Xavier Escandell

Xavier Escandell's research explores immigration, transnationalism, and race/ethnic relations in the context of Western and Eastern Europe and Latin America. His published work appears in journals such as Annual Review of Sociology, British Journal of Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Social Science Research, International Migration, International Migration Review, and Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies among others. His ethnographic work in Bolivia and Spain focuses on the socio-cultural integration of Bolivian families in pre and post-recession Spain, their transnational modes of parenting as well as processes of return migration. He has also published work on the contextual factors mediating the worrisome rise of racism and xenophobia in Western European countries and focuses on how demographic, civic, and political institutional environments impact perceptions towards migrants. He is currently working on a project about the Xuetes of Mallorca; a recognized social group that descended from Majorcan Jews, a community recently recognized in the 21st century, which has led to a newly galvanized Jewish community and the consolidation of the Palma of Mallorca Synagogue. Prior to obtaining his degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2005, he was a fellow at the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego. At Grinnell, he teaches classes on Global Ethnography, Immigration and Transnationalism and is currently serving as the director of DASIL (Data Analysis and Social Inquiry Lab).