This dissertation examines the political and educational perspectives regarding English Language Learner (ELL) education. The broad context is the state of Arizona between 2000 and 2004. The specific context is the community of Rio Verde, a border town in Arizona. The data for this study consisted of a document review and analysis and interviews. The document review was of public documents. The interviews were with 10 study participants from the community of Rio Verde consisting of teachers, administrators, former students, and parents. The document analysis revealed two distinct positions regarding the education of ELL students; those in favor of English-only policies and practices and those against English-only policies and practices. The study participants from Rio Verde focused on beliefs about bilingualism and binationalism, immigration, the local history of ELL education, systemic inequities, and the role of the teacher in ELL education. Implications from this study that may be used to inform ELL policy and practice included: effective methodologies for ELL students based on educational research, collaboration in language policy development, placing value on the local context and history, discussion, reflection, and research as decision-making, and, teacher education programs' focus on ELL education.

This study argues that the development of individual choice in marriage markets has led to an increase in interracial marriage and an accompanying decline in racial boundaries. I first establish the importance of individual choice in interracial marriage. I do this by examining the persistent tendency for interracial marriage to be engaged in substantially more often by men in some racial-ethnic groups, and by women in others. I propose that a within-group mismatch of gender attitudes and an across-group matching of gender attitudes leads individuals to seek partners across racial lines. A national U.S. probability sample reveals that there are both significant differences in gender attitudes between each of the racial groups, as well as sex gaps in attitudes within each of the groups. Further, the cross-racial pairings for which the gender attitude gaps are smallest are also those for which interracial marriage is highest. Next, I examine the importance of women's employment for the weakening of racial boundaries. Previous research has established that increases in an ethnic group's occupational heterogeneity weaken ethnic solidarity for members of the group. Since occupations are highly sex segregated, increases in women's employment tend to increase an ethnic group's occupational heterogeneity, and hence weaken ethnic group solidarity. I confirm this hypothesis by finding that employed women are significantly more tolerant of interracial marriage than are married women. Last, I find that modernization is also associated with tolerance toward interracial marriage.

Assimilation has been used as a tool by the federal government to further its colonial enterprise. Through assimilationist policies, the federal government gained land and resources from Indian people. The codification of a definition of "Indian" in the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) was intended to limit the number of people to whom the federal government owed a unique political and financial relationship. The application of a definition of "Indian," based on blood-quantum standards, was an attempt to assimilate Indian people out of their Indian identity and into mainstream society where they are not party to the federal relationship. The legislated definition, which differs from tribes' customs and values regarding membership, has had several effects. The definition has affected tribes' abilities to be fully self-determining and issues of "membership" have created divisions within tribes and among Indian people. This paper examines the history of blood-quantum definitions and the long-term effects of and reactions to those definitions within Indian communities.

Assimilation has long been the driving force behind the federal government's policies relating to American Indians. The termination and relocation policies of the 1950s and 1960s exemplify government actions in this area. As a direct result of these two policies there was an influx of American Indians into urban areas. Abandoned by the federal government and facing competition from other minority groups for state services, American Indians began to develop their own service organizations. Urban Indian community centers, many pan-Indian by necessity due to the numerous tribes present in each urban community, were some of the first organizations created. These organizations provided services, support, and a cultural haven. This thesis reviews the history of these policies and their impact on American Indians and concludes with an analysis of research done at the American Indian Community House, New York City, which examines the contemporary role of community centers in urban areas.

Representations of Germany's crisis of anti-foreigner violence and ambivalent government policies regarding guestworkers misrepresent this crisis and reproduce several myths: that Germany has only recently relied on foreign labor, that Germany is an unusually "homogenous" nation, has experienced little integration of foreigners, and is not and cannot become an "immigration" country. These myths hinge on a widespread "forgetting" of much of German labor history. This paper outlines this missing history. Features common to past and present "guestworker" policies are highlighted. An examination of modern German citizenship and naturalization laws suggests that guestworker crises derive from a fundamental contradiction between economic and political interests. The current crisis can be viewed as one phase of a longer unresolved conflict between economic goals and the definition of the German nation. Such a perspective is generally avoided, however, as earlier periods of conflict are erased through widespread collective forgetting.

The Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation, which straddles the U.S.-Canada border in northern New York State, is analyzed in order to reveal how it has persevered, despite enormous political and economic difficulties, since its founding around 1754. It is demonstrated that a number of facets of Mohawk social life have allowed the community to flourish. Preeminent among these has been the issue of Mohawk sovereignty and the role of Mohawk women in maintaining the community. As the tendency for Mohawk men to work away from the community increased, the tradition of Mohawk women staying on the reservation to raise children and maintain traditional family and community values provided all community members with a geographically explicit area to which they could refer as home. These roles have reinforced and recast ancient Mohawk concepts of sovereignty. Social history and historical censuses provide valuable insights into these issues.

The first part of this thesis examines how Navajo cultural philosophy views raiding, warfare, and warriors. Navajos understand raiding and warfare as controlled evils that should only be used for defense and protection. Anything human, environmental, or spiritual that poses a threat to Navajo individuals and/or society is considered an enemy. Likewise, anyone who provides protection against these potential harms may be considered a warrior. The second part of this research tests Clifton Kroeber and Bernard Fontana's hypothesis regarding indigenous warfare in respect to the Navajo. These scholars theorize that indigenous men used warfare as a means to re-establish their social worth which had presumably diminished as a result of some cultural shift in equity between the sexes. Their hypothesis is somewhat accurate as it pertains to Navajo warfare. Warfare, understood as protection, provides several outlets for men, women, and medicine people to bolster their self-esteem and social worth.

The purpose of this thesis was to determine if there was a significant relationship between the services provided First American juveniles in the Pima County Juvenile Court system as compared to others. In addition this thesis also provides an overview of the history of the Juvenile Justice system as well as the current practices in Pima County Juvenile Court.

This paper investigates the absence of racial public policy in Brazil during the First Republic. Using secondary sources, this paper looks at economic competition and conflict between black and immigrant labor in the state of Sao Paulo and tests the applicability of the split labor market theory of ethnic antagonism--a theory used in explaining the development of ethnic conflict into racial public policy. Such conflict has been a primary factor in the development of racial public policies such as those found in the United States and South Africa. The political organization of black Brazilians and immigrant (primary Italian) groups is also analyzed to discover whether or not these groups would have been capable of translating their economic goals into race-based public policy. The thesis suggests that there was little competition in many areas, and that even where there was little competition, neither group had sufficient political capacity to successfully push for exclusionary public policies based on race.

This study identifies, describes, and analyzes female Navajo participation in high school basketball and that participation's impact on the students' post-secondary academic experience. Two major hypotheses were formulated: (1) female Navajo participation in high school basketball does contribute to future post-secondary academic success (2) the basketball players' support group played a significant role in the students' future academic or athletic success. The total sample of 18 included former basketball players, former non-athletes, family members, and high school teachers and staff. My findings were: (1) the support group contributed significantly to the students' future academic and athletic success (2) the importance of Navajo cultural values and philosophy significantly impacted the students' post-secondary academic success (3) participation in basketball began as fun, but transformed into a positive learning experience that reinforced and provided structure for previously learned values from Navajo culture, family, and/or significant mentors and role models.