This thirteen-chapter volume, based on a conference held in South Africa in June 2003, describes and compares patterns of internal, regional and international migration in Africa, with comparative insights from Asia and Latin America. It strives to evaluate how migration and urban living influences well-being among movers and stayers in the context of rapid social, economic and political change that characterizes most African nations.

The authors, an international team of over twenty academics and experts in the field, push the frontiers of current African migration and urbanization research and strive for an original synthesis of insights from ongoing studies. The comparative focus highlights similarities across diverse contexts in order to bring place-specific processes into sharper relief. The study challenges certain traditional notions about migration, revisiting notions of the urban and rural, and explores how communication technology influences movement.

Topics considered range from broad comparative perspectives on linkages between population movement, urban structures and economic development to the spread of infectious diseases and the social regulation of migration flows. Issues of gender and ethnic inequities are incorporated and there is a strong focus on internal migration and urban systems within Africa. The study is structured in three sections: migration and urbanization in global and regional contexts; internal migration, employment and gender; and migration and population health.

Marta Tienda is professor in demographic studies, professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University; Sally Findley is a professor of clinical population and family health at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University; Stephen Tollman heads the School of Public Health's Health & Population Division at the University of the Witwatersrand and chairs the University's Population Program; Eleanor Preston-Whyte is currently a researcher in the field of social anthropology and holds a research professorship in the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

There is growing awareness of the common difficulties experienced by poor young people who grow up in cities--crime and juvenile delinquency, limited access to education, the spread of infectious diseases, homelessness, and high rates of unprotected sex. They must contend with weak families and social institutions, poor labor market prospects, and for the most unfortunate, the ravages of gang war and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Chapters in this volume present and assess comparative evidence on the well-being of urban youth and proven interventions for assuaging the deleterious effects of poverty.

Research clearly indicates that ethnic groups differ significantly on levels of mental and physical health, antisocial behavior, and educational attainment. This book explains these variations among ethnic groups with respect to their psychological and social functioning and tests competing hypotheses about the mechanisms that might cause the functioning to be better, worse, or different in pattern from other groups. Attention is paid to educational attainments, antisocial behavior, schizophrenia and suicide, and to the complex and changing patterns of ethnic identity. The book also focuses on evidence on risk and protective factors that is used systematically to ask whether such factors might account for the differences in both migration histories and ethnic mixture. It concludes with a discussion of the multiple meanings of ethnicity, the major variations among ethnic groups, and the policy implications of the findings discussed in the book.

Research clearly indicates that ethnic groups differ significantly on levels of mental and physical health, antisocial behavior, and educational attainment. This book explains these variations among ethnic groups with respect to their psychological and social functioning and tests competing hypotheses about the mechanisms that might cause the functioning to be better, worse, or different in pattern from other groups. Attention is paid to educational attainments, antisocial behavior, schizophrenia and suicide, and to the complex and changing patterns of ethnic identity. The book also focuses on evidence on risk and protective factors that is used systematically to ask whether such factors might account for the differences in both migration histories and ethnic mixture. It concludes with a discussion of the multiple meanings of ethnicity, the major variations among ethnic groups, and the policy implications of the findings discussed in the book.

There is growing awareness of the common difficulties experienced by poor young people who grow up in cities--crime and juvenile delinquency, limited access to education, the spread of infectious diseases, homelessness, and high rates of unprotected sex. They must contend with weak families and social institutions, poor labor market prospects, and for the most unfortunate, the ravages of gang war and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Chapters in this volume present and assess comparative evidence on the well-being of urban youth and proven interventions for assuaging the deleterious effects of poverty.

The recent nomination and confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice refocused public attention on the selection criteria that colleges and universities use to admit students. For decades the Supreme Court has repeatedly been asked to decide the constitutionality of racial and ethnic preferences in college admissions. However, this preoccupation with admissions neglects other important considerations in achieving campus diversity and narrowing gaps in educational attainment. What circumstances motivate students to attend and succeed in college? What factors influence individual students' decisions whether to apply and, if admitted, whether to enroll. Based on administrative data from the Texas Higher Education Opportunity Project (THEOP), recent studies have revealed these key insights: * The high schools that students attend are highly decisive for predicting which students pursue postsecondary education. * Application behavior (rather than admissions criteria) holds the key to diversification of college campuses along socioeconomic, geographic, and demographic lines. * Campus diversity is an interim goal for the broader vision of opening the pathways to leadership. The compelling articles in this volume of The ANNALS go beyond the worn argument that admission criteria are solely responsible for determining campus diversity. The authors address a broad range of questions in college decision making - from application to enrollment, college performance, and graduation. The first section of this volume reviews the precursors to college attendance as the first step to campus diversification. The authors discuss the importance of a college habitus. Articles also focus on the strong association between the ethno-racial composition of high schools and first-college preference. Along with key articles on narrowing the gender and ethnic gaps in specific fields of study, academic performance, and graduation rates, this volume also includes an analysis of the consequences of Texas's Top Ten Percent Law guaranteeing admission to any Texas public university for high school seniors who graduated in the top decile of their high school class. This forward-looking volume of The ANNALS is a requisite for students and scholars who want to examine alternatives that narrow ethnic gaps throughout the postsecondary cycle and provide more opportunities for talented, ambitious youth from disadvantaged environments to succeed, as Justice Sotomayor did.