Understanding how these networks and opportunities formed and the effect of these relationships on social movements and global politics is crucial for the future of the dam resistance movement. I hypothesize that the formation of networks and the larger role of civil society in decision-making has altered institutional decision-making, thus allowing for the development of new counter-hegemonic ideas of development and methods of organizing. Through a broad analysis of the dam resistance movement and specific dam resistance campaigns, this thesis examines how and under what circumstances transnational networks provide new opportunities for participation and greater influence over national policy and multilateral institutions. I will seek to answer the questions - how do anti-dam advocacy networks affect national and international policy and under what conditions are these networks successful?

Denna uppsats undersöker de rums- och identitets(re)konstruktioner som sker i mötet med De Andra. Semistrukturerade djupintervjuer med elva personer som har erfarenhet av arbete i postkolonial miljö – i detta fall Tanzania - samt platsobservation av ett så kallat ”expatriate community” ger empiri som analyseras med en dekonstruktiv intersektionell ansats. Studien visar att identitetsmarkörer korsas och skapar identitets(re)konstruktioner. Processen framkallar det objekt som inte tillhör det egna Jaget och skapar ett Dem – samtidigt som det sker omförhandlingar beträffande hemlandet och dess invånare. Det uppstår både ett avståndstagande och ett närmande till det som ses som ”svenskt” eller ”skandinaviskt”. Representationer skapas och förhandlingar sker mellan lokalbefolkning och expatriates men även inom den vita gruppen, baserat på faktorer som utbildning, ålder, inkomst, familjekonstellation, tid i landet och yrkestillhörighet. Detta påverkar rummet – i form av sociala rum såväl som konkreta platser. En slutsats är att intersektionalitet är ett användbart instrument för att se hur olika identitetsmarkörer (re)konstrueras i tid och rum – att vara ”vit” och ”svensk” är inte samma sak ”här” som ”där”. Den svenska kolonin i Tanzania kan inte ses som en homogen grupp, varvid denna studie bidrar till ökad förståelse för den diversitet som präglar den privilegierade transnationella arbetskraften – expatriates.

This study deals with the issue of migrants and their use of media to facilitate integration and negotiate nostalgia, identity and other social factors that ensue during the analysis of six selected Nigerian migrants in Stockholm. By means of a two-step ethnographic approach the empirical material is obtained from documented media use logs and semi-structured interviews of six Nigerian informants in Stockholm. This study sets out to discover the social factors that influence or shape the media practices of Nigerian migrants; furthermore, to understand the concept of nostalgia, integration and more descriptive concept of media use from the perspective such as: the number of years the participants have lived in Sweden, gender and ethnicity. The results show the motivation behind the media use of participants with emphasis on how Nigerian migrants use media in terms of type of medium used and frequency of use. Additionally, results show how social factors such as: ethnicity, gender, education, work and the number of years lived in Sweden play a role in influencing the media practices of the selected Nigerian migrants in Stockholm while likewise exhibiting a difference in the media practices of participants who have lived in Sweden for the same number of years. In conclusion, results display how the in number of years lived in Sweden in addition to other individual factors played a role in the media use of the participants. The results also show how the participants use media to negotiate nostalgia and ethnic identities.

The thesis examines how language, culture and family structures interrelate and affect the process of migration. Vital is how women from a different ethnic background integrates during migration and in a dialogue context with us as researchers and native Swedes. The thesis is interdisciplinary and analyzes empirical data through a qualitative method by using the perspectives gender, ethnicity and identity. The empirical material consists of 7 interviews, which have been transcribed and then broken down in to quotations. Thesequotations have then been analyzed using the perspectives mentioned above. Throughout the thesis the imperative significance of language to enable communication between people of different ethnical backgrounds, and how these processes may develop, plays an essential role. The conclusion reached through the thesis is that a person’s identity is adaptable and that language plays a vital role in a person’s group identification. Specific systems and rules are created in group constellations to decide who can be included in a particular group. This thesis shows that group constellations between ethnic Swedes and individuals from a different ethnic background has a large impact on the language.

Historical research about the so-called New Left was until the late 1990s an entirely newacademic field in Swedish academia. However, a large part of this research still deals withquestions concerning “who did what” and perhaps more notably “who was right”.This thesis is an attempt to move away from such inquiries and instead look towardshow one albeit small but very important part of this so-called New Left discussed andused the term America and things American. Formed largely around the Anti-WarMovement, the Marxist-Leninist – or “Maoist” – Left naturally opposed US worldpolicies; but perhaps more interesting a significant part of the ideas about America andthe Vietnam War seemed to stem from USA itself – such as naming your anti-war folkgroup “Freedom Singers” after the US civil rights group “The Freedom Singers”.Analyzing three Swedish Marxist-Leninist magazines the study thus complements theresearch on not only the Swedish New Left but also the study of anti-Americanisms;firstly, by examining what the Marxist-Leninist left considered particularly American;secondly, by studying in what context these particular Americanism was discussed; and,thirdly, by observing if these notions changed over time, and why. The aim is thereforenot to paint a “complete” picture of the image of America in the Swedish New Left butto analyze how things considered American was used, and why.By discussing the term narrative (berättelse) against the term image (bild) the study amongother things shows that the terms America and things conceivably American was used toexpress a number of things, such as a demonization of the Soviet Union. Moreover, a lotof motivation not only came from China – the natural utopia for European Maoist – butfrom American black-power leaders such as Malcolm X; that is, the image of America inthe Swedish New Left was not only more complex than previously thought of, butindeed took inspiration and ideas, albeit sometimes anti-American ideas, from the UnitedStates itself – or rather, “the other America” inside the United States of America.

This paper aims to explore a Tongan notion of development –'fakalakalaka' – in light of Western notions of development. Two case studies of international development aid schemes illustrate the impact of Tongan development ideas in practice. Drawing on a number of ethnographers' work on Tonga, 'fakalakalaka' appears broader than the Western notion of development. The latter is characterised by influential ideals of controllability and industrialisation. The notion of development among Tongans, on the other hand, tends to be directed by an underlying persistence that, for instance, reflects Tongan core values regarding social organisation. The production of textile 'koloa', controlled by women, emerges as central to the accomplishment of this three-dimensional development notion of intertwined physical, mental and spiritual aspects. The importance attributed to this specific kind of textile has increased in recent years and found two additional roles, or development strategies, in Tongans' contemporary transnational world.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2003. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 156-174). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Transnational perspectives on migration have challenged conventional understandings of migrant assimilation. However, theories on the relation between transnational engagement and integration are still offering a quite dualistic picture. Until today, few quantitative studies have been conducted on the consequences of transnational activities for immigrant integration, especially within the European context. The objective of this study is to provide empirical knowledge that enables a further evaluation of the accuracy of classic assimilation theory in a society where a growing part of the population is believed to maintain cross-national ties. With the use of data from The Swedish Level of Living Survey of Foreign Born (LNU-UFB) the study focuses on three different aspects of integration outcomes: social, cultural and economic integration. The study finds significant correlations between transnational activities and all three integration outcomes, also when well-known determinants of integration are controlled for. The directions of these associations are similar across each aspect of integration but vary with type of transnational activity. Whilst sending remittances and travelling frequently to the country of origin are positively associated with social, cultural and economic aspects of integration, longer duration of stay in the country of origin is negatively associated with integration outcomes. Both number and length of visits are additionally found to be more important for migrants who have recently come to Sweden and were older when migrating than those having lived in Sweden a longer period of time or from young ages.  Noting the underlying and multi-directional causality, the results overall imply a further critique of the classic assimilationist view, supporting a more pragmatic view of both integration and transnational activities as parts of the same processes.

Transnational Mexican-origin Families is a qualitative study of four working class, Mexican-origin families who resided in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. region and who also made return visits to Mexico at least every two years. Through critical ethnographic case studies, the researcher worked with the families for over two years in multi-sited ethnography, with locations in the U.S. and Mexico. The dissertation examines the following question: What are the ways of knowing of Mexican-origin transnational students and their families in the Washington, D.C. area, and how do these transnational families experience their ways of knowing regarding education in formal schooling contexts? Using transnational theory and Gloria Anzaldúa’s theory of conocimiento, or knowing, this study shows how transnational families’ ways of knowing are situated in three mutually-constituted domains. They are: 1) chained knowing, including the ways participants are chained to the Mexican-U.S. border and to their communities in Mexico and the U.S., 2) sobrevivencia or survivalist knowing, in terms of how the families both survive and thrive, highlighting what I call their “underdog mentality” as well as the matters of life and death on both sides of the border, and 3) Nepantlera knowing, or an in-between knowing, which allows for attempts at bridge buildings and creation of Third Spaces. In regards to schooling, the transnational aspects of these families’ lives remained hidden, despite the students’ eagerness to share about their transnationalism. Schools tended to respond to their transnational families along the “continuum of the comfortable,” or a line where schools increased their outreach to these families only moderately and only along their terms. The intention of this research is to disrupt assimilationist discourses about immigrants, particularly in light of the need to be able to navigate an increasingly globalized world. Preliminary findings suggest the need to begin to reframe immigrants as transnational, value their language heritages, disrupt the comfort of educators in their outreach to transnational families, and for educators, in particular, to learn to do the work of border crossing in their outreach to transnational families. / text

published_or_final_version / Humanities and Social Sciences / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy