Dear Blog readers,
Sorry that this post is a little late. I completed this post in Microsoft Word and thought that I posted it on Friday, but I was mistaken. This is a small sample of what my front page might look like when my project has it’s own website.
Political participation is a cornerstone of the civic responsibilities for individuals in a community. America has a myriad of ethnic, religious, and cultural communities that express political participation differently. If the motivations and capability of each community can be understood, new levels of engagement can strengthen democracy and the laws of society. Thus, many political scientists have researched the topic of Hispanic or Latinx community’s political participation.
As their communities grow, individuals of the Latinx community are migrating to non-traditional locations. For example, between 1990 and 2006, Latin American populations increased in North Carolina, Arkansas, and Georgia by over 500%(Odem & Lacy). While numbers largely increase in Southern and rural areas, Scholars Karen M. Kaufmann and Antonio Rodriguez point out that most research on political participation for Latinx individuals is carried out in traditional areas like Los Angeles and New York. Therefore, this project will focus on comparing traditionally and non-traditionally located Latinx communities and their barriers to political participation as well as their actual participation. Compelling research by Matt A. Barreto indicates that foreign-born populations are regularly ignored by the party structure but are more likely to vote than those born in America. Therefore, this research will focus on the capability and motivations for immigrant populations. This interactive map will allow users to compare different barriers to political participation such as: accessibility to public transit, amount of organizations meant to represent Latinx populations, and economic backgrounds. As users are able to turn on and off layers, they will be able to compare the locations structures and see the outcome of the advantages/disadvantages to political participation. Direct comparisons between locations will help to better understand what makes a location more viable for political participation. This research can be used to improve localities in integrating immigrant populations into American political culture.
Sources:
Barreto, Matt A. (2005). “Latino Immigrants at the Polls: Foreign-born Voter
Turnout in the 2002 Election.” Political Research Quarterly 58:1.
(WPSA: Salt Lake City). pp. 79-86
Kaufmann, Karen M. & Rodriguez, Antonio. (2009) Local Context and Latino
Political Socialization: Why Immigrant Destinations Matter, University of
Maryland: Collage Park.
Odem, Mary E. & Lacy, Elaine. (2009). Latino Immigrants and the
Transformation of the U.S. South, The University of Georgia Press: Athens
and London.