Assistant Professor of Political Science Awarded Research Grant

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D. Xavier Medina Vidal, assistant professor of political science

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at University of Massachusetts Boston has awarded a $5,000 research grant to D. Xavier Medina Vidal, the Diane D. Blair Professor of Latino Studies and assistant professor in the Department of Political Science in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

Medina Vidal is one of three researchers chosen to receive the 2016 Andrės Torres Paper Series Award. Through a highly selective process, a national committee of Latino scholars chose three proposals for the award from researchers who have either attained their doctoral degrees in the past five years or finished their dissertation research.

The Andrés Torres Paper Series Award seeks to receive proposals that examine such topics as Latino immigration, the formation of U.S. Latino communities and the degree to which these communities preserve ties to their original countries. Medina Vidal's proposal touches on all of these topics, as well as on how each topic affects the lives of Latino immigrants.

"I proposed a project with the potential to make meaningful contributions to the study of transnational linkages, immigration and community formation," Medina Vidal said. "My manuscript examines the extent to which U.S. Latinas and Latinos maintain ties to their familial countries of origin via news media, and the extent to which this contact affects their participation in civic life in the U.S."

Medina Vidal said his work challenges the notion that maintaining social and political ties to Latin American countries of origin results in limited Latino integration into U.S. society, as well as limited participation in U.S. domestic politics. By focusing on the role of home-country mass media exposure, Medina Vidal's work is part of a larger research agenda aimed at a deeper understanding of Latina and Latino migrants' transnational political behavior.

As part of the Andrés Torres Paper Series Award, Medina Vidal will present his paper at UMass Boston and also submit a final version for publication.