The New Dallas:
Immigrants, Ethnic Entreprenuership, and Cultural Diversity
A Collection of Student Papers

Edited by Dennis D. Cordell and Jane Lenz Elder
Published by the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University

Produced in a limited edition, on acid-free paper, 128 pages.

No longer in print.

ISBN 1-929531-04-4

The student papers included in this collection off tantalizing glimpses of the New Dallas. Apart form the very few titles cited in the volume’s footnotes, these essays represent the totality of academic research on the new international migration to the Metroplex. The research here is indeed preliminary. But, the essays, nonetheless, make several important points about the study of immigrant communities. First, they are testimonies to the richness of sources available for studying the topic. Second, and even more important, the histories represented here—of the Escobars from Morelia; Guatemalan refugees of Guatemaltecos Unidos en Dallas; Iranian Baha’is; Asian Indian students, engineers, and entrepreneurs; and Nigerian professionals and students of diverse ethnic backgrounds—dramatically illustrate the importance of understanding the particular contexts and conditions that led each group of migrants to leave its homeland. The essays by these students of history at Southern Methodist University demonstrate how absolutely vital it is to historicize the study of migration. The past indeed matters. If we stop, as do many politicians and government agencies, with the statistics describing and documenting migrants and migration, we cannot understand the new immigration, or the New Dallas. However, if we add historical background and understanding, these statistics turn into people and communities.

Back to Clements Center for Southwest Studies Homepage