Den här uppsatsen har syftat till att öka kunskapen om socialtjänstens kuratorers arbete med papperslösa på familjecentraler, och att öka förståelsen för vad kuratorerna upplever påverkar arbetet. En kvalitativ metod har använts i denna induktiva studie. Fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med kuratorer har genomförts vid fyra familjecentraler med utgångspunkt vid två geografiska områden. Resultatet visar att kuratorerna behöver arbeta på ett annat sätt med papperslösa, göra andra vägval, än med andra familjer de möter, till exempel genom att hänvisa till eller samarbeta med ideella organisationer. Kuratorernas arbete med papperslösa består till stor del av att finnas tillgänglig för stöd och samtal, att förklara andra myndigheters beslut och upplysa om samhällsinformation och i varierande grad själv ”dra i trådar” och vara aktivt stöd. Resultatet visar att kuratorernas arbete påverkas av tjänstens formella frihet, som innebär både möjligheter och begränsningar. Arbetet påverkas också av begränsade erfarenheter av arbete med papperslösa, begränsade kunskaper och avsaknad av stöd och intresse från den högre arbetsledningen. Likaså visar resultatet på skilda uppfattningar om socialtjänstens ansvar för papperslösa, vilket kan påverka kuratorernas uppfattningar om sitt uppdrag. Slutligen visar resultatet att arbetet påverkas av att kuratorerna blir personligt berörda av möten med papperslösa. Resultatet har analyserats med bidrag från fyra teoretiker. Antonovskys teori om känsla av sammanhang och Schöns teori om den reflekterande praktikern används för analys på mikro-nivå. Johanssons och Lipskys teorier om handlingsutrymme och strukturella dimensioner i klientarbetet används för analys på meso-nivå. Smiths teori om den institutionella etnografin och vardagslivets problematik används för analys på makro-nivå. I det avslutande kapitlet diskuteras de mänskliga rättigheternas funktion och socialarbetarens roll att påverka förhållanden på strukturell nivå.

Britain and France adapted two different integration models, namely assimilationist and multiculturalism to integrate their immigrants. These two big models of integration have distinctive characteristics to integrate immigrants. There is a general claim that multiculturalism model is the best for integrating immigrants in terms of actual integration, however, some argue the opposite, that French assimilationist model is ‘better off.’ This study examines these controversial claims by looking at the level to which immigrants are integrated in economic, social, political, cultural dimensions of integration and attitudes towards immigrants in Britain and France. Within a given theoretical framework, this study compares the overall competency level of immigrants’ integration in terms of actual integration between British multiculturalism model and French assimilationist model and validate that both these two big models of integration have reached a comparable level of integration and they do not have any decisive impact on actual integration.

This dissertation uses the Latino cultural citizenship framework to show how Mexican immigrant young adults are using the GED classroom to construct, negotiate, and transform their lives in the United States. It examines the educational experiences of Mexican immigrant young adults enrolled in GED classes at Central Texas Community College and specifically documents their motives for enrolling, their educational journeys, the value of the GED, and the impact of the GED program on their lives and on their future aspirations. The significance of this study is that it will give Adult Basic and Secondary Education programs, especially the program housed at Central Texas Community College, an ethnographic snapshot of one of their fastest growing student populations. Latina/o students represent 73 percent of GED enrollment in this program. Although this dissertation only includes a very small subgroup of Latinos, findings will supplement the limited academic research available on Mexican immigrant young adults within the scope of adult education. / text

Eye contact is a research and installation projects about the westernization process of bridal costume from 1900 to 2012 in both China and the Chinese immigrant community in America. The project focuses on the bride’s wedding costume to present the development of social status of women in both China and Chinese immigrant community in America. / text

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

This dissertation is a comparative study of ways in which women writers from Latina, Middle-Eastern and Native American backgrounds narrate their identities as a function of the different locations they inhabit, and the manner in which these places inform their subject positions and their everyday lives. Some of the key questions explored concern how these writers deploy spatial stories as a tactic to construct textual spaces within which their identities may be expressed, especially since they are often faced, as immigrants or members of diasporic or ethnic populations, with negotiating the contradictory expectations of multiple locations and cultures; it asks what is at stake in constructing particular narrative spaces of identity within categories such as immigrant, exile, migrant, or hyphenated American. The dissertation argues that because people revise their stories throughout their lives, narration can be considered a spatial tactic as well. The act of telling and retelling creates a place within which the narrator constructs an identity; therefore, the narration itself becomes a metaphorical, mobile meta-place that allows people to construct and reconstruct multiple selves subject to constant flux. These narrative meta-places can serve as framing devices for the different selves people are creating at any given time.Each chapter analyzes specific terms and their various related discourses in conjunction with concrete and metaphorical places and spaces used in representing identity in particular ways. Chapter One considers spaces of expression, in which an individual's use of more than one kind of language or discourse confers upon her the ability to narrate her subjectivity and claim her right to self-representation instead of accepting subject positions historically created by others. Chapter Two examines gendered spaces such as the harem, a construction both real and imaginary; it extends the harem as a trope that helps us understand gendered spaces as a vehicle through which women can exercise agency and articulate their multiple subjectivities. Chapter Three focuses on the deployment of labels such as immigrant, exile, or diasporic to construct a specific identity and examines recursive patterns of movement that seem an important process in articulating fluid identities across borders.

This dissertation examines factors affecting the service outcomes of immigrant women with disabilities who received vocational rehabilitation services, from the perspectives of their rehabilitation counselors. The participants were eight rehabilitation counselors who had received their Master's degrees from programs accredited by the Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE). Three counselors had Worker's Compensation caseloads, while the other five provided return to work rehabilitation services. Counselor perspectives on client experiences were obtained through the narrative inquiry method. Eight prevailing themes arose across the stories, regarding contributing factors,: immigrant status, amount of time spent providing services, level of client self-confidence, motivation, collaborative team member relationships and a strong client/counselor working alliance, counselor cultural sensitivity, the establishment of rapport, and counselor altruism. The theme of client immigrant status contained a number of related subthemes, including issues regarding acculturation, education level, legal status, refugee status, migrant femaleness, and English proficiency. Counselor disability policy knowledge was also explored as a basis for resources and services potentially valuable to this particular client group. The counselors' responses helped to identify a need for post-Master's continuing education on the topic of disability legislation. The narrative process also introduced reflection on practice to the field of rehabilitation counseling, as an effective research, education, and practice method.

The rapidly changing Canadian mosaic compels the educational system to devise new and unique means to address the needs of a heterogeneous student and teacher populace emerging from varied cultural, linguistic, social and pedagogical contexts. Considerable work recommends the creation of an inclusive environment for immigrant students; sparse discourse considers the needs of immigrant teachers in a mainstream K-12 setting. The majority of discussions and discourses on immigrant teacher acculturation study the needs and challenges this diverse group of teachers has to contend with inside the environs of a Canadian classroom. This study extends these initial discourses to include the macrocosmic challenges faced by immigrant teachers by analyzing the lived experiences of immigrant teachers who have successfully established their place in the Manitoba educational system. Using a critical lens, the study endeavors to analyze the role of social capital in the integration experiences of immigrant educators in Manitoba.

The work participation rate is one of the most important factors that affects the Canadian economy and early retirement can have an important negative impact on this rate. This paper focuses on differences in the preferences for the age of retirement of immigrants and Canadian-born workers. Based on a very large dataset from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), a probit model is used to estimate the probability of retirement for both immigrants and Canadian-born workers at different age ranges. The main results suggest that immigrants tend to retire at an older age than Canadian-born workers. This result is consistent with the first assumption that immigrants are willing to work longer to increase their CPP and their personal saving, and the second assumption that immigrants have a potential better health status, which could also lead to a later retirement.

This study investigated the cultural and family contexts of Filipino immigrant families and their experiences of challenges related to adolescent development. The systems theory of family resiliency (Walsh, 2006) served as a framework to interpret how Filipino mothers experienced and navigated these challenges. Using a qualitative approach, 20 Filipino mothers of adolescents between the ages of 13-19 years were interviewed, investigating their experiences of challenges related to adolescent development and the strategies used to overcome these challenges. Thematic analysis indicated that cultural values and family contexts shaped mothers‟ experiences of adolescent developmental challenges and the development of strategies to overcome these challenges. Discussions of these topics corresponded with the systems theory of family resilience (Walsh, 2006). Overall, the implications of the study reinforce the usefulness of a resilience-oriented paradigm to understand how immigrant families mobilize cultural and family resources during difficult challenges to foster family empowerment and strengthen family relations.