Dr. Lise Nelson 
Professor 
University of Arizona 
School of Geography & Development 

Abstract:
Over the last three decades, domestic amenity or “lifestyle” migration has stimulated a process of rural gentrification across the United States, shifting landscapes of production to landscapes of consumption--from Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Highlands, North Carolina. My research investigates an under-appreciated dimension of rural gentrification: the recruitment of low-wage, mostly undocumented Latine immigrant workers essential to building and maintaining gentrifying landscapes and lifestyles. The talk at UC Boulder focuses on the emergence and consolidation of immigrant-based labor regimes in two case study communities between the late 1990s and late 2000s, Steamboat Springs, CO and Rabun County, GA, exploring qualitative data that illustrate how and why employers in gentrification-linked sectors recruited an unfamiliar labor force. I trace how, over time, employers transformed their business model to reach new levels of profitability predicated on access to racially marked, “illegal” workers. I also discuss how these racialized labor regimes shaped life and work for immigrant newcomers navigating rural landscapes of affluence.