Sep 1, 2010

From UNC’s College of Arts & Sciences at http://college.unc.edu/features/august2010/article.2010-08-31.1514046966

Hagan wins Latina/o distinguished book award

Sociologist and CPC Fellow Jacqueline Hagan of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received the 2010 Distinguished Book Award from the Latina/o Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association.

Hagan, professor of sociology in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, was recognized for “Migration Miracle: Faith, Hope and Meaning on the Undocumented Journey” (Harvard University Press, 2008). Drawing on more than 300 interviews with men, women and children, Hagan focuses on an unexplored dimension of the migration undertaking — the role of religion and faith in surviving the journey. Each year hundreds of thousands of migrants risk their lives to cross the border into the United States, yet until now, few scholars have sought migrants’ own accounts of their experiences.

The book also won a 2009 Distinguished Book Award honorable mention from the Association for Latina/Latino Anthropologists, a section of the American Anthropology Association.

Hagan’s research interests include international migration, social policy, religion and human rights. She has written extensively on the effects of recent U.S. immigration reform initiatives on the rights and opportunities of immigrants and their families in the United States. She also has researched the impact of U.S. deportation policy on individuals and families on both sides of the U.S. border with Mexico and is currently studying return migration to Mexico from the United States.

Hagan is a fellow of the Carolina Population Center and the Center for Urban and Regional Studies.