Carl L. Bankston III (born August 8, 1952) is an American sociologist, author and educator. He is best known for his work on

immigration to the United States Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and Culture of the United States, cultural change throughout much of history of the United States, its history. As of January 2025, the United States has the la ...

, particularly on the adaptation of Vietnamese American

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

, and for his work on

ethnicity An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, ...

social capital Social capital is a concept used in sociology and economics to define networks of relationships which are productive towards advancing the goals of individuals and groups. It involves the effective functioning of social groups through interper ...

sociology of religion Sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. This objective investigation may include the use both of Quantitative research, quantit ...

and the sociology of education.

Life

Carl L. Bankston III was born on August 8, 1952, in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. Bankston grew up in the New Orleans area. He earned a B.S. from

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

in Dallas, Texas at the end of 1974 or the beginning of 1975 and then moved to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. He completed an M.A. in history at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1980 or 1981. He entered the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

in 1983 and went to Thailand, where he taught English. Immediately after returning from Thailand, in the Spring of 1985, he took a position as a supervisor of teachers at the Philippine refugee processing center on the Bataan Peninsula. There, he helped to prepare

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

from

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

, and

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

for resettlement in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. At the end of 1989, Bankston returned to

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

from the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. For a few months, he taught Vietnamese American

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. He began working on a Ph.D. in sociology at Louisiana State University in the Fall of 1990. He finished his degree in 1995 and became an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). In 1999, he became assistant professor of sociology at

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

. He became an associate professor at Tulane in 2002 and a full professor in 2003. Bankston became co-director of Tulane University's Asian Studies Program in 2002. He became chair of Tulane University's Department of Sociology in 2006. He has been active in a number of professional organizations, including the

American Sociological Association The American Sociological Association (ASA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology. Founded in December 1905 as the American Sociological Society at Johns Hopkins University by a group of fi ...

, the Southern Sociological Society, and the Mid-South Sociological Association. He served as vice-president of the Mid-South Sociological Association in from 2003 to 2004. He was elected president of the Mid-South Sociological Association for the year 2007.

Awards

*Bankston's second book, '' Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States'', co-authored with Min Zhou, was widely recognized as one of the most important works on American

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

of the late 1990s. The International Migration Section of the

gave it the Thomas and Znaniecki Award for outstanding book on migration in 1999. In 2000, the book received the Distinguished Book Award of the Mid-South Sociological Association. *His 2002 book, ''A Troubled Dream: The Promise and Failure of School Desegregation in Louisiana'', co-authored by Stephen J. Caldas, won the 2003 Annual Literary Award of the Louisiana Library Association for best book on Louisiana published in 2002. The book was also featured at the Louisiana Book Festival in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

in 2003 and it was the subject of an “author meets critics” session of the Southwestern Social Sciences Association in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

in 2003. * Bankston won another award for a book published with Stephen J. Caldas, the 2007 Stanford M. Lyman Distinguished Book Award for ''Forced to Fail: The Paradox of School Desegregation'' (Praeger, 2005). *Another book published in 2002, '' Blue Collar

Bayou In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...

: Louisiana Cajuns in the New Economy of Ethnicity'', won the 2005 Stanford M. Lyman Distinguished Book *Bankston has also received recognition for his presented and published work. He won the 1999 award for outstanding paper from the Louisiana Education Research Association and the 2001 Award for outstanding paper from the Southwest Education Research Association. His article, ''Bayou Lotus: Theravada Buddhism in Southwestern Louisiana'' received the award for outstanding published article of 2000 from the journal Sociological Spectrum.

Bibliography

Books as author

''Science, Technology, and Society in the Third World ''
by Wesley Shrum, Carl L. Bankston III, and D. Stephen Voss (1995).
''Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States''
by Min Zhou and Carl L. Bankston III (1998)
''Straddling Two Social Worlds: The Experience of Vietnamese Refugee Children in the United States''
by Min Zhou and Carl L. Bankston III (2000)
''A Troubled Dream: The Promise and Failure of School Desegregation in Louisiana''
by Carl L. Bankston III and Stephen J. Caldas (2002).
''Blue Collar Bayou: Louisiana Cajuns in the New Economy of Ethnicity ''
by Jacques M. Henry and Carl L. Bankston III (2002).
''Forced to Fail: The Paradox of School Desegregation ''
by Stephen J. Caldas and Carl L. Bankston III (2005).
''Public Education, America's Civil Religion: A Social History ''
by Carl L. Bankston III and Stephen J. Caldas (2009).

Books as editor

*"Encyclopedia of Family Life" (5 vols.) edited by Carl L. Bankston III and R. Kent Rasmussen (1998). .

(3 vols.) edited by Carl L. Bankston III and others (1999)

(2 vols.) edited by Carl L. Bankston III (2000)
"The End of Desegregation?"
edited by Stephen J. Caldas and Carl L. Bankston III (2003)

edited by Carl L. Bankston III (2003)
"African American History"
edited by Carl L. Bankston III (2003)

edited by Carl L. Bankston III and Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo (2006)

References

External links

Review of ''Growing Up American''
from '' Journal of Asian American Studies''
Spencer Foundation Conference on Sociology and Education Reading ListVietnamese Americans: A Brief HistoryMid-South Sociological Association
*
The Hispanic Challenge
from The Wilson Center
Can Social Capital Explain Persistent Poverty Gaps?
from the National Poverty Center
Review of ''Public Education: America's Civil Religion''Bankston's Homepage at Tulane
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bankston, Carl L. III 1952 births Living people American sociologists Tulane University faculty Writers from New Orleans Southern Methodist University alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni University of Louisiana at Lafayette faculty Louisiana State University faculty 20th-century American social scientists 21st-century American social scientists