<p>Many Caribbean international students travel to Canada to complete their post-secondary education. Upon graduation, these students often remain in Canada to work as opposed to returning home. This study identifies the factors that influenced Caribbean international students’ decisions of whether to remain in Canada or to return home and evaluates the relative importance of their labour market perceptions in light of all of the factors influencing their decisions. Factors such as easy labour market entry, high wages, less stringent immigration policies, careers relevant to the students’ degrees, family ties and relationships with loved ones, discrimination in the labour market, lifestyle and attitudes of governing bodies and prominent community members can all act as push or pull factors in Canada, the host country, or the students’ countries of origin. These factors influence the students’ decisions of whether they should remain in Canada to work or return home. However, results support the conclusion that labour market perceptions are the most significant factors in students’ decision making.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

This in-country grounded theory study examined the lived experiences of 24 Chinese returnees who completed advanced degrees in the United States. The study found that the four types of organizations in mainland China determine the social context of the application of Western education of the Chinese returnees. Returnees working in multinational corporations apply their Western education more than the returnees working in the other types of organizations. Themes that revolved around the international educational experiences of the Chinese students, including the development of cultural intelligence and new understanding of the ‘other’, and their realization of the differences between their home and host cultures, are included in the findings of this study. The relationship between these themes has led to the construction of a new concept concerning their self-cultivation that, in the Chinese perspective, is integral to Chinese leadership. This study introduces the concept of the bridger as a role that some Chinese returnees take on within their Chinese organizations and the third space that bridgers occupy.

Human trafficking is the world’s fastest growing global crime, which finally gained its due attention in the late 1990s. This thesis provides a critique of governmental anti-human trafficking efforts, in particular the U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report. Additionally, this thesis focuses on Argentina and its federal capital, as a case study of the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of governmental reports on human trafficking, as well as the contributions made by non-governmental anti-human trafficking efforts. This thesis argues that due to many factors, government corruption being one of the main ones, it is important to be critical of state power and the knowledge it produces surrounding the issue of human trafficking. It is also crucial that governmental anti-human trafficking efforts strengthen coordination and increase collaboration with regional and local NGOs and other non-governmental anti-human trafficking efforts, in order to more effectively fight to eliminate this transnational and international crime.

This research examines the political geographies of Palestinian children, and the ways in which their everyday spaces and practices are shaped by broader social and political processes. This research begins with an investigation into the role of the child in the moral geopolitics of humanitarianism and the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. From here, the research explores how the competing discourses of Palestinian nationalism and international humanitarianism, and the legacy of forced migration, have shaped the subjectivity of Palestinian children and the spaces of childhood in a West Bank refugee camp, from homes, to schools, streets, and youth centers. Finally, using participant observation, visual methods and guided tours, this research explores how children reshape the discursive spaces of childhood and child subjectivity through their everyday practices.

Arab-Israelis make up a growing portion of Israel's population. While they are legal citizens of the state of Israel they are not held to the same standards as their Jewish-Israeli counterparts. Jewish-Israelis are mandated to serve in the Israeli Defense Force, while the Arab-Israelis are not. Even without conscription a small number of Arab-Israelis choose to serve every year. This paper examines how individual and community identity play into the decision to join the IDF. The key factor in why Arab-Israelis join the IDF stems from putting the love of country over the love of any other community or identity.

This study examines the new German 2016 White Paper on German Security Policy and the Future of the Bundeswehr. Updated for the first time in over a decade, the document reflects Germany’s reorientation of its security policy in order to become a global player. This study analyzes the White Paper to determine its contextual meaning, domestic as well as international support, and obstacles in the way of its implementation. Although the German Government is concerned about waning US influence and increased Russian activity, the German people are reluctant to let go of their nation’s foreign political restraint in light of a lingering feeling of historical responsibility going back their Fascist past and to WWII. The international and European reaction to the White Paper is largely positive and hails Germany as a defender of Western Liberalism. Russia is less enthusiastic and has embraced information warfare as a means of displaying its displeasure. The study finds that resolving these issues will prove critical for the practical success of failure in implanting the designs of the White Paper.

The purpose of this study is to further examine the populist wave that has struck the West, with specific regards to France and Germany. The growing anti-immigrant sentiment, the discontent with “establishment” politics, and fear-mongering tactics has given rise to far-right political parties such as the National Front and the Alternative for Germany. These political parties prove threatening to the democratic institutions in place, for they wish to limit the liberties of those who seem too different. Through delving into the core values of these countries and specific events revolving around foreigners, I explain how xenophobic ideology has been allowed to permeate through France and Germany’s society and has increased the legitimacy of political leaders like Marine Le Pen and Frauke Petry.

La manière dont un jeune étudiant européen se déplace d'un pays à un autre dans le cadre du programme ERASMUS (European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students), tout dans l'esprit de découvrir ce continent divers, de partager sa culture avec d'autres et de faire fortifier son identité européenne est un enjeu social, économique et politique. La mobilité institutionnalisée a permis à beaucoup plus d'étudiants de partir à l'étranger qu'avant, que ça soit pour un semestre ou une année académique ou un stage de courte durée. Pourtant, la mobilité étudiante aujourd'hui est aussi devenue un atout économique pour la plupart des partis prenantes. En échangeant des étudiants comme s'ils étaient des commodités, les universités cherchent à accroitre leur notoriété, mettant en valeur leurs intérêts économiques avant l'accueil des étudiants étrangers. L'asymétrie des échanges entre les pays de l'Europe Occidentale et l'Europe de l'Est et Centrale pose aussi des problèmes. En outre, L'ECTS (European Crédit and Transfer System) et le Processus de Bologne ont changé la signification d'un séjour à l'étranger - écartant la diversité entre les institutions de l'enseignement supérieur. Dans cette thèse, je fais un bilan du programme ERASMUS. Par la suite, je fais des recommandations concernant l'impact social du programme - et comment faire en sorte que l'idée de partage culturelle reste au sein de sa philosophie.

The photographer discusses the work in Elsewhere, her Master of Fine Arts exhibition held at East Tennessee State University in the Reece Museum, located in Johnson City, Tennessee. The exhibition is displayed from March 1 through March 31, 2016 and consists of 17 color photographs and 3 videos representing a body of work that visually communicates the photographer’s interest in transient lifestyles. The influence and research regarding the concept is communicated by a focus on artists, literature and art historical knowledge that pertain to Law’s work. The artists included are Rineke Dijkstra, Jocelyn Lee, Lise Sarfati, Stephen Shore, Robert Frank, Rania Matar, Gregory Crewdson, and Walker Evans, as well as Edward Hopper, Lucian Freud, and Rachel Whiteread, and the poet Charles Baudelaire, among other writers referenced and other topics concerning aesthetics of travel and space. Images of the photographer’s work and a catalogue of the exhibition is included.

Thousands of youth exit Ontario's Child Welfare System (CWS) each year and perform poorly after returning to the community. However, understanding African Canadian youths' perspectives about their experiences and needs was problematic because no outcome data was available in the Canadian database. Using a phenomenological design grounded in a constructivist framework, the purpose of this study was to explore the meaning(s) that African Canadian youth ascribed to positive outcomes on exiting the CWS. A purposeful sample included 10 participants (6 females and 4 males, ranging in age from 19-24). The data collection method was face-to-face interviews with hand coding used to transcribe the data. Inductive analysis of themes and member checking ensured the trustworthiness of the interpretations. The 9 resulting themes related to concerns about their stay in care, as well as readiness for exiting CWS successfully: in-care instability (multiple foster homes and changes), unpreparedness for the transition, counselling/lack of counselling, behavioral management, education, maintaining motivation homelessness, shelter living, extended care connections, Extended Care and Maintenance (ECM), and Youth Voice in decision making. These themes represented issues that African Canadian youth believed would improve transitioning from CWS to independent living, particularly in negotiating community connections and resources. Social change can occur when policy makers and stakeholders acknowledge the problems and special needs of these youth by implementing the resources, services, and supportive programs to assure continuity of care and more successful outcomes.