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Schmalzbauer studies changing state of Montaña
Hispanic influence in Montana is as old as all European exploration of Montaña. However, despite a two-century history in the Northern Rockies, many Latino families now reside in Montana along society's fringes, according to MSU sociology professor Leah Schmalzbauer.
by Jean Arthur |
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| Leah Schmalzbauer has brought to MSU her award-winning work on the sociological and economic impact of a transnational America. She has also helped develop a new Latino Studies minor at MSU that will examine the issues surrounding Mexican and Latino migration to Montana. |
Schmalzbauer, whose work has been cited in "The New York Times" and "The International Herald Tribune," studies immigrant families in crisis. Her research has taken her to sweaty, trash-strewn streets of Central America where she has studied some of the world's poorest people. Recently, she has turned her interest to immigrants in Montana.
"It's an interesting time in Montana to study immigration," Schmalzbauer says. "The fastest-growing immigrant communities in the U.S. are in the West, Midwest and Southeast. Jackson Hole, Wyo., actually has the fastest growing Latino community in the country in terms of percentage growth."
A recent census report revealed that Montana's Hispanic population increased from 18,227 in 2000 to 23,818 in 2006. Of that figure, 1,858 Hispanic people lived in Gallatin County in 2006.
The Minnesota native became interested in Latin America and Central America in college. Her master's degree is in international development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
It was during the post-Hurricane Mitch (1998) era, while Schmalzbauer was working on her Ph.D. at Boston College, that she noticed Latino immigrants in Boston were sending money, as much as 25 percent of their income, back to families in Central America.
"I realized that the reason for migration was because of economic crisis leading to family upheaval in Central America and a large demand for low-wage labor in the U.S.," she says. The global economy has reshaped the traditional Latino family, especially poor families that now rely on a parent or both parents to work in the U.S. and send money home, she believes.
Schmalzbauer and her husband, Steve Bruner, moved to the Rockies when he was hired to write a strategic plan for Yellowstone National Park. She applied for a position at MSU, where she has taught classes on globalization, gender, poverty and immigration and studied transnational families in the Department of Sociology since 2004.
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