No description available.

This dissertation is an exploration of the creative spaces often opened up by exile and forced migration, where Southern Sudanese negotiate and perform new forms of belonging and affiliation, while simultaneously (re)producing, ‘local’ practices in order to reaffirm and solidify existing relationships and identity categories. Through my examination of the creative spaces opened up by migration and exile, I also raise questions related to broader concerns in the field of forced migration and refugee studies regarding the need to problematize the often binary distinction between forced and voluntary migrants, which often places refugees in a category stripped of agency and choice. Based on 20 months of multi-sited field work in Calgary, Canada and Juba, South Sudan and exploring issues related community organization and shifting forms of affiliation, long distance nation building, transnational marriage and return migration, this dissertation demonstrates how settling-in and place-making involve both material and moral aspects of practice, and that refugees, regardless of the “forced” nature of their migration, are active agents in this process.

This dissertation is an exploration of the creative spaces often opened up by exile and forced migration, where Southern Sudanese negotiate and perform new forms of belonging and affiliation, while simultaneously (re)producing, ‘local’ practices in order to reaffirm and solidify existing relationships and identity categories. Through my examination of the creative spaces opened up by migration and exile, I also raise questions related to broader concerns in the field of forced migration and refugee studies regarding the need to problematize the often binary distinction between forced and voluntary migrants, which often places refugees in a category stripped of agency and choice. Based on 20 months of multi-sited field work in Calgary, Canada and Juba, South Sudan and exploring issues related community organization and shifting forms of affiliation, long distance nation building, transnational marriage and return migration, this dissertation demonstrates how settling-in and place-making involve both material and moral aspects of practice, and that refugees, regardless of the “forced” nature of their migration, are active agents in this process.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2003. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 264-272)

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Research on the educational and occupational aspirations of U.S. youth born in Africa is not only rare, but some studies have assumed that these immigrants are a monolithic group. However, they differ in experiences according to whether they are refugees, asylum seekers, or voluntary immigrants coming from various countries in Africa. These immigrants also come from different countries with different ethnicities, cultures, religions, and races. This case study makes such a needed distinction based on a small sample of high school students from Northern Sudan who lived in a small Midwest U.S. city. Diversity in ethnicities and cultures not only affects educational and occupational aspirations but also impacts how the aspirations are formed, maintained, and achieved. The Sudanese refugee youth who participated in this study had high educational and occupational aspirations, with all of them aspiring to obtain a college degree and some intending to achieve careers in medicine, dentistry, law, and engineering. These high aspirations were backed by high academic scores. Almost all students in this study came from well-educated families despite their current low socio-economic status (SES). Their current SES and minority status (MS) did not seem to affect their aspirations and academic performance. This study showed that educational and occupational aspirations are formed when students have strong social support from parents, significant others, teachers, peers, and their community, all of whom influence and reward high educational expectations and enforce the students' cultural obligations.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Murdoch University, 2008. / Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts and Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 393-421)

This dissertation explores formations of the ‘colonial’ in Sudan through the vantage point of transformations in debt and temporality. Situating Sudan in an Ottoman-Egyptian context, it offers an account of how debt and land came to be reorganised so as to be separated from the realm of ethical relations. It does so by exploring legal-juridical changes brought about under Ottoman-Egyptian rule, which gradually altered notions of selfhood and time. In light of this, forms of resistance—especially during the Mahdist uprising—are shown to be a reformulation of disciplinary and ethical regimes and a (re)fashioning of subjects. Concluding with the early decades of British colonial rule, it considers the temporal regimes used to neutralise Mahdist subjectivities, which involved producing a rational, sedentary, and calculative peasantry oriented toward—not an afterlife but—a prosperous future.

Very little is known about the acculturation of African refugees in Canada. This study examined the experiences and determinants of the psychosocial adjustment of Sudanese men (n=185) who are resettling in the lower mainland of British Columbia. Findings indicate that the men use two main coping resources to ease adjustment: social support and religiosity/spirituality. The former is predictive of improved social adjustment and the latter greatly ameliorates psychological adjustment. Additionally, the role strain experienced from supporting family members in Africa financially while resettling is examined. This study shows that greater role strain does not exacerbate the adjustment difficulties of Sudanese men, but socio demographic variables such as length of residence and language proficiency do affect adjustment. Men who have resided in Canada for longer showed improved social adjustment and those who were more proficient in English had adjusted better psychologically. This study further discusses the economic insecurity of Sudanese refugees, their family composition, the importance of a cohesive ethnic community in adjusting to life in Canada and various other aspects of the experience of this group of newcomers. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate