MARIL, Robert Lee 1947-

PERSONAL:

Born February 15, 1947, in Oklahoma City, OK; son of J. J. (a physician) and Merea (a homemaker; maiden name, Center) Maril; married January 4, 2002; wife, a professional artist. Education: Grinnell College, B.A., 1969; Indiana University, M.A., 1971; Washington University, St. Louis, MO, Ph.D., 1973.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Sociology, University of Texas—Pan American, Edinburg, TX 78538. Agent—DeAnna Heindel, Georges Borchardt, Inc., 136 East 57th St., New York, NY 10022. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

State University of New York—College at Brockport, assistant professor of sociology, 1973-75; Texas State Technical Institute, instructor in South Texas Migrant Program, 1975; Texas Southmost College (now University of Texas—Brownsville), instructor in behavioral sciences, 1976-86; University of South Alabama, Mobile, visiting associate professor of sociology, 1987-88; Oklahoma State University, Still-water, assistant professor, 1989-92, associate professor of sociology, 1991-98; University of Texas—Pan American, Edinburg, professor of sociology and department chair, 1999—, acting dean of College of Social and Behavior Sciences, 2002. Maril School (private bicultural high school), founder and codirector, 1980-83; Grinnell College, Roberts Lecturer, 1986. University of Wisconsin—Madison, research associate of Institute for Research on Poverty, 1997—; field studies include research on poverty in Oklahoma, gulf shrimping and fishing along the United States-Mexico border, Hispanic attitudes toward pesticide use in South Texas, and the U.S. Border Patrol. KOSU-FM Radio, weekly commentator, 1996-99; guest on media programs; consultant to U.S. Department of Agriculture, South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Research Institute, and Texas Department of Human Resources; legal and trial consultant.

MEMBER:

American Sociological Association, Society for Applied Anthropology (fellow), Rural Sociological Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Piper Award College Award, Texas Southmost College (now University of Texas—Brownsville), 1985; Book Award, Gustavus Meyers Center, 1990, for Poorest of Americans: The Mexican Americans of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas; cited among outstanding books in the social sciences, American Library Association, 1996, for The Bay Shrimpers of Texas: Rural Fishermen in a Global Economy; grants from Alabama-Mississippi Sea Grant Consortium, National Science Foundation, Texas Rural Legal Aid, Institute for Migration and Labor, Texas Employment Commission, Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, and Oklahoma Department of Commerce.

WRITINGS:

Texas Shrimpers: Community, Capitalism, and the Sea, Texas A & M University Press (College Station, TX), 1983.

Condos and Cannibals: Texas and Texans along the Coast, Texas A & M University Press (College Station, TX), 1986.

Poorest of Americans: The Mexican Americans of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1989.

Living on the Edge of America: At Home on the Texas-Mexico Border, Texas A & M University Press (College Station, TX), 1992.

The Bay Shrimpers of Texas: Rural Fishermen in a Global Economy, University of Kansas Press (Lawrence, KS), 1995.

Waltzing with the Ghost of Tom Joad: Poverty, Myth, and Low-Wage Labor in Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press (Norman, OK), 2000.

Contributor of articles and reviews to periodicals, including Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Contemporary Sociology. Cofounder and coeditor, Borderlands Journal, 1977-80.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

International Migration Review, winter, 1993, Matt S. Meier, review of Living on the Edge of America: At Home on the Texas-Mexico Border, p. 897.

Journal of American Ethnic History, Yolanda G. Romero, review of Living on the Edge of America, p. 128.

Journal of Economic Issues, December, 2001, William M. Duggar, review of Waltzing with the Ghost of Tom Joad: Poverty, Myth, and Low-Wage Labor in Oklahoma, p. 1044.

Publishers Weekly, August 3, 1992, review of Living on the Edge of America, p. 56.