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MARIAL CENTER COLLOQUIUM Peter Kilborn (Former New York Times national correspondent, author, affiliated MARIAL fellow) Rootless in Reloville: The New Mobile Homeless Wednesday, April 23, 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m “Relos” is short for relocatees, people whose corporate employers move them every three or four years. Each year, companies move about 10 million relos (including spouses and children), throughout the country and across the world. Their numbers grow as companies expand in the increasingly global economy. In an upcoming book, former New York Times correspondent Peter Kilborn studies the impact of frequent relocation on 12 families. He tracks their moves for two to four years. Among other things, frequent relocation is often ruinous for marriages, teenage children, and so-called trailing spouses who must give up careers to follow their breadwinners' careers. Relos represent a revival of (or a throwback to) the nuclear family with one, usually male, breadwinner. In shedding their roots, relos lose the day-to-day contact with the extended family of grandparents, cousins, etc., and long-time friends. Spouses' (wives') most common complaint is loneliness. They don't have time to make friends. Kilborn studies the impact of large populations of relos on the suburban communities – or relovilles -- where they roost. He looks at Alpharetta and Roswell, Ga., Plano, Flower Mound and Frisco, Texas, and towns in Douglas County, Colorado, just south of Denver. Relos, for example, tend not to participate in community affairs because they know they won't be there long. And builders and developers focus primarily on accommodating relos because they are the liveliest part of the market. Houses in relovilles all look the same in part because relos can't afford to take risks with the design of a house they know they will have to sell soon.
DIRECTIONS TO THE MARIAL CENTER The MARIAL Center is located on the 4th floor of the main building of Emory's Briarcliff Campus, |