Eckstein & Najam Book Reviewed in Contemporary Sociology

najamecksteinresized

How Immigrants Impact their Homelands, a 2013 book edited by Professor Susan Eckstein and Dean Adil Najam of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was reviewed in the July 2015 issue of the academic journal Contemporary Sociology; a leading journal of the field published by the American Sociological Association.

In the issue (vol. 44 no. 4 503-504), Alex Trillo of St. Peter’s University says that the case studies selected by Eckstein and Najam prove that the impact of immigrants is a complex and far-reaching topic. His review says that while many of the ideas on immigration in the book are not new, the breadth of the case studies available in one place is of high scholarly value. 

From the text of the review:

“If you have noticed how much money immigrants currently send back to their home countries, you might be lured into thinking that this is a viable mechanism to reduce global poverty and inequality. The World Bank estimates that global remittances reached $550 million in 2013, with over $400 million going to developing nations. Analysts expect the numbers to increase, and some claim the money positively affects the everyday lives of home country residents. Of course, numbers do not always tell the whole story.

“How Immigrants Impact Their Homelands is a useful collection of case studies that shifts our focus from what happens in receiving nations to what is happening in the sending ones. This includes the effects of money, but also some of the less conspicuous outcomes. Ultimately, the book is convincing that remittances warrant more attention. It also prompts us to imagine a more humane kind of migration. But the disparities in starting points between successful and not-so-successful cases are many, leaving one to wonder about the possibility of real change.”

You can read the entire review here.

How Immigrants Impact Their Homelands examines the range of economic, social, and cultural impacts immigrants have had, both knowingly and unknowingly, in their home countries. The book opens with overviews of the ways migrants become agents of homeland development. The essays that follow focus on the varied impacts immigrants have had in China, India, Cuba, Mexico, the Philippines, Mozambique, and Turkey. Learn more about the book or purchase a copy here. 

Eckstein has held grants and fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Social Science Research Council, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Institute for World Order, a Mellon-MIT grant, the Ford Foundation, and the Tinker Foundation. Learn more about her here.

Dean Najam’s research focuses on issues of global public policy, especially those related to global climate change, South Asia, Muslim countries, environment and development, and human development. He has also served as the Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Lahore, Pakistan. Learn more about him here.