting the rural South. Following a brief introduction to transnational theoretical paradigms, the remainder of this report will provide preliminary study results focusing on Greene County Latino family employment and migration histories, as well as connections to home place and integration into the non-Latino local community. This represents an initial step in comprehending the intricate and multi-faceted processes of transnational community building that are flourishing in rural North Carolina.