Lee Chun Wing John. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-181). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.1 / Acknowledgements --- p.3 / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.6 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Literature Review and Methodology --- p.13 / Theories in Social Movements --- p.13 / High-risk Activism --- p.20 / Collective Identity and Personal/Individual Identity --- p.22 / Frame Analysis and Identity --- p.29 / Sources of Data --- p.31 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Who are They? --- p.36 / The Emergence of the Hong Kong Identity --- p.37 / Phase One --- p.42 / Phase Two --- p.46 / Phase Three --- p.51 / Phase Four --- p.57 / Phase Five --- p.62 / Phase Six --- p.66 / Summary --- p.69 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Who are We? --- p.71 / What is Collective Identity? --- p.72 / A Common Objective --- p.75 / Negotiation --- p.80 / Consciousness: Rule of Law? --- p.84 / Consciousness: Rights --- p.86 / Affection Developed through Interaction --- p.92 / Lack of Unity --- p.98 / ´بSaiWan´ة --- p.100 / Summary --- p.103 / Chapter Chapter 5: --- Who am I? (I) --- p.107 / Social Identity Theory and Social Movements --- p.108 / Relative Deprivation --- p.114 / Illegitimate Inequality --- p.120 / Views on Outgroups --- p.120 / Movement Not the Best Option --- p.123 / Fighting for Individual Status Improvement? --- p.127 / Chapter Chapter 6: --- Who am I? (II) --- p.131 / Identity Theory --- p.132 / A 'Child' Identity --- p.136 / Psychological Centrality --- p.139 / Commitments --- p.142 / Changes after Participation --- p.145 / Summary --- p.147 / Chapter Chapter 7: --- Conclusion --- p.150 / Why They Participated? --- p.150 / Why Some of Them are so Committed? Why Some of them Want to Quit? --- p.153 / Politics and the Right of Abode Movement --- p.156 / Implications --- p.159 / Identity Politics? --- p.163 / Appendix --- p.167 / Bibliography --- p.169

This research aimed to understand the literacy and language experiences of a group of immigrant girls in an inner city school. It takes a socio-cultural approach to literacy and emphasizes the intersections between home, school and community. Eight weeks were spent in the school with learners and teachers, guided by the principles of ethnographic research. The data was analysed using a combination of methods. Thematic Content Analysis (TCA) was used to identify patterns and themes in accordance with community theory. Narrative Analysis was used as a means to foreground the voices of the research participants in sharing their experiences. The research found that literacy and language practices do not exist in isolation, but rather as part of a complex and distinctive layering of communities: the community in the suburb where the school is, the immigrant community, the school community and community of learners in the school. In addition the ways in which literacy and language are used, are attached to different relations of power within different communities. The study raises questions about the way in which schools operate as part of or distinct from the communities in which they are located.

The field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) is facing one of the most rapid changes as one in four children under the age of six in the United States are immigrant children or children of immigrants (Woods, Hanson, Saxton, & Simms, 2016). With this demographic shift along with the current political climate towards immigrants, teaching immigrant children has become more complex and challenging than ever before. Further, the evidence in the existing literature consistently reflects immigrant children’s narratives of their experiences in schools as alienated, excluded, and othered, attesting to this challenging task for educators (e.g. Igoa, 1995; Kirova, 2001). Amid these challenges, what stories are there yet to be told when immigrants with such experiences and backgrounds become teachers and teach immigrant students? Grounded in a funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & González, 1992) and borderlands (Anzaldúa, 1987) framework, this study seeks to bring the voices of immigrant teachers to the forefront and to examine their immigration and schooling experiences, first as immigrant students and now teaching and caring for young immigrant students and families in ECEC settings. Using the methods of multi-case study, I highlight the intimate and nuanced teaching and learning experiences of immigrant teachers by delving deeper into a borderland space, where their lives mesh with their immigrant students and their families. Looking deeply at the experiences of immigrant teachers straddling between multiple worlds, remembering being newcomers while working as welcomers, proposes that we re-think and ask new questions about the complex realities of immigrants in schooling. This work highlights the heart of teaching and caring for young immigrants as contingent upon understanding the nuances of their daily experiences as border crossers within the self, among others, and in multiple cultural worlds.

The purpose of this dissertation research is to study the experience of adjustment of Colombian immigrant children to living in the U.S. In order to understand the changes they have experienced as immigrants, the research focuses on the ways in which they talk about the food they eat hereand on the foods they ate in Colombia. Because of the symbolic importance of food in the construction of ethnic and personal identities, a study of how the children talk about food illuminates the process of blending elements from the immigrant culture with those of the U.S. Based on the symbolic interactionism approach to culture, this study assumes that participants' representations of foods are shaped by their own experiences through interactions with others. Representations of food result from the interactions between participants and the researcher in the research settings. With a participatory approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with twelve girls and eight boys, and three group sessions with three girls and eight boys. Participants were reached at the Taller Intercultural Hispano Americano and through their parents at the Center for Family Health. Data were analyzed qualitatively following first a process of data reduction and then transforming the interviews and the group sessions into narratives. Analysis of the data shows that participants' changes and adjustment are characterized by an emerging process of creolization, a concept proposed by Foner (1997) to explain patterns of acculturation of immigrant families. Creolization is the central idea articulating and providing meaning to participants' representations of food changes. Colombian immigrant children living in the U.S. are agents actively blending elements from their immigrant culture with elements they encounter in the U.S. context from which new food patterns reflecting their changing circumstances are emerging. Likewise, Tampa in particular and Florida in general provide a context that facilitates and promotes such blending of meanings both in private spaces such as home and in public ones such as restaurants, due to the presence of long-established Spanish-speaking communities of varying degrees of acculturation.

This study explores the schooling experiences in South Africa of migrant children from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Migration has been an area of interest within political, social and academic circles. In recent times, studies have been and are being conducted on issues on migration especially with the aim of exploring migrants’ experiences and challenges. This study addresses the experiences of migrant children from the Democratic Republic of Congo in schools in South Africa and their social identity as migrants. It aims to bring these issues into focus and to encourage further research and debate with the aim of finding ways of ensuring better schooling experiences for these migrant children. As its objective, and in line with the aspirations of inclusion and diversity of the present system of education in South Africa, this study: enables an insight into the Congolese migrant children’s school experiences and the resulting challenges for schooling in South Africa, provides an avenue to explore these challenges and experiences in the light of educational policies in place in South Africa and how these challenges affect the children’s education, raises critical issues regarding inclusion and diversity in the South African educational context, and contributes to ongoing debate, awareness and research interest in the area of study. The study addresses the extent to which the inclusive schooling system in South Africa does in reality include these migrant children. This study is situated within the critical paradigm and engages Social Identity Theory as its theoretical framework. It employs a case study methodology to explore the schooling experiences of migrant children from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The theoretical framework as well as the methodology used in this study makes provision for a critical engagement in the analyses of these experiences. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2010.

This study investigates the literature of the Creative Pedagogy of Play to examine the potential for this pedagogy to support cultural identity development of immigrant preschoolers in the Swedish context. Twelve articles were reviewed in order to characterize outcomes of the Creative Pedagogy of Play potentially relevant for this support. Identified outcomes included: recognizing and promoting children’s agency, co-creation of an imaginary world through diverse forms of expression, emotional involvement (“perezhivanie” as lived through experience), building peer relationships, valuing ambivalence, narrative teaching and narrative learning.  In this thesis, we argue that these outcomes of Creative Pedagogy of Play have the potential to create supportive conditions associated with the development of cultural identity (such as: social inclusion, respect for diversity, care, guidance and teaching offered by adults, recognizing children’s agency, and building relationships with friends and peers). The combination of these conditions creates a potential for the cultural identity formation through the Pedagogy of Play. Implications of this systematic review for early childhood education research and practice are discussed with particular focus on implications for engaging with questions of culture in preschool pedagogy.

In 2012, President Barack Obama used prosecutorial discretion to initiate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that deferred deportation and provided employment authorization for a two-year renewable period to undocumented immigrant persons that came to the U.S. as children. Under former President Donald Trump’s administration, DACA was rescinded in 2017. A review of the literature suggests this is the only study to explore the perceived impact of a policy shift in DACA status, given the critical time of interviews conducted from April 2016 to October 2018. Thus, substantially advancing the literature, qualitative data on a diverse group (N=10) of young adult DACA beneficiaries revealed positive and negative impacts. The sample included 60% currently gainfully employed, 40% attending college—while 80% had experienced emotional distress by having an unauthorized legal status and facing obstacles to pursuing higher education. Of note, 40% rated themselves as currently relatively healthy, while 60% indicated having experienced a decline in their physical or mental health since entering the United States. As significant sources of stress, 90% had experienced anxiety centered around having to wait to renew their DACA status and having to pay for their status renewals. Given the rescinding of the DACA program in 2017, many were ill-prepared, as 90% had never experienced being undocumented without a DACA status as an adult in the United States. The main body of qualitative data generated six categories that encompassed 51 emergent themes: 1-Participants’ health trajectory across their lifespan; 2-Participants’ experiences of barriers to seeking care and having their health and mental health needs addressed; 3-Participants Living at the Intersection of Contemporary Immigration; 4-The impact of other family members’ immigration status; 5-From enjoying benefits of the DACA program, to having a false sense of normalcy, to feeling ambivalence, and experiencing detriments; and, 6-Potential DACA policy shifts and anticipated impacts ranging from negative (fear, loss, suffering) to positive (relief). These six broad categories suggest how, despite the benefits of their DACA status, substantial barriers and sources of anxiety and stress still impacted the lives of the young adults and their families. Implications of the findings are discussed.

This study was conducted in order to more accurately understand the relationship between sense of belonging in the U.S., self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and mental health and well-being for Latinx DACA recipient college students in the United States. Additionally, results were intended to assist in providing critical information regarding: (a) adequate support to Latinx DACA recipient college students, (b) informed consulting for policy shifts and changes with legal status, and (c) ethical psychological care to Latinx DACA recipient individuals. Ten participants were interviewed and given self-report measures (BDI and BAI) in order to glean insight on the aforementioned relationship. Data analysis included consensual qualitative research (CQR) analysis for interview transcripts and averages of self-report measures as compared to general university student population scores (BDI and BAI). Qualitative results are organized under eight overarching themes. Clinical implications, considerations for immigration policies, and considerations for university policies are discussed and explored.

The study examines how the family, peers, and sociocultural environment at school in primary schools in South Africa perpetuated divergent gendered experiences among immigrant learners. A qualitative narrative inquiry was used during the study. Snowball sampling was used to select the participants for the study. The study drew on a narrative account of 27 participants, 18 immigrant children (9 girls and 9 boys) and nine teachers (6 women and 3 men) from three primary schools in the Johannesburg East District. Semi-structured in-depth interviews and observations were used as instruments to collect data from the participants. Collected data from the semi-structured, in-depth interviews and observations was analysed using thematic content analysis and was presented by using illustrative quotes. The study revealed that the school is a highly gendered place and serves to propagate gendered experiences among immigrant children in school between girls and boys. The findings of the study have significant implications for stake holders at all levels in education. It is recommended that school principals should ensure that teachers and administrators are familiar with both the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the school’s policies and regulations that address gender, sexual harassment, immigration issues, school violence, and bullying. Improved perception of immigrant children and gender quality in schools will contribute to a positive school environment which may lead to increased positive wellbeing and academic performance to all learners regardless of gender and country of origin. / Educational Studies / D. Phil. (Socio-Education)

This exploratory descriptive study looks at the characteristics of immigrant children in the greater metropolitan Los Angeles area who participate in organizations associated with their parents' country of origin. By drawing on the 2004 Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles (IIMMLA) survey dataset, I bring together aspects of the participation and assimilation literatures in order to better understand who participates in ethnic organizations. Results provide evidence that ethnic organization participants differ from the full sample and from respondents who participate in community organizations; they exhibit more ethnic resource characteristics. Significant determinants of participation in ethnic organizations include having a larger numbers of close relatives in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, literacy in their parents' native language, higher education levels, and being married. These findings indicate that ethnic resources are more important to immigrant children who participate in ethnic organizations than attaining dominant characteristics or straight-line assimilation in society.