First Czech villages were founded in the region of Banat, Romania, in the first half of the 19th century. The original impetus had come from the administration who intended to populate the mountainous regions of the then military border. To this day a none too numerous community of Czechs surrounded by other nations have kept their original Czech traditions, speak exclusively Czech, and proudly profess their roots. In the course of the 20th century these Czech villages were hit by three waves of re-emigration which resulted in a portion of the locals relocating to their ancestral country. The last wave of re-emigration began in 1989, following the reopening of the borders and the simplification of the whole process of relocation, and it essentially continues to this day. Young people in particular come to the Czech Republic hoping to find here a better job, higher wages and better quality of life, which goes hand in hand with it. These expectations are often exaggerated and unrealistic, though. The first part of this thesis presents a theoretical framework of the whole work, and a historical overview of the Czech community and the individual waves of re-emigration which affected it. Attention will also be paid to the continuous interest in this community on the part of the Czech authorities and...

The 19th century is recognised as a period of mass emigration from Cornwall, with a significant proportion of the male population leaving to work overseas, mainly in the mining industry. Less appreciated is that many of these migrants were married men who left wives and children behind in Cornwall. This study seeks to shed some light on the experiences of these women, known as 'married widows'. It adopts a multi-faceted approach, which draws upon crowd-sourcing and digital resources, in combination with more traditional methodologies. Scattered and fragmentary qualitative evidence (drawn from correspondence, newspapers, remittance and poor law records, supplemented by personal testimony recorded in family histories) is examined within a quantitative framework produced by an innovative database created from census records and a longitudinal study of outcomes. This thesis describes how tens of thousands of wives were 'left behind' in the mining communities of Cornwall, and the wide range of resources they drew upon in the absence of their husbands. It examines the interaction between the wives and the State in the form of the Poor Law and the Courts, identifying a pragmatic response to the needs of the emerging transnational nuclear family. Male migration from Cornwall is revealed to vary widely in type, intent and duration, leading to great diversity of experiences and outcomes for the wives 'left behind'. The establishment of temporary male labour emigration from the Cornish mining communities is shown to have occurred earlier than in many other emigration centres, creating greater potential for cultural acclimatisation to the challenges of spousal separation. The findings of this study challenge existing, generalised, perceptions of the wives as passive victims in the Cornish emigration story. Levels of destitution or desertion appear low compared to the scale of the phenomenon, and wives are shown as active participants and influential voices in family strategies. Nonetheless, this study highlights the vulnerability and greater risks faced by the wives 'left behind', and identifies financial and emotional insecurity as common elements of their experience. This thesis demonstrates a methodology and reveals insights that might be applied to the study of wives 'left behind' in other parts of the British Isles, and a comparator for existing studies of those elsewhere in the world.

PhD (African Studies) / Centre for African Studies / The aim of this study is to examine existing secondary material to determine whether there is agreement concerning the acclaimed migration of the Africans across the Limpopo River into South Africa. This is done by determining, in an interwoven analytical manner, whether there is possible existing credible evidence that could be applied to examine the claim espoused by Sir George Mc Call Theal. The cause of the disparity amongst the whites and blacks in the country seems to have an historical origin that dates back to the epochs of colonialism and imperialism, which spanned centuries. These movements resulted in the apparently unfair foreign land ownership, which was carried out at the expense of the African blacks, such as the Bakone, Vhangoṋa and Banguni, to date. For one to determine the validity of foreign land acquisition in a foreign country like South Africa; research is required in order to find the genesis, credibility and justification of the total soil ownership by foreigners; which as stated, was conducted at the expense of the majority of Africans who possess no land, living in abject poverty, suffering from unemployment and treated with inequality. The brutal colonial efforts and the untested African migration remains an elusive problem that should be tested scientifically to confirm or negate, when precisely the Africans came; who saw them come, and what made them leave their original countries, if any. This in a perpetual cardinal point of the ‘north’ being occupied moving in ‘waves’ with no witnesses. This study seeks to examine why the naturalised foreign Europeans are better off in the country, in everything.