Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-79).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2005. / Vita. Thesis advisor: Nicholas Townsend. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-253). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 252-263).

Undergraduate thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

To feel at home and to find your place identity in a completely different setting than you are used too requires a whole new type of coping with changes. In order to cope, there are different aspects that can help you. Either it be your personality, the physical surroundings or the people that you have by your side. This thesis has had the aim of examining how and why refugees feel at home in the city of Umeå, Sweden. What has been clear is that the interviewed refugees do feel at home in Umeå, this mostly because of social activities with friends and family, not as much because of the physical attributes Umeå has as a city. Place identity, seen from different theoretical perspectives, has been clear in that identity is mostly created in harmony with a place and what the place has to offer socially and not always due to the physical attraction of the place, which has been visible in discussion with the refugees in the study. Instead, place identity for the interviewed individuals has been created through the conceptions, interpretations, ideas and related feelings the individuals have to Umeå.

This dissertation explores the resettlement and integration of Iraqi refugees coming to the United States, and particularly to Austin, TX, from 2008-2012. On a broad level, it seeks to understand how peoples, organizations, and government actors combine to negotiate the controversial practice of third-country refugee resettlement. Data is drawn from 16 months of participant observation at a local refugee resettlement agency in Austin with Iraqi refugees and from one-on-one interviews with many of those refugees and with local agency service providers. The research seeks to explore what (and how) federal, state, and local policies shape the everyday resettlement and integration experiences of Iraqi refugees in Austin. In addition to policy and other structural obstacles in place in the current American resettlement paradigm, the dissertation also seeks to understand aspects of agency utilized by Iraqi refugees and how, if at all, cultural, social, and political factors contextualize and impact their experiences upon arrival to the United States and throughout their first few months in this country. The study finds that Iraqi refugees are highly impacted both by political and social structural issues already in place within the receiving society but also by cultural and social factors and frameworks which they “bring with them” from Iraq. The study also illustrates that the current literature on refugees underemphasizes refugees’ voices. These voices depict the experience of resettlement and integration in the United States as one where many feel a sense of being caught “between here and there” and constantly trying to “catch up with life” but without enough help, support, or guidance. The voices underscore the human experience and struggle of forced migration generally and specifically that of third country resettlement of Iraqi refugees to the United States. / text

In the wake of war, political disturbance, or civil strife, there is little doubt that refugees are exposed to highly traumatic experiences. However, despite these challenges, four out of five refugees never experience long-term mental health or stress effects. Most existing studies have been limited to focusing on negative aspects of refugee mental health. Little research has been conducted on positive aspects of refugee mental health. This research uses the salutogenic model of health developed by Antonovsky to evaluate factors contributing to positive mental health outcomes among refugees to Winnipeg, Canada. Using reflexive sociological interviews with eight refugees to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, I identify and analyze salutary factors associated with positive mental health and psychological well-being of refugees. Five thematic types of generalized resistance resources emerged from the interview accounts as salutary: support from macro and micro levels of interpersonal relationships; religious activities and spiritual beliefs/faith; hope for the future; educational opportunities; and employment prospects. Relevant salutogenic policy suggestions based upon this research may be incorporated into refugee resettlement programs and policies to promote refugee mental health in Winnipeg and also contribute to positive resettlement. / October 2015

The thesis examines the relationship between Britain’s Jews, both established and refugee, with the host community from 1938 to 1948. The relationship is studied in the light of events in Europe and the Near East from the 1938 Anschluss to the 1948 founding of Israel and the ways they impacted upon Jews in Britain. The work shows a positive reaction towards Jews in Britain, with few, but specific exceptions. Existing academic work has often concentrated on those exceptions, particularly in the East End of London. This study looks at the wider Jewish experience to show a more peaceful and tolerant coexistence than has formally been presented, especially to recently arrived Jews. The focus of the thesis is on the different personal experiences of Jews in Britain, against the more familiar high political context of the period. The thesis does not dispute the existence of anti-Semitism, but shows that it was limited to traditional geographical areas and has been in many cases confused with a more general xenophobia towards any ‘outsider’ or ‘foreigner’. It also deals with what the study refers to as ‘pragmatic’ government decisions regarding Jews and highlights some non-Jewish reactions which have been seen as discriminatory, but in fact were often born out of naive ignorance or having no realistic alternative. Using different approaches to examine a wide and fragmented cross section of Jews, the thesis shows the internal struggle many faced when dealing with the issues of what it meant to be British, a Jew and for some, a desire to have a safe homeland in Palestine. Overall, it is a study in the transformation of Jewish society in Britain from being deferential and submissive to one of assertiveness and self-reliance born out of necessity.

There have been numerous studies on the economic, social, and emotional lives of the Southeast Asian refugees (Adelman, 1982; Beiser, Johnson, & Roshi, 1994; Haines, 1989; Neuwirth, 1984; Nutter, 1984; Whitmore, Trautmann, & Caplan, 1989), yet the lack o f focus on Southeast Asian women refugees is prevalent. Human capital theory explored Southeast Asian women refugees' unique settlement experience as workers in Canada. Data from the Refugee Resettlement Study, " A Ten Year Study of Southeast Asian Refugees in Canada" (Beiser et al., 1994) was used to examine the employment experiences of women from Vietnam and Laos who came to Canada as refugees. The majority of the women were employed and were in jobs with low occupational status. Logistic regression was used to analyse variables associated with employment and occupational status. High English language proficiency was associated with being employed and having high occupational status. In addition, being younger increased employability. When the individual items within the English language proficiency scale were assessed, ability to read English and low ethnic concentration promoted employability. Ability to write English and low ethnic concentration increased the likelihood of having higher occupational status. This study contributes to the limited literature on refugee women's human capital accumulation and employment experiences during settlement in the host country.

Metaphors of "journey" or "rootlessness" are often used to describe movements of people across cultural and social spaces, and physical geographies. Such journeys whilst revealing stories that speak of a people's voice, are rarely seen as embodying an implicit quest for a narrative unity with a teleology and pedagogy, sui generis. This inquiry focuses upon the narrative journey of one such community of "travellers," the Indian Ismailis, who left their timeworn homeland in the North Western region of the Indian Subcontinent at the end of the nineteenth century and travelled to colonial Eastern Africa to make the land their new home. In the early 1970' s , however, political unrest in this now "postcolonial" region prompted the succeeding generations of the earlier pioneers to once again uproot their African home and undertake yet another journey, this time towards the so-called modern societies of Canada and other Western countries. This historical and often turbulent intergenerational voyage of over a hundred years is also a continuous journey of a modern selfhood in aporia as it experiences and traverses the various institutions, practices, and milieus of modernity, while attempting to engage with or update its own biographical narrative. Using the important and primary genre of shared conversations implicit within a narrative and hermeneutical inquiry, this project acts as witness and delves into the narratives of a diverse group of individuals from four generations of these travellers. It is proposed that in these intergenerational conversations and stories lie experiences and expressions of praxis that also reveal or point towards moral enablements of practices and virtues, and arguments that make present a "living tradition." This tradition, it is felt, can act as a significant and inescapable horizon - a robust historical consciousness - from which a modern selfhood in aporia can once again begin to update its own narrative as part of a continuous story of a community with a teleology, and which the current and future generations of these "travellers" can recognize, argue, update, and ultimately possess as they venture purposefully into the community's shared future.