Leah Muse-Orlinoff

M.A.: Sociology, UCSD
B.A.: International Relations, American University

Entered grad program in: 2006

Areas of Specialization: International Migration, Economic Sociology

Leah Muse-Orlinoff is a PhD candidate in the Sociology department at the University of California - San Diego. She holds an MA in sociology from UCSD and a BA in International Relations from American University. Leah has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC-MEXUS), UCSD's Dean of Social Sciences, and the Department of Sociology at UCSD to conduct research on binational migrant networks in the United States, Mexico, and Spain. Her current research focuses on immigrant entrepreneurs’ business networks in San Francisco, California.

Starting in 2006. Leah spent four years as a graduate student researcher at the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies where she participated in research and analysis projects on immigration to the United States and Spain. From 2008-2010, Leah served as Field Research Coordinator for the Mexican Migration Field Research and Training Program at CCIS. She oversaw research design and implementation for undergraduate and graduate students from UCSD and partner institutions in Mexico who were conducting extensive survey and qualitative research in Mexican migrant-sending towns and their US satellite communities. Results of these studies were published in Mexican Migration and the U.S. Economic Crisis, (La Jolla: Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, 2009), and Recession Without Borders: Mexican Migrants Confront the Economic Downturn, (La Jolla: Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, forthcoming 2010). Leah has also co-authored chapters on migration and gender; the changing role of telecommunications in binational networks; and the effects of economic crisis on migrant-sending communities.

In 2008 Leah participated in the prestigious Harvard-Manchester Summer School on Immigration and Social Change in Manchester, England, and in 2009 she was one of fourteen students from around the world selected to participate in the International Sociological Association International PhD Laboratory for Graduate Students in Hayama, Japan.  Leah has presented at conferences in Spain, Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and speaks fluent Spanish. She also speaks conversational French and Russian and is currently studying Maya.

Selected Publications:

  • Recession Without Borders: Mexican Migrants Confront the Economic Downturn. David FitzGerald, Rafael Alarcón, and Leah Muse-Orlinoff, editors. La Jolla, CA: Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego. Forthcoming.
  • Mexican Migration and the Economic-Crisis. Wayne Cornelius, David FitzGerald, Pedro Lewin Fischer, and Leah Muse-Orlinoff, editors. La Jolla, CA: Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego. 2009.
  • “Long Distance Lives: International Migrant Networks and Technology in the United States and Mexico,” in Migration from the Mexican Mixteca. Wayne Cornelius et al, editors. La Jolla, CA: Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego. 2008. 
  • “Families in Transition: Migration and Gender Dynamics in Sending and Receiving Communities,” in Four Generations of Norteños: New Research from the Cradle of Mexican Migration. La Jolla, CA: Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego 2008.

Fellowships and Grants:

  • National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant
  • UC MEXUS Dissertation Fellowship 
  • Latino Studies Research Foundation Fellowship 
  • Tinker Pre-Dissertation Travel Research Grant from the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, UCSD  
  • UC MEXUS Faculty Grant (co-written with Wayne Cornelius) for field research in San Francisco, California, and Oxkutzcab, Yucatan. Title: Modeling Migrant Networks: Yucatecan Migrants in San Francisco, California
  • Field Research Travel Grant from the Dean of Social Sciences, UCSD.
  • Field Research Grant for field research in Sabinillo, Oaxaca, Mexico. Department of Sociology, UCSD.
  • UC MEXUS Mini-Grant for field research in Sabinillo, Oaxaca, Mexico, 2007-2008. Title: ICT-Based Communication Between Low-Income Oaxacan Migrants in San Diego County and their Families in the Mixteca Region of Oaxaca
  • Student-Faculty Collaborative Research Grant, Department of Sociology, UCSD  

Field and Archival Research Experience

Field Research Coordinator and Senior Graduate Student Researcher, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies. University of California – San Diego. 2006 – 2010.

Tunkas, Yucatan, Mexico. Mexican Migration Field Research Program, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego (January, 2009).

San Francisco, California and Oxkutzcab, Yucatan, Mexico. Proyecto “Cabeza de Cochino.” Funding from UC MEXUS. (December 2008 – January 2009).

Sabinillo, Oaxaca, Mexico and Oceanside, California. Migrants and ICT’s. Funding from UC-MEXUS and Department of Sociology, UCSD. (January - July, 2008).

San Miguel Tlacotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico and Vista, California. Mexican Migration Field Research Program, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego (December, 2007).

Library of Congress, Washington DC. RICA (Race, Immigration, and Citizenship in the Americas) Project, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego (August – September, 2007). Funding from NSF and ASA.

Tlacuitapa, Jalisco, Mexico. Mexican Migration Field Research Program, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego (January, 2007 and January, 2010).

Conference Presentations

International Sociological Association PhD Laboratory, Hayama, Japan. Paper presented: “Migrant Entrepreneurs and Network Formation.” October 4, 2009.

IV Congreso Sobre Las Migraciones En España, Grupo de Estudios Sociológicos sobre Migraciones Internacionales, Universidade da Coruña, Spain. Paper presented: “Dándole vuelta al dinero: Estrategias microeconómicas familiares frente a una crisis macroeconómica.” September 17 – 19, 2009.

Octavo Simposio Internacional Bienal De Estudios Oaxaqueños, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico. Paper presented: “Vidas a Larga Distancia: Redes Sociales Transnacionales y Tecnología de Comunicación en San Miguel Tlacotepec.” June 27, 2009.

Harvard-Manchester Summer Workshop on Immigration and Social Change, Manchester, UK. Paper presented: “Un Pueblo Unido, Un Pueblo Dividio: Emigrant Citizenship in Two Oaxacan Communities.” June 19, 2008.

“Migrant Networks and Information Flows: Technology Constraints and Community Responses.” First Conference on Ethnicity, Race, and Indigenous Peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean. UC-San Diego, May 22-24, 2008

“Una prueba sistemática de la teoría de empoderamiento femenino pos-migratorio”, I Seminario Internacional de Políticas Migratorias 2007 (Murcia, Spain). September 20-22, 2007.

“Gendered Migration: A Systematic Test of the Empowerment Thesis.” XXVII Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, Montreal, Sept. 5-8, 2007.

 

Mailing Address:
University of California, San Diego
Department of Sociology
9500 Gilman Dr. - 0533
La Jolla, CA 92093-0533