Suicidal behavior and death by suicide are significant and pressing problems in the Bhutanese refugee community. Currently, Bhutanese refugees are dying by suicide at a rate nearly 2 times higher than the general United States population. Proper identification of risk factors for suicide saves lives and prevents suicides (Mann et al., 2005); however, if suicide risk is underestimated due to culturally inflexible risk assessments, preventable deaths may continue to needlessly grow. In a community sample of Bhutanese refugees resettled in Vermont (N=60), the current study aims to (1) test elements of a comprehensive conceptual model of incremental risk factors for suicide – adapted from the interpersonal psychological theory of suicide (IPTS; Joiner, 2005) – including suicidal desire, suicidal ideation, thwarted belongingness, and perceived burdensomeness and (2) test the relative contributions of suicidal desire and suicidal ideation as risk factors for suicidal behavior. Participants attended a single study visit at which they completed self-report measures administered in an interview format via an interpreter, if needed. Key measures included the Beck Scale for suicidal ideation (BSS; Beck & Steer, 1991), Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ; Van Orden et al., 2012), Wish to be Dead Scale (WDS; Lester, 2013), Refugee Health Screener – 15 (RHS-15; Hollifield et al., 2013), Postmigration Living Difficulties checklist (PmLD; Laban et al., 2005), Brief Biosocial Gambling Screen (BBGS; Gebauer et al., 2010), basic demographics questions, and qualitative questions about suicide within the Bhutanese refugee community. The analytic approach relied on the use of hurdle models, Fisher’s exact tests, hierarchical logistic regression, and independent samples t-tests to assess the relationships among aspects of our conceptual model. Although endorsement of suicidal ideation (n = 4, 6.7%) and suicidal behavior (n = 2, 3.3%; measured by combining the planning and concealment subscales of the BSS) was low in the sample, a substantial minority (n = 29, 48.3%) endorsed some desire to be dead. Perceived burdensomeness, but not thwarted belongingness, was significantly associated with both suicidal ideation and the desire to be dead. There was no evidence that the desire for death contributed additional risk of suicidal behavior, above and beyond suicidal ideation. Of participants with a history of suicide attempts (n = 4), none reported any suicidal ideation and 3 reported some desire to be dead. Neither desire to be dead nor suicidal ideation was significantly related to suicide attempt history. These findings have implications for suicide detection and prevention among resettled Bhutanese refugees. The cultural responsiveness of suicide screening in this population could be improved by assessing two constructs not typically assessed: desire to be dead (e.g., the WDS) and perceived burdensomeness (e.g., INQ). Explicit evaluation of these two constructs in Bhutanese refugees may increase the sensitivity of risk assessments without sacrificing specificity in comparison to assessments exclusively focused on self-reported suicidal ideation.

This thesis provides a criminological perspective on the Australian state???s responses to unauthorised migrants. In particular, it attempts to build on recent criminological literature on state crime by contrasting the alleged deviance of unauthorised migrants with the organised and deviant human rights abuses perpetrated by the Australian state. The main argument of the thesis is that through the systematic alienation, criminalisation and abuse of unauthorised migrants, particularly refugees, the Australian state is engaged in state crime. While this can partly be measured by breaches of international humanitarian law, the acts in question are criminal according to the broader sociological understanding of state crime as ???state organisational deviance involving the violation of human rights???. The thesis develops this argument by locating the phenomena of forced and illicit migration within an increasingly globalised world economy in which the needs for international human migration are confronted by the restrictive migration policies of the dominant Western states. In this context, the Australian state has played a pivotal role in the development of three major Western exclusion zones, which are designed to contain unauthorised migrants in the developing world and are enforced by measures that systematically abuse human rights. The fundamental criminological dynamic of the Australian exclusion zone is its systematic assault on the movements and by definition, the rights, of forced migrants. This operates at a number of levels: unauthorised arrivals are alienated by their lack of legal status; they are denied access to a full refugee determination process; their status as refugees is subordinated to that of the resettled refugee; their experiences are denied and delegitimised through their construction as queue jumpers; they are criminalised through their participation in smuggling enterprises; they are punished and abused through the use of detention, dispersal and forced removal; and they are put at greater personal risk by the measures employed to enforce the zone. The thesis traces the development of this zone from the formation of the white Australia policy through to the Pacific Solution and critically analyses the ways in which current policy draws on and reinforces the exclusionist traditions of Australian nationalism.

This thesis is a qualitative study of health practices of resettled Vietnamese refugees in Victoria, B.C. This thesis looks at the past and present sociocultural and political experiences of forced migration and resettlement which have influenced definitions, understandings and practices of medicine among refugees today. Previous studies of Vietnamese refugee groups have identified traditional Chinese medicine and biomedicine as complementary healing systems which are used. These studies report that Vietnamese refugee groups still experience sociocultural barriers to care after resettlement to their host country. This research found that resettled Vietnamese refugees in Victoria, B.C. still demonstrate a syncretic approach to medical practice which is also inclusive of traditional Vietnamese medicine (TVM). Using semi-structured interviews and participant observation methods to collect materials and gain a detailed understanding of how medicine is understood and used by resettled Vietnamese refugees, this study is based on interviews from a sample of 7 resettled Vietnamese refugees, six female and one male. I demonstrate that medicine is much more complex than simply practicing different forms of medicine. There are underlying sociocultural and political issues that continue to shape how medicine is defined and represented by resettled Vietnamese refugees today. This thesis identifies TVM as a recognized healing system and shows how perceptions of medicine and health have changed over the course of resettlement. Although forced migration and long term resettlement has resulted in the internalization of certain socio-cultural and political norms and expectations regarding medical practice, some of these changes have been beneficial for resettled Vietnamese refugees in Victoria, B.C. / Graduate / 0326 / 0566 / 0631 / jcly2@uvic.ca

This dissertation examines the two major forced moves of the Maasai in British East Africa in the 1900s, through which the 'northern' sections lost the greater part of their land, and non-violent resistance to these events which culminated in a landmark court case in 1913. The Maasai lost this action, the so-called Maasai Case, on a technicality. The dissertation amis to compare the parallel and contested narratives of the British and the Maasai about these events and related issues, drawing on original oral testimony and archival sources in Kenya and Britain. It attempts to address major omissions in the historiography which include a failure to examine these events from a Maasai perspective and include Maasai voices, to fully analyse their significance and effects, and to place Maasai responses to the moves within the context of contemporary African resistance. It focuses as much on people's perspectives as it does on events, and on a metaphysical as well as material realm. The immediate frame of reference is 1904 to 1918, with the broader frame c. 1896 to the 1930s. The two leading characters around whom the story revolves are Dr Norman Leys, a colonial dissident who orchestrated support for the Maasai in Britain, and Parsaloi Ole Gilisho, an important age-set spokesman of the Purko section who launched the legal action against the British. New evidence reveals the full extent of their actions, motivation and influence, and casts light upon the activities of other European colonial critics inside British East Africa. Secondary themes include the legal implications of the Maasai Case and Agreements; the relative powers of Maasai leaders and a critique of 'anthrohistorical' models; the complex relationship between Maasai leaders and prominent settlers; labour relations on highland farms; the post-war return of Maasai to their former northern territories; the role of East Coast fever in relation to the second move; disease as a social metaphor; and a reinterpretation of the causes of rebellions in 1918, 1922 and 1935 which may be connected to the earlier land alienation.

This thesis provides a criminological perspective on the Australian state???s responses to unauthorised migrants. In particular, it attempts to build on recent criminological literature on state crime by contrasting the alleged deviance of unauthorised migrants with the organised and deviant human rights abuses perpetrated by the Australian state. The main argument of the thesis is that through the systematic alienation, criminalisation and abuse of unauthorised migrants, particularly refugees, the Australian state is engaged in state crime. While this can partly be measured by breaches of international humanitarian law, the acts in question are criminal according to the broader sociological understanding of state crime as ???state organisational deviance involving the violation of human rights???. The thesis develops this argument by locating the phenomena of forced and illicit migration within an increasingly globalised world economy in which the needs for international human migration are confronted by the restrictive migration policies of the dominant Western states. In this context, the Australian state has played a pivotal role in the development of three major Western exclusion zones, which are designed to contain unauthorised migrants in the developing world and are enforced by measures that systematically abuse human rights. The fundamental criminological dynamic of the Australian exclusion zone is its systematic assault on the movements and by definition, the rights, of forced migrants. This operates at a number of levels: unauthorised arrivals are alienated by their lack of legal status; they are denied access to a full refugee determination process; their status as refugees is subordinated to that of the resettled refugee; their experiences are denied and delegitimised through their construction as queue jumpers; they are criminalised through their participation in smuggling enterprises; they are punished and abused through the use of detention, dispersal and forced removal; and they are put at greater personal risk by the measures employed to enforce the zone. The thesis traces the development of this zone from the formation of the white Australia policy through to the Pacific Solution and critically analyses the ways in which current policy draws on and reinforces the exclusionist traditions of Australian nationalism.

Academics have for decades written on the need to interrogate the labels upon which the field of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies has been founded. At the centre of these discussions has been theorising around the 'integrity' and 'content' of the refugee label itself, with foundational texts expounding the need to take nothing about the meaning and purpose of this label for granted. This is evidently important in popular accounts, where the term's misuse fuels anti-immigrant sentiments and societal mistrust, as well as for the futures of these populations, as multiple interpretations of their status affect attempts to negotiate durable solutions to their plight. Without denying the importance of these theoretical accounts, or the incredibly rich literature that has emerged on account of them, this thesis suggests that much of the theorising on labelling to date has lacked a clear theoretical framework around which to structure otherwise critical observations vis-à-vis the performative and malleable characteristics of language. It therefore introduces semiotic theories and methodologies as an approach for making sense of these manifold interpretations and their relationships to each other, and to explore what impacts this has on negotiations over refugees' futures. Associated theories are used to explain the controversial negotiations that surrounded the invocation of the Cessation Clause for Eritrean refugees in Sudan in 2002, and the ongoing attempts to apply Cessation to Rwandan refugees in Uganda. Both processes were mired by controversy, and yet almost no literature exists detailing when, why and how they unfolded as they did. Disaggregating the refugee 'label' through the semiotic frameworks provided by Saussure and Barthes helps explain the conceptual and spatial dissonance that plagued attempts to conclude these protracted refugee situations. Through doing so, this thesis seeks to make three main contributions. First, it provides these extended accounts of how decisions to apply Cessation are arrived at, thereby filling an empirical gap in literature on this process. Second, it presents a heuristic framework rooted in linguistic theories to explain how certain words and objects - including the refugee label - can see their meanings transformed and bourgeon over time, the mechanisms through which this distortion occurs and is accommodated within discussions over the treatment of refugees, and the implications that the application of this theoretical framework has for how we understand particular incidents of decision-making within the refugee regime. Third, these theoretical approaches are shown to result in key challenges to how the role, content and function of the word refugee have been conceptualised to date.

Orientador: Rosana Aparecida Baenginger / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T03:16:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Aydos_MarianaRecena_M.pdf: 2790086 bytes, checksum: 81eb81050bc30e17e6934bdf18a1f8a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Abordamos neste estudo a temática dos deslocamentos forçados em suas configurações jurídicas e analíticas. Apresentamos os deslocamentos forçados enquanto fenômeno social que ultrapassa os limites do estatuto jurídico de refugiado, envolve diversos atores e vincula-se a outros processos migratórios, e por nós incorporado no conceito analítico de migração forçada. Isso implica incluir a violência como um fator migratório importante, ressaltando que os movimentos populacionais não ocorrem apenas no terreno da economia e da liberdade das escolhas individuais, e sim em um território com forte presença de aparatos estatais de dominação e coerção. O debate conceitual é pautado por uma reflexão sobre o fluxo de imigrantes angolanos para o Brasil, da década de 1970 até os dias atuais. Apresentamos o contexto de origem da imigração de angolanos através de um breve histórico da Angola com ênfase na conjuntura de conflitos que marcaram a história do país e que forçaram parte de sua população a migrar. Utilizamos como fonte de dados os Censos Demográficos de 1980, 1991 e 2000 e a pesquisa amostral Condições de Vida da População Refugiada (CVPR, NEPO/UNICAMP-SDH, 2007). A partir dos resultados propomos uma análise das transformações que a imigração angolana no Brasil sofreu ao longo das últimas quatro décadas, buscando suas analogias com as transformações sofridas pelo próprio fenômeno das migrações forçadas. / Abstract: We approached in this study the issue of forced displacement in its legal and analytical settings. The forced displacement is presented as a social phenomena that goes beyond the limits of the legal status of refugee, involving different actors and linking to other migration processes, thus being incorporated into the analytical concept of forced migration. This means we must include violence as an important migration factor, noting that population movements occur not only in the field of economy and freedom of individual choices, but in an area with a high presence of state apparatuses of domination and coercion. The conceptual debate is guided by a reflection on the flow of Angolan immigrants to Brazil from the 1970s to the present day. We introduce the context of origin of the Angolan migrants through a brief history of Angola, focusing on the conflicts that marked the history of the country and forced part of its population to migrate. Our sources of data were the Demographic Census of 1980, 1991 and 2000 and the survey "Condições de Vida da População Refugiada" (CVPR, NEPO/UNICAMP-SDH, 2007). From the results we propose an analysis of the changes that the Angolan immigration to Brazil has suffered over the past four decades, seeking its analogies with the transformations undergone by the phenomena of forced migration. / Mestrado / Mestre em Demografia

This dissertation explores how people maintain, change, make, and remake their relations with certain places in a long process of displacement. Based on the life experiences of the reservoir relocatees who live in or pass through Xingang, the major pier of Xinfengjiang Reservoir in south China, it offers a historical and ethnographic description of how the displaced people make place in Xingang, which has been closely linked to the ever-changing politics of water in recent decades: from dam construction to water transportation, to eco-tourism, and to water supply schemes. This dissertation suggests that questions on memory and movement are central in understanding place-making in Xingang. By portraying the various strategies the reservoir relocatees play with memory and movement, in their effort to make place under constraints and exclusions in a continuous process of displacement, I argue that by keeping distance of both the past (submerged memory) and fixed relations (fluid community), they gain flexibility and power to respond to the ever-changing state ideology. In addition, this dissertation examines how social relations and identities at various intersecting levels are influenced by displacement with a particular angle of the mobility of people under the reality of rural-urban division in post-reform China, and calls for a new direction in Chinese studies to focus on the places in between: those that are not urban nor rural, but awkwardly both.

No description available.

Background: Since the 1980s, there has been a growing interest in research to focus on positive mental health instead of narrowing attention toward risk factors and to foster resilience instead of treating trauma. There is substantial empirical evidence that despite being exposed to the same risk; individuals react differently to the same stimuli. The ability of some people to successfully cope and adapt despite adversity is what constitutes resilience. In the context of forced migration, resilience research examines the elements that ameliorate wellbeing and positive adjustment rather than focusing on the pathological consequences of trauma. However, little is known about how the construct of resilience is conceptualized within the field of forced migration research. This research aims to critically appraise and map the existing literature on resilience in the forced migration population, and to analyze how the concept of resilience is defined, operationalized, and applied in refugee research. Methods: Arksey and O’Malley scoping review framework was followed to search 5 online databases. Numerical and thematic analysis were both conducted to examine the breadth of the literature and to chart the relevant data. Results: A total of 20 studies were selected for the scoping review. The findings included a description of the literature regarding geographic distribution, recruited methods, and targeted populations. In addition, the results investigated definitions of resilience, measures used to operationalize resilience, the relationship between resilience and mental health illnesses, internal and external protective factors contributing to fostering resilience processes, and resilience across cultures and languages. Conclusion: There is an increase in interest to understand the concept of resilience through synthesizing both qualitative and quantitative data. However, longitude and evaluation studies remain the exception. Further research is needed to validate resilience instruments across cultures and languages. The interactions between mental health illnesses and resilience should be better understood in the context of forced migration as well. / Thesis / Master of Health Sciences (MSc)