Since the publication of Duncan Watt's book “Small worlds,” a wide ranging renaissance in social network theory has emerged, persued in large by physicists and mathematicians. Often this new literature has ignored the robust and continuing discussion of social network theory dating back to the 1930s, within the social science literatures. In the spirit of bridging this gap, Professor Menjivar will talk about her research on immigrant social networks, how this came to be a topic of interest in the field of immigration and why it matters. She'll illustrate with ethnographic observations from her fieldwork.