How do immigration policies from economically advantaged countries affect people in less advantaged countries especially in the global South and the immigrants who come in with these policies? This will be a talk on my new book Structured Luck: Downstream Effects of the U.S. Diversity Visa Program published by Russell Sage Foundation in April 2024. My talk takes us on a transnational journey to explore the societal, personal, and political implications of the U.S. Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, a policy that is an annual economic and cultural event in many economically disadvantaged countries around the world. It illuminates the trauma, resilience, and determination of immigrants who come to the United States through the DV program and closes with a call for the United States and other rich countries to develop policies that will better integrate their immigrants into society.

Onoso Imoagene is an Associate Professor of Social Research and Public Policy at New York University Abu Dhabi. She graduated with first-class honors in Sociology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Her main research areas are international migration and race and ethnicity, with a special focus on first- and second-generation African immigrants in several national diasporas including the British and American Diasporas. Her first book, Beyond Expectations: Second Generation Nigerians in the United States and Britain is the first book-length comparative study on the adult African second generation in Britain and the United States. Her second book, Structured Luck: Downstream Effects of the U.S. Diversity Visa Program, on the intended and unintended consequences of the US Diversity Visa Program on West African Immigrants published by Russell Sage Foundation came out in 2024. She is currently working on two projects: a survey on second generation Africans in the United States and the Africa/China Migration Project, a qualitative study of African women entrepreneurs in China and Chinese migrants in several African countries.