本书是2014年9月在中山大学举办的“北美华工与近代广东侨乡社会”国际学术研讨会的论文精选，共收录21篇海内外学者用中英文写就的精彩论文，围绕北美华工与广东侨乡社会在历史发展中的相互关系进行了深入探讨，对深入了解北美华工在他乡奋斗发展的历程以及海外华人社会的演变，具有重要学术价值。
工字不出头？“金山歌”里的骡仔心声
谭雅伦(Marlon K．Hom)
美国铁路华工和广东侨乡基础性工程研究黄安年
北美铁路华工的历史、文学与视觉再现黄心雅
四邑银信中的乡族纽带与海外移民网络——以广东省台山县三八镇吉都里余氏家族书信为中心的考察石坚平
中泰民间关系的演进：以隆都镇为视域的研究黄晓坚
文献与田野中的侨乡妇女集体自杀研究——以清末以降的粤东留隍镇为中心钟晋兰
新中国成立以来美国粤籍传统侨团与祖籍国(地)关系的变迁李爱慧
跨国倡议网络与“回飞镖”效应：美国福州移民的跨国集体研究
黎相宜
侨批业的兴衰与海外潮人认同的变化浅说杨锡铭
缅甸粤籍华侨社会探源姜 帆
离散与认同：印度客家移民的文化适应与社会变迁周云水
Seeing Absence，Listening to Silence：The Challenge of Reconstructing Chinese Railroad Workers' Lives(Shelley Fisher Fishkin)
“Chinese Labor Migrants to the Americas，1850s to 1870s：Who Were They and Where did they Come From？”(Evelyn Hu－DeHart)
Historical Archaeology and New Research on Chinese Railroad Workers in North America(Barbara L．Voss)
Landscapes of Change：Culture，Nature，and the Archaeological Heritage of Railroads in the American West(Kelly J．Dixon)
Life and Deaths of Chinese Railroad Laborers：A Challenge to the Transcontinental Railroad as an American Miracle(Haiming Liu)
Uncovering and Understanding the Experiences of Chinese Railroad Workers in a Transnational Context(Yong Chen)
An Overview of the Zooarchaeology of Chinese Railroad Workers in North America(J.Ryan Kennedy)
Trackig the Chinese in Two Nevada Rail－Road Towns(Sue Fawn Chung)
Digital Visualizations——Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University(Hilton Obenzinger)
Interviewing the Descendants(Connie Young Yu & Barre Fong)
