The current forced displacement crisis, with over 65 million people in 2017, and more than a third being refugees, means it is higher than since the Second World War. Therefore, integration of external forced migrants (refugees) in host countries is a high priority policy objective of the international community. Yet, the existing refugee regime largely fails in successful integration, including in cases of resettling in perceived ethnic homelands. This thesis comparatively analyses the integration process of Syrian- Armenian forced migrants in the perceived ethnic homeland, Armenia and unrecognised territories of Nagorno-Karabakh, and a regional diaspora centre, Lebanon. The work aims to understand socio-cultural and economic factor impact on the process, and whether some can be regarded as fundamental for the successful outcomes, the role of state and non-state actors in the process, and influence of the psychological state of mind of forced migrants on it. The selection of case studies is ideal for several reasons. First, institutionally, a host-community (the Republic of Armenia and the Lebanese-Armenian diaspora) is interested in newcomers remaining in the country. Second, NGOs play a central role, thus, due to their decades of experience, allowing to facilitate advanced methods of integration. Third, Armenians integrate into their ethnic kin community, thus arguably improving integration chances. Finally, Armenians have been historically skillful in new societal integration, which bodes well for future successful integration. The analysis applies the theoretical framework of migration, diaspora and social identity to empirical findings from fieldwork, state and NGO reports and media information. The key argument of the thesis is that although all factors of integration are closely interrelated, economic integration should be perceived as a defining factor in the overall success. Additionally, I argue that, where problematic economic integration is experienced, cultural differences against the host-society and sense of nostalgia become reinforced, thus slowing integration. Finally, whilst I conclude that economic integration generally improves over time, it is likely that where host-society culture is significantly different, newcomers generally remain a distinctive community, even if within an ethnic homeland.

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Suite à la montée de l’immigration en Belgique, le rôle que joue la vie associative des personnes issues de l’immigration au sein de l’espace politique a pris une place croissante dans les débats à la fois publics et scientifiques. Selon Fennema et Tillie (1999 ;2001), une vie associative ethnique florissante constituerait une condition importante pour le développement de la participation politique des membres d’une population ethnique. Si cette hypothèse a été mise à l’épreuve, avec des succès mitigés, dans différents contextes européens et nord-américains, elle ne l’a été que rarement dans une ville telle que Bruxelles, dont certaines caractéristiques sont pourtant susceptibles d’éclairer le débat. L’objectif principal de cette thèse est dès lors d’analyser la situation à Bruxelles, en prenant en considération différentes populations issues de l’immigration et d’éclaircir le rôle que jouent les associations de migrants sur l’intégration politique de ces derniers.<p><p>Ce travail s’articule autour de deux questionnements de recherche. Le premier a pour objectif d’apporter des éléments nouveaux quant aux théories existantes portant sur la participation politique et l’engagement civique (capital social) des populations ethniques minoritaires. Il s’agit d’examiner, d’une part, la nature de la relation entre participation associative et politique et, d’autre part, certains processus explicatifs sous-jacents. Le second questionnement vise à fournir de nouvelles informations à propos de différentes populations d’origine étrangère dont la vie associative et politique aura été investiguée. Celles qui ont été choisies dans le cadre de cette thèse relèvent des immigrations, hors Union européenne, les plus nombreuses à Bruxelles. Il s’agit, en l’occurrence, des populations d’origine marocaine, turque et congolaise.<p><p>A partir de données quantitatives récoltées en 2009 auprès d’échantillons représentatifs de personnes issues de l’immigration marocaine, turque et congolaise à Bruxelles ainsi que d’un groupe contrôle non-issu de l’immigration, cette thèse apporte des éléments originaux à la fois au niveau théorique et empirique.<p><p>D’abord, nous avons pu confirmer le fait que le capital social est un facteur essentiel favorisant le développement de la participation politique, à la fois au niveau agrégé et individuel. De plus, nos résultats montrent également, en particulier au niveau individuel, que le capital social ethnique est un facteur plus important que le capital social multiethnique pour expliquer la participation politique des personnes issues de l’immigration. Contrairement à ce qui est parfois admis, le regroupement communautaire ne pousserait pas à l’institutionnalisation du repli ethnique mais, au contraire, lorsqu’il est organisé sous une forme associative, constituerait un tremplin vers la participation à la vie démocratique du pays d’accueil, offrant ainsi des opportunités civiques remarquables aux personnes qui en font partie. <p><p>Ensuite, malgré le large consensus au plan théorique qui existe à propos du rôle médiateur des confiances sociale et politique pour expliquer la relation entre le capital social et la participation politique, nos résultats sont loin d’étayer cette hypothèse :l’accumulation du capital social ne permet pas d’expliquer l’effet mobilisateur des associations bénévoles. Les aspects "non-normatifs" du capital social, tels que l’accès aux informations (politiques) ou aux compétences civiques, par exemple, pourraient être de meilleurs prédicteurs du comportement politique. De plus, pour les personnes issues de l’immigration, peu importe leur origine, leur participation associative est négativement associée à la confiance politique qui, elle, montre un lien négatif avec la participation politique. Cette constatation jette un nouvel éclairage quant au débat relatif aux causes et conséquences des faibles niveaux de confiance politique et étaye les études montrant que la confiance politique n’est pas systématiquement associée à une plus grande participation politique. En l’occurrence, un faible niveau de confiance pourrait augmenter la participation politique dans certaines situations à travers une nouvelle génération dite de "citoyens critiques".<p><p>Enfin, bien que nos résultats aient mis en évidence de nombreuses similitudes entre les populations étudiées, nous avons identifié diverses particularités liées aux origines nationales en interaction avec le contexte institutionnel et politique bruxellois, rejoignant ainsi la littérature liée à l’impact des structures d’opportunités politiques ainsi qu’aux spécificités des groupes de migrants pris en considération. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Although most whites have remained in Zimbabwe after independence and not all who have emigrated came to South Africa, large numbers established themselves as an immigrant community in this country. The aim of this study is to "sociologically capture" this community's views about their past experiences in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and their present experiences in South Africa. This is done by employing a generative methodological procedure whereby members of the target population themselves generated issues considered to be of importance to their previous and new situational contexts. As it was not possible to obtain a random sample of all Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa, questionnaire data were collected from four separate categories of respondents. In addition, depth interviews were conducted and thus responses have been analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings demonstrate that for the most part, few "Zimbabweans" - whites who are reasonably accepting of the new socio-political order in independent Zimbabwe - have come to South Africa. Rather, most of the immigrants, whose views were canvassed in this research investigation, seem to be bitter "Rhodesians" who have been unable to accept change and integration and the consequent loss of white privilege in the new Zimbabwe. These recent immigrants have not found all things to their satisfaction in South Africa moreover, despite the similar socio-political structures in former Rhodesia and contemporary South Africa.

This study seeks to understand Chinese ethnicity as a process of ongoing cultural construction engaged in by Chinese people in Vancouver from 1945 to 1980. Drawing evidence primarily from the ethnic press and voluntary organizations, it uncovers a diversity of cultural positions articulated by different groups of Chinese with respect to their ethnic identity and sense of community. This interior discourse on Chineseness unfolded in part because of changing demographic conditions within the ethnic group. After the Second World War, the older settlers who had arrived in Canada before the exclusion act of 1923 were joined and gradually outnumbered by their Canadian-born descendants and new immigrants. This development ushered in a contest for the power of cultural definition among various generations of local-born and immigrant Chinese. The emergent diversity of ethnic constructs in the Chinese minority after 1945 also reflected the continuous influence of China and the new opportunities Chinese people began to enjoy in Canada. The former unitary outlook of the ethnic group regarding the close relationship of overseas Chinese with their home country was displaced, but not by any simple cultural re-orientation to Canada. Particularly among the immigrant Chinese, the concern forthe native place, the care for family members in Mainland China and Hong Kong, the desire to promote some form of Chinese culture in Vancouver, and a residual interest in Chinese politics remained salient dimensions of their ethnic consciousness. At the same time, the dismantling of discriminatory legislation and other racial barriers in the larger society afforded Chinese people for the first time the option to nurture an identification with Canada. In the 1970s these two fundamentally different cultural orientations were reconciled, as the discourse on Chineseness took on a new paradigm. Under state multiculturalism and with the rise of ethnic sentiments, members of the Chinese minority advanced their claims to be "Chinese Canadians" within the officially enshrined Canadian mosaic. Despite popular subscription to this category, immigrant and local-born Chinese invested this label with different meanings. The underlying diversity of Chinese ethnic construction was once again unveiled. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

This thesis provides a geographical analysis of the response of the Canadian nation-state to human smuggling. I contend that nation-states must be examined in relation to transnational migration and theorized as diverse sets of embodied relationships. As a case study, I conducted an ethnography of the institutional response to the arrival of four boats carrying migrants smuggled from Fujian, China to British Columbia in 1999. I studied the daily work of border enforcement done by civil servants in the federal bureaucracy of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), as well as the roles played by other institutions in the response to the boats. This "ethnography of the state" led me to theorize the nation-state geographically as a network of employees that interact with a variety of institutions in order to enact immigration policy. I also interviewed employees of other institutions involved in the response to human smuggling, including provincial employees, immigration lawyers, service providers, suprastate organizations, refugee advocates, and media workers. The thesis explores crossinstitutional collaboration among them and the resulting decision-making environment in which civil servants design and implement policy. Civil servants practice enforcement according to how and where they "see" human smuggling. My conceptual understanding of state practices relates to these efforts to order transnational migration. Diverse institutional actors negotiate smuggling at a variety of scales. Power relations are visible through discussions of smuggling at some scales, but obscured at others. I "jump scale" through embodiment in order to understand the micro-geographies of the response. This shift in the scale of analysis of the nation-state uncovers different relationships, interests, and negotiations in which state practices are embedded. This approach to geographies of the nation-state considers the time-space relations across which state practices take place, the everyday enactment of policy, the categorization of migrants, and the constitution of borders through governance. I argue that such an approach is key to understanding the relationship between nation-states and smuggled migrants. The findings suggest a re-spatialization of enforcement through which nation-states increasingly practice interception abroad and design stateless: spaces, and in so doing, reconstitute international borders. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

Documentation of the extent of Latvian immigration to Brazil and to the urban centre of São Paulo between 1890 and 1970 and evidence of the degree of Latvian-Brazilian assimilation are non-existent. This thesis fulfills a need for investigating the displacement of the Latvian ethnic society into an unfamiliar geographical, social and cultural Brazilian environment. Both Latvia and Brazil are discussed in terms of geography and climate, origins of civilization and language, cultural heritage and social structure. The cosmopolitan nature of São Paulo is introduced. The reasons for Latvian migration and statistical information regarding Brazilian immigrant policy and numbers of immigrants are derived from census data, church records and archival material. A Lutheran church record case study is also documented as supporting material, and estimates are established from a wide variety of reported statistical information concerning Latvians in Brazil. Latvian religious subdivisions form the basis for tracing the São Paulo community development and extent of Latvian-Brazilian assimilation. General aspects of assimilation in Brazil are applied to the Latvian community with detailed discussion of cultural and social integration including intermarriage and language, customs and environment. Conclusions are drawn from the extent of Latvian influence within the Brazilian society and the reciprocal but stronger Brazilian contribution to the Latvian heritage. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

This thesis reviews the underlying theoretical and normative paradigm in Canadian migration and asylum law and its effect on the refugee determination process with respect to the approximately 100 unaccompanied children who were among 599 migrants from Fujian Province, People's Republic of China who arrived in four boats off the coast of British Columbia, Canada in the Summer of 1999. Upon deconstructing Canadian migration legislation and jurisprudence, especially with respect to asylum, it is apparent that the dominant paradigm is one of liberal communitarianism/realism, rather than one based on individual, universal human rights. This communitarian/realist paradigm is reflected in and reinforced by normative distinctions between immigrants and illegal migrants, and between politically motivated, forced migrants (refugees) and economically motivated, voluntary migrants (illegal migrants). Illegal migrants, such as the Fujianese children, are de-legitimized and criminalized under Canadian migration law. Moreover, this paradigm had the effect of subsuming the children's human rights claims into an assessment of their motivations for, and the voluntariness of, their emigration, that is, into a refugee determination process based on an understanding of the children's migration that was both inherently incoherent and inconsistent with a nuanced comprehension of migration as a structural phenomenon. The author concludes with a proposal for the development of a more strongly human-rights based paradigm in Canadian migration and asylum law. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

The purpose of this essay is to investigate the emigration from Sunnerbo district, whichis located in western Kronoberg county, during the 1880s. The goal is to find out whothe emigrants were and how and where they planned to emigrate. This is accomplishedby looking at the emigrants' gender, age, title or professional title as well as familyrelationship and country of destination. Information has been found in digital archives,relocation books have been read in the Digital Archive and population reports have beenread in the National Archives' digital research hall. From this material it can be deducedthat 7432 people emigrated in the 1880s, corresponded to 17.6% of Sunnerbo's averagepopulation and that 49% of the emigrants were women. The majority were in the agerange 20-29 years with a profession linked to agriculture. One third emigrated with theirfamilies and 85.8% emigrated to North America. The results of the empirical study arediscussed with previous research and theories related to migration. An analysis of themigration within Sunnerbo district will also be carried out to discuss differences betweenthe 23 parishes within the district. / Denna uppsats syfte är att undersöka emigrationen från Sunnerbo härad, som ligger ivästra Kronobergs län, under 1880-talet. Målet är att ta reda på vilka emigranterna varsamt hur och vart de planerade att emigrera. Detta görs genom att kartläggaemigranternas kön, ålder, titel eller yrkestitel samt familjeförhållande ochdestinationsland. Informationen har funnits i digitala arkiv. Utflyttningsböcker harhämtats ur Arkiv digital och folkmängdsredogörelser är lästa i Riksarkivets digitalaforskarsal. Från detta material kan det utläsas att 7432 människor emigrerade under1880-talet, motsvarade 17,6% av Sunnerbos genomsnittliga befolkning och att 49% avemigranterna var kvinnor. Majoriteten var i åldersintervallet 20-29 år med ett yrkekopplat till jordbruk. En tredjedel emigrerade ihop med sin familj och 85,8% emigreradetill Nordamerika. Resultaten av den empiriska undersökningen diskuteras med tidigareforskning och teorier kopplade till migration. En analys av migrationen inom Sunnerbohärad kommer även att genomföras för att diskutera skillnader mellan de 23 socknarnainom häradet.

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