Spanish in the SEC. The Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. Southeast has grown considerably in the last few decades. However, little is known about how Spanish speakers in our region compare, linguistically, culturally, and socioeconomically, to those of more established U.S. Spanish-speaking communities. Moreover, much of the previous literature focuses on Hispanic communities in large urban areas. However, many areas in what has been termed “New Destination Communities” for Spanish-speaking immigrants are in non-metro regions of the U.S. South.

This metro-nonmetro aspect is yet another key distinction between the scholarship already available on Latinx communities in places like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, and that which has been almost nonexistent on Latinos living in areas where SEC Institutions are situated. The currently-proposed initiative aims to foster a number of long-term projects that are designed to address this gap in the literature and better prepare our region, and the SEC Universities, for this demographic shift.

Aims. The aims of this collaborative are to:

1. Bring together scholars and key stakeholders working on themes related to Spanish and Latinos in the U.S. Southeast, particularly in regions where SEC Schools are situated.
2. Identify research collaborations and funding across the SEC for this purpose.
3. Hold a yearly conference, rotated among SEC Schools, as a venue for promoting findings, key issues and collaboratives.
4. Create or identify open-access venues for peer-reviewed publications related to these findings.
5. Publish a yearly newsletter.
6. Encourage training and mentoring of students interested in this area of study while allowing for a network of specialists that can serve on theses and dissertations across the SEC Network of Schools.
7. Support educational opportunities for Latino and Spanish-speaking students at SEC Schools

Project Director: Stephen Fafulas, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Linguistics, University of Mississippi
Co-Project Director: Lewis (Chad) Howe, Associate Professor with affiliations in Department of Romance Languages and the Department of Linguistics, University of Georgia