This ethnographic study explores the postcolonial presence and shared history of the Dutch in Suriname. Suriname has been colonized by the Dutch for more than 300 years, after which it became independent 49 years ago. This study explores the many ways in which Suriname is still connected to the Netherlands. The research question addresses how Suriname’s postcolonial, transnational and neocolonial relations with the Netherlands are visible in everyday encounters with infrastructures in Suriname, and how these relations influence and get influenced by Dutch development work. Instead of entering the field with a set research question, the research question is the result of relying on local interlocutors' insights. Qualitative research, including fieldwork, participant observation and interviews, is performed to explore colonialism, postcolonialism, transnationalism and development work. The position of the researcher is reflected upon. This study illuminates the ongoing visibility of the Netherlands in Suriname in the infrastructure of the country, especially in the capital city Paramaribo. Different forms of international development work are found to often occur parallel to a problematised notion of help. This research contributes to the field of cultural anthropology by taking a critical stance towards ethnographic methods and showing the importance of contextualizing the field.

Den här avhandlingen handlar om hur unga med utländsk bakgrund berättar om sina liv och om hur de föreställer sig sina karriärval avseende utbildning och arbete. Syftet med avhandlingen är att analysera hur möjlighetshorisonter i relation till karriärskapet – de processer som genererar olika typer av karriärval – framträder i individuella berättelser. Studiens empiriska material grundar sig på fältarbete i en gymnasieskola under ett års tid. I fokus står två klasser med elever som studerats genom deltagande observationer och intervjuer. Studien belyser hur familjens sociala position och föräldrarnas karriärer är en viktig hållpunkt mot vilken ungdomarna bedömer sina egna framtidsmöjligheter. Studien pekar på hur en av både social klass och etnicitet, strukturerad individualisering påverkar ungas karriärval och färgar deras möjlighetshorisonter. Dessutom belyser studien hur karriärval måste förstås i relation till en möjlighetshorisont som har både en temporal och en rumslig dimension. Ungdomarnas möjlighetshorisonter fördunklas dock av en uppfattad etnisk diskriminering på arbetsmarknaden men även av de etniska kategoriseringarnas påverkan på karriärskapet i skolan. När ungdomarna i narrativ mening positionerar sig i (föräldrarnas) hemlandssammanhang vidgas handlingsutrymmet i symbolisk men även i praktisk mening. Genom att ta hänsyn till en translokal position kan vi förstå hur positioneringar i skilda rumsliga sammanhang hänger samman med skiftningar i den möjlighetshorisont som karriärval relateras mot. / This thesis is about how young people of foreign background talk about their lives and how they perceive their career choices regarding education and work. The aim of the thesis is to analyze how horizons of opportunity in relation to careership – the processes that generate different kinds of career choices – appear in individual narratives. The empirical data were collected through fieldwork over the course of one year in an upper secondary school using different techniques: participant observation and interviews. The analysis shows that the family’s social position and the parents’ careers form an important vantage point facilitating young people to assess future opportunities. Results indicate that structured individualization in terms both of social class and ethnicity affects young people's career choices and their horizons of opportunity. Furthermore, the study highlights how career choices need to be understood in relation to a horizon of opportunity encompassing both a temporal and a spatial dimension. Young people's horizons of opportunity are obscured by perceived ethnic discrimination in the labour market, as well as by ethnic categorizations at school affecting their careership. When young people in their narratives position themselves in the context of their parents' homeland, they extend the scope of action in a symbolic but also practical sense. By taking into account their translocal position, we see how positioning in different spatial contexts is associated with shifts in the horizon of opportunity that are related to career choices.

This thesis makes two related arguments regarding the academic field of migration and refugee studies (MARS) and the control of migration by UK state agencies. The first, and more empirical one, is that the former facilitated the latter: the field’s members provided symbolic, technical, and pedagogic assistance to two non-departmental public bodies in controlling migration. The second, and more theoretical, argument of this thesis is that MARS facilitated migration control because of culture, power, and structure. It is through the field’s implication in the coercion of its human subjects by UK state agencies that MARS academics a) answered their calling, b) assisted class rule as ideologists, and c) separated sacred and profane by policing endogamy. The introduction describes the existing literature on the relationship between MARS and migration control. The consensus is that the former facilitated the latter. However, these studies fail to provide detailed accounts of the ways in which it did so. Chapter One defines the elements of my more empirical argument: MARS and migration control. An historical narrative outlines the institutional development of the field since its beginnings in the early 1980s. Then a new model for understanding migration control – i.e., migrant CODAR – is described. Chapter Two uses this model to trace the actor network through which MARS academics facilitated the restriction of their human subjects’ mobility by the UK state agencies of the Advisory Panel on Country Information and the Migration Advisory Committee. Chapters Three, Four, and Five use Weberian, Marxist, and Durkheimian anthropological approaches (respectively) to explain the implication of MARS and migration control that is described in Chapters One and Two. Finally, the conclusion of the thesis discusses its contributions to both more particular (i.e., the literature surveyed in the introduction on MARS and migration control) and more general (i.e., anthropology) scholarly fields.

This thesis explores conviviality, a set of processes surrounding everyday living with difference. Based on 18 months of fieldwork (2007-2010) equally split between Casamance, Senegal, and Catalonia, Spain, the comparison takes the transnational lives of Casamançais and their embeddedness in both local fields into account. Locally, Casamançais often spoke of cohabitation (French) and convivencia (Castilian). Exploring discourses as well as practices related to encounters with difference and everyday socialising, this thesis addresses three questions: (1) How do migrants who come from a context of religious and ethnic diversity manage to make their way within new social contexts of cultural diversity? (2) How do their pre-migration experiences of diversity affect the ways in which they deal with the changing configurations of diversity that they encounter in Europe? (3) How do ways of living together with difference change over time in both sending and receiving contexts due to migration and other concurrent societal transformations? In four ethnographic chapters, I firstly explore everyday neighbourhood encounters and the centrality of multilingual greeting and temporary gatherings in open spaces for conviviality. A second chapter focuses on cultural and religious festivities and argues that, apart from the political recognition of diversity, the local residents’ sensuous experiences of difference are a crucial dimension of conviviality. Addressing challenges to conviviality, the third chapter engages with the processes of social closure, isolation and homogenisation which reveal alternative ways of living with difference. The fourth ethnographic chapter puts migration-related inequalities centre-stage, showing how conviviality also involves subtle forms of inequality. Analytically, this thesis suggests that conviviality is not a static conception of sociality, but one that is in-process. I find that socio-cultural differences are permanently negotiated, that ways of dealing with difference are translated between the old and new contexts of diversity, and that discourses and practices of living with difference are continuously (re)produced in everyday interactions. Casamançais perspectives reveal ways of maintaining minimal sociality among local residents who remain different.

ABSTRACT Jean-Michel Lafleur Title of the dissertation: Political Transnationalism and the State The first part of the thesis consists in a review of the literature and a conceptual discussion about the concept of immigrant transnationalism and immigrant political transnationalism. This discussion shows that a series of gaps currently exists in the research on the links between the emigrants and the home country. Two of such gaps are underlined in the thesis. On the one hand, it remains difficult to determine why states decide to extend political citizenship to their citizens abroad. On the other hand, the influence of the state on its emigrant community seems neglected for the benefit of a post-national vision of citizenship. These are the gaps that this thesis is trying to address. The second part of the thesis presents in three case studies the results of the empirical research conducted in Italy, Belgium and Mexico. Some elements of migration history introduce each case and is then followed by an extensive analysis of the debate on the extension of political citizenship (especially the right to vote from abroad). A special focus is put on the role of internal actors (political parties, administrations) and external actors (migrants, associations). In the third part of the thesis, the author conducts a comparative analysis of the three cases. By doing so, the reasons why states extend political citizenship to citizens residing abroad appears clearly. It also leads to reject the post-national vision of citizenship supported by some scholars. After the presentation of the four variables pushing to act as they do in the field of external political citizenship, the thesis concludes by opening up new research tracks in the field of political transnationalism. RESUME DE LA THESE EN FRANçAIS Jean-Michel Lafleur Titre de la thèse (traduit) : Le transnationalisme politique et lEtat Titre original de la thèse: Political Transnationalism and the State La première partie consiste en une revue de la littérature et une discussion conceptuelle sur les concepts de transnationalisme et de transnationalisme politique dans le champ des études migratoires. Cet exercice met en lumière une série de lacunes dans la recherche actuelle sur les liens entre les émigrés et le pays dorigine. Deux de ces lacunes sont particulièrement mises en évidence. Dune part, il a y la difficulté de dégager les raisons poussant différents états à travers le monde à étendre la citoyenneté politique à leurs citoyens établis à létranger, et cela, en raison du faible nombre de projets de recherches comparatifs. Dautre part, le rôle de lEtat semble négligé dans la littérature existante en raison de la prégnance dune vision post-nationale de la citoyenneté dans nombre détudes sur les liens entre pays dorigine et émigrés. La deuxième partie est constituée de la restitution des données empiriques collectées dans trois pays: Belgique, Italie, Mexique. Chacun des cas détude est introduit pas une brève introduction au profil migratoire du pays. Ensuite, il est procédé à une analyse du débat sur lextension de la citoyenneté politique entre acteurs internes (partis, administrations, pouvoir judiciaire) et externes (migrants, associations). La troisième partie consiste en une analyse comparative des trois cas détude. Il ressort de cette analyse que quatre variables poussent les états à étendre la citoyenneté politique externe. Chacune dentre elles est examinée dans une dimension comparative. Le travail de thèse conclut en soulignant lapport de la dissertation au champ de la recherche sur le transnationalisme dans les études migratoires et ouvre une série de pistes pour des recherches futures.

<p>Gränsers betydelse har både suddats ut och aktualiseras i och med en ökad grad av globalisering och mobilitet. Den svensk-norska gränsen har i stora drag legat fast i nästan 350 år och under tiden har kulturella och nationella identiteter skapats. Genom sitt läge vid riksgränsen påverkas Strömstad av nationella händelser på ett helt annat sätt än Sverige i stort samtidigt som det även finns ett starkt inflytande från en annan stats nationella politik.</p><p>Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka den norska närvarons påverkan på Strömstad ur ett socialt och kulturellt perspektiv. Det första man ser är effekter av ekonomisk art då Strömstad toppar listor för både turism och handel, men i förlängningen ser vi även en påverkan i hur strömstadsborna ser på sig själva och sin kommun.</p> / <p>Increasing globalization and mobility has reduced as well as enhanced the significance of borders. The Swedish-Norwegian border has barely changed in the last 350 years. During this time both national and cultural identities have been created. Strömstad’s location at the national border creates a situation where it is affected by national events in a different way than most of Sweden and at the same time Strömstad is strongly influenced by the national politics of another state.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the Norwegian presence on Strömstad from a social and cultural perspective. Most noticeable are the effects in the financial sector; however effects can also be seen in the way the borderers see themselves as well as their community.</p>

Gränsers betydelse har både suddats ut och aktualiseras i och med en ökad grad av globalisering och mobilitet. Den svensk-norska gränsen har i stora drag legat fast i nästan 350 år och under tiden har kulturella och nationella identiteter skapats. Genom sitt läge vid riksgränsen påverkas Strömstad av nationella händelser på ett helt annat sätt än Sverige i stort samtidigt som det även finns ett starkt inflytande från en annan stats nationella politik. Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka den norska närvarons påverkan på Strömstad ur ett socialt och kulturellt perspektiv. Det första man ser är effekter av ekonomisk art då Strömstad toppar listor för både turism och handel, men i förlängningen ser vi även en påverkan i hur strömstadsborna ser på sig själva och sin kommun. / Increasing globalization and mobility has reduced as well as enhanced the significance of borders. The Swedish-Norwegian border has barely changed in the last 350 years. During this time both national and cultural identities have been created. Strömstad’s location at the national border creates a situation where it is affected by national events in a different way than most of Sweden and at the same time Strömstad is strongly influenced by the national politics of another state. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the Norwegian presence on Strömstad from a social and cultural perspective. Most noticeable are the effects in the financial sector; however effects can also be seen in the way the borderers see themselves as well as their community.

Thesis (MComm (Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This investigation explored the unique experiences of expatriates who have taken the proverbial first step into the novel and unknown. The main purpose of this study was to bring to the fore the importance of these experiences in a human resources management context. Through the application of the qualitative research methodology based on grounded theory, these experiences were unearthed, analysed and discussed. Various personal and contextual factors that contributed to the experience of success were identified and further elucidated. This study ultimately illustrated the need for organisations to develop adjustment programmes that would assist the expatriation process to provide insights and skills that could empower the individual to achieve true personal fulfilment in pursuit of career success.

This thesis examines the politics of narrative control, and how it relates to the formation of diasporic consciousness among Turkish migrants in the United States. It asks how Turkish diasporic identity is formed and shaped by discourses that frame Turks, and that interrogate who or what a ‘Turk’ is? This thesis suggests that this process of continual construction and re-construction of diasporic consciousness should be investigated as a matter of competitive identity formation, meaning that there is competition between multiple actors to impose a definition or label on a diasporic group and to achieve broad-based support for that label or definition. This also implies the attribution of specific values, ideas, and political agendas to that group. The thesis examines the roots, motivations and activities of Turkish American activists in Washington DC. Based on an analysis of their political orientations and internal fissures, it focuses on the current political debate over official recognition of the deportations and massacres of Armenians by Ottoman forces as a genocide. It argues that Turkish American activists have coalesced on the defensive around this issue, framing it as a matter critical to the identity of Turks. Their manifold activities to prevent the further institutionalisation of the ‘genocide’ label in American political discourse do not, however, always resonate with the passive majority of Turkish Americans.

The planned language Esperanto achieved popularity in early twentieth century Japan, inspiring a national movement which was the largest outside Europe. Esperanto was designed to facilitate greater international and inter-cultural communication and understanding; the history of the language in Japan reveals a rich tradition of internationalism in Japan, stretching from the beginnings of the movement, in the wake of the Russo-Japanese war, through the end of the Pacific war, when, for a brief period, organised Esperanto in Japan ceased. Building upon existing studies of internationalism amongst elite opinion makers in Japan, this history of Esperanto reveals unexpected examples of internationalism amongst the broader Japanese public, a number of competing conceptions of the international world, and their realisation through a range of transnational activities. Esperanto was at once an intellectual phenomenon, and a language which could be put into immediate and concrete practice. The diversity of social groups and intellectual positions within the Japanese Esperanto community reveals internationalism and cosmopolitanism, not as well defined, static concepts, but as broad spaces in which different ideas of the world and the community of mankind could be debated. What linked the various different groups and individuals drawn into the Japanese Esperanto movement was a shared desire to make contact with, and help to reform, the world beyond Japan's borders, as well as a shared realisation of the vital role of language in making this contact possible. From radical socialists to conservative academics, and from Japanese diplomats at the League of Nations to members of rural communities in the deep north of Japan, although their politics often differed, Japanese Esperantists came together to participate in the re-imagining of the modern world; in doing so they became part of a transnational community, one which reveals insights into both modern Japanese history, and the nature of internationalism.