Latino Migration and Neoliberalism in the U.S.South Notes Toward a Rural Cosmopolitanism

This paper examines the relationship between the discourses of neoliberalism and understandings of Latino migration in the rural U.S.South. As a set of economic policies, neoliberalism has provided the framework for the rapid globalization of rural areas and recent increases in Latino migration. At the same time, however, neoliberal discourse depoliticizes economic decision-making and promotes an ethical individualism that narrows the ambit of responsibility toward those same migrants. In opposition to such thinking, I explore the possibilities of a rural cosmopolitanism, which would expand a sense of obligation and mutual regard, and thereby promote a wider net of ethical responsibility.