Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 314-323). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Black Notes on Asia: Composite Figurations of Asia in the African American Transcultural Imagination, 1923-2013 sheds new light on the hitherto neglected engagements of African American writers and thinkers with various literary, cultural, and artistic traditions of Asia. Starting with a reevaluation of Lewis G. Alexander's transcultural remaking of haiku in 1923, this dissertation interrogates and revises the familiar interracial (read as "black-white") terms of the African American struggle for freedom and equality. While critics have long taken for granted these terms as the sine qua non of the African American literary imagination and practice, this dissertation demonstrates how authors like Alexander defied not only the implicit dichotomy of black-and-white but also the critical bias that represents African American literature as a nationally segregated tradition distinctly cut off from cultural sources beyond the border of the United States and made legible only within its narrowly racialized and racializing contexts. / African and African American Studies

It is becoming increasingly common for current-day migrants to build transnational connections transcending national borders. Amongst recent immigrants from Taiwan to Canada, an "astronaut" type of family arrangement has emerged. In the "astronaut" families, either one or both parents continue working in Taiwan to maximize the financial resources of the family, while the children reside in Canada. These children affected by transnational migration between Canada and Taiwan no longer experience a radical break from their place of origin—Taiwan. Instead, both the settlement society and their ethnic origin have continually informed the processes of these children's home-making and identity development. Based on eleven individual interviews conducted in Greater Vancouver regional district of British Columbia, Canada between June and September, 2001, this study explores the impact of transnational family arrangements on children's lives, and children's.senses of home and identity. Findings suggest that the families of the children interviewed undergo a reconfiguration of the traditional family structure, a reconfiguration based on the establishment of various transnational connections linking family in Taiwan and family in Vancouver. The new transnational family structure is operating within new forms of interdependence between family members and within changing family relationships. The transnational family arrangement has affected how the children define "home" and where they consider to be "home". The children's senses of home are influenced by the interaction between their quotidian experiences in Vancouver and their transnational connections with Taiwan. In terms of identity, the children interviewed reveal a persistence of Taiwanese identity over time and at the same time a fluctuation in the intensity of their Taiwanese identity. The main factors affecting the children's senses of identity are: cross-cultural contacts they have experienced in Vancouver, the significant flow of people and cultural items from Taiwan to Vancouver, and the primordial attachment to their place of origin. The children have learned to negotiate within "astronaut" families. They have become new kinds of "transnational" people—those who can situate themselves somewhere between being Taiwanese and being Canadian and yet, be both.

The aim of this study was to analyse teacher migration between South Africa (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK). An understanding of teacher migration and migration patterns is of vital importance especially to SA. As a developing country, SA is losing valuable assets, namely professionals (teachers, doctors, nurses) to developed countries. There is a return stream as evident in a cohort of teacher migrants returning to SA. However, increased mobility is a direct occurrence of the forces of globalisation, and neither the loss of professionals (brain drain) nor the brain gain is unique to SA. Nevertheless, the need to understand migrant teachers' decision-making is salient: firstly, as a step in creating avenues for discourse on addressing the flight of 'home-grown' professionals and attracting ex-patriots back to their home country. Secondly, in furthering an understanding of global labour migration, and finally in developing and expanding on existing migration theories in a globalised world. This study was multi-layered. It investigated two distinct cohorts of teachers: ninety experienced teachers (part of the teaching fraternity) and thirty novice teachers (student teachers in their final year of study at Edgewood College of Education in SA). Within the category of experienced teachers, three separate divisions of teachers were identified for examination, namely premigrants (teachers about to embark on their first migration), post-migrants (SA teachers already teaching in the UK) and return-migrants (teachers who had returned to SA after a period of teaching in the UK). Various theories influenced the study: economic theories of migration, identity theories in education and Marxist labour theory. Within this theoretical framing the influence of globalisation as a process in facilitating cross border mobility was emphasized. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the study. Teachers' voices were favoured in the study as an expression of the complexity of their thinking, attitudes, behaviour and hence, identities. The study commenced by examining the reasons for novice and experienced teachers exiting the SA teaching fraternity, to work in schools in London in the UK. Then it explored the latter teachers' experiences in those schools and society with a view to revealing their integration into new socio-cultural and political milieus, and highlighting their transnational identities. Finally, experienced teachers' reasons for returning to SA were probed. In tracing teachers' trajectory from pre-migration (before migration) to post-migration (in the host country) to return migration (back to the home country), the study attempted to analyse patterns of transnational migration in a globalised context. The study identified the emergence of a new breed of teachers: transnational teacher-travellers. These are teachers who traverse a country's national boundaries at will. They are at ease trading their services in a global market, all in the pursuit of attaining a kaleidoscope of goals simultaneously. SA teachers were generally leaving their home country for multiple reasons of finance, travel opportunities and career progression. None of these reasons were mutually exclusive of each other. Migrant teachers' experiences in the UK were extensive, from professional growth to salary satisfaction and travel. However, teacher stress from incidents of reduced classroom discipline and loneliness stemming from family separation impacted on migrant teachers abroad, and contributed to return migration. An evaluation of the data on migrant teachers' motivations, experiences and goals led to the development of a model to understand the transnational migration patterns of teachers traversing from developing to developed countries. The model is sculptured from Demuth's (2000) three phases of migration: pre-migration, post-migration and return-migration. A basic tenet of the suggested model is that teacher migration is a non-linear process. It is initiated and sustained by complex, concurrent push or pull factors in the home country and pull or push factors in the host country. Further, teacher migration is propelled and perpetuated by the influences of globalisation and socio-cultural networks between countries. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

Photographs traverse the world in many forms and for many purposes. They follow and trace movements and networks of people, and have become essential objects in linking the past, present, and future of migrating communities. Vernacular photographs found in the home, encompass a substantial field of neglected knowledge and should be accorded greater attention and analysis in social science research. Vernacular images in academic research are often described as ordinary and mundane, their representational aspects are perceived to be repetitive and unremarkable (portraits, family snapshots etc.). However, this thesis argues that vernacular photographs are privileged objects and it is their universality and social embeddedness that elevates their significance in social science research. Unlike public or institutionalised photographic archives, vernacular archives operate within active social contexts and are alive with social agency. In this thesis, I use Alfred Gell’s anthropological theory of Art and Agency as the framework for conceptualising the social agency of photographs. To support these claims, this research examines the personal photographs found in the vernacular archives of a Gujarati migrant group in Christchurch, New Zealand. The photographs presented by members of this group are found at the centre of their social lives, mirroring their experiences and relationships in visual form. I use the Chakra Wheel as a visual metaphor to symbolise the nature of this group and their photographs. This metaphor speaks directly to the phenomenon of transnationalism and acknowledges that, for migrant communities, these transitioning processes are complex and elaborate, where the foundations of kinship and homemaking are constantly shifting. Vernacular photographs are at the centre of these transnational exchanges and networks, shifting from place to place, creating tangible and virtual threads between individuals, families, villages, and communities. They anchor these relationships at various sites, such as the wall in the family home, in albums, wallets, and on the internet. Vernacular photographs mirror these complex processes, and silently record and embody the social lives of people in a visual way. The mirrored reflection of the vernacular photograph can be both objective and subjective. By using the vernacular photograph as a research medium, in ethnographic research, we can get closer to the lived reality of people’s social lives. To emphasise the privileged position of vernacular photographs, I have chosen to use the methodology of photo-elicitation to position the photograph at the centre of enquiry. The methodology used in this thesis borrows some essential concepts from the discipline of phototherapy. Phototherapy claims that photographs can open up an exploration of us and others and, when the participant has primary agency, the affective force of the photograph is powerful and insightful. This thesis strongly supports these assumptions. Phototherapy uses photographs to explore the thoughts and unconscious processes of individuals. I argue that, in social research, photographs can also be used to explore and ‘open up’ the social world, by positioning the participant as the prime authority of their images, and their images as the vehicle of engagement and communication. By using vernacular photographs in this way, I look at both ‘on the surface’ and ‘below the surface’ of the image, making links with Barthes’ photographic theory and his concepts of ‘studium’ and ‘punctum’. In this thesis, the participants are the curators of their own personal archives. Their photographs give an emic view of their world, emphasising the importance of their migrant history, ancestors, village home, community, and cultural identity. Their photographs mediate agency between persons and places: keeping alive personal and spiritual relationships in the here and now; reinforcing essential familial knowledge systems; and assisting in creating and maintaining community identity and belonging.

Increased urban diversity in the metropolises of North America urges us to examine the different forms of mobility of transnational communities in cosmopolitan societies. Recent technological advancements, including developments in transport and communication networks, have significantly influenced participation in transnational activities and belonging to transnational social spaces. This study examines the relationships between long-term mobility (migration) and short-term mobility (tourism) by investigation the “visiting friends and family” travel of immigrants that best exemplifies the nexus between the two contemporary phenomena. As increasing levels of globalization and international migration are likely to be accompanied by increased transnationalism, the research uses transnationalism as a conceptual framework to study immigrants’ overseas travel. Research into the relationship between tourism and migration requires engaging with issues of citizenship as different categories of migrants have different rights in the country of settlement. This has implications for travel as revealed in the movements that occur between the places of origin of immigrants (which become destinations) and the new places of residence (which become new origins). These movements are likely to be influenced by the rights and duties of immigrants as citizens living within and moving around different states. This study examines the relationship between the overseas travel patterns of immigrants and their citizenship status. It also examines the role of ethnic and family reunion in shaping these travel patterns. The study also provides a deeper theoretical and empirical analysis of the role of ethnic reunion in shaping the travel patterns of immigrants and of the social and cultural meanings associated with the travel to the ancestral homeland. All of these issues are tackled by examining Palestinian immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and by employing a mixed methods approach engaging both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. Major research methods that are employed in the research include key informant interviews, questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews, observation and field notes, and the use of secondary data. The study explored the politics of mobility for Palestinian-Canadians, an understudied population in terms of transnational practices and issues of identity and hybridity. It also explored issues of citizenship and belonging using extensive interview data with Palestinian-Canadians in the GTA. Throughout the thesis the highly politicized aspect of mobility/immobility, national identity, and national autonomy in the Palestinian case was present. The research highlighted the continuing role of state actors in determining mobility and rights, despite the increasing rhetoric of borderless mobility. The study reveals that the majority of the Palestinian Canadians travel overseas regularly and their outbound travel patterns demonstrate a significant ethnic component. Palestinian Canadians travel to their country of birth as their dominant outbound travel destination for the purposes of visiting friends and relatives and maintaining social and cultural ties, indicating strong ties with homeland that have ethnic links. However, Palestinians holding Canadian citizenship have a higher propensity to travel overseas than permanent resident. The return visits have social and cultural significance to the first and second generations. However, these return visits do not facilitate return migration.

Appropriate housing with security of tenure is an important factor in the immigrant settlement and integration process. However, many studies of immigrant settlement and the housing careers of immigrants do so within the borders of a nation-state without reference to transnationalism – immigrants’ ties and cross-border connections with the country of origin. This case study of the transnational ties and housing careers of Ghanaian immigrants in Toronto aims to increase our understanding of one recent immigrant group’s settlement and integration process in Canada. Using a mixed-method approach involving both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods, this study explores how transnational housing activities influence the housing careers of Ghanaians in Toronto. The findings include insights into the immigration history and the socio-demographic characteristics of Ghanaians in Toronto; the nature and extent of transnational ties between Ghana and Canada; the nature of housing careers among Ghanaians in Toronto; and the influence of transnationalism on housing careers of Ghanaians in Toronto. Although Ghanaians’ immigration to Canada dates from the late 1950s, Ghanaians started coming to Canada in noticeable numbers after the 1960s. Ghanaian immigration to Canada generally and to Toronto particularly surged in the 1980s and beyond. Deteriorating economic and political conditions in Ghana and relatively favourable immigration policies and a good economic climate in Canada were the driving forces behind Ghanaian migration to Canada. However, the Ghanaian settlement process in Toronto does not culminate in a complete break with the homeland. Rather, Ghanaians in Toronto have engaged in a range of transnational activities with the country of origin, including contacts with family and friends, travelling to or visiting Ghana, following Ghanaian politics, investing in housing or property in Ghana, running businesses in Ghana, attending funerals in Ghana, and making regular remittances to Ghana. With respect to Ghanaians’ housing careers, the study reveals that during their initial settlement period, most Ghanaians lived in public subsidized rental housing or poor-quality private rental housing. They considered their housing conditions as inadequate and unsuitable and were not satisfied with their neighbourhood’s safety and security. At the time of the survey, however, respondents were more likely to own homes and were more likely to feel safe and secure in their neighbourhoods. However, housing affordability remains a major problem for Ghanaians in Toronto. With respect to the influence of transnationalism on housing careers of Ghanaians in Toronto, the study finds that transnational housing activities, especially Ghanaians’ attitudes to and preference for investing in housing in Ghana, affect their housing careers in Toronto. Sending regular remittances to Ghana and investing in housing in the homeland involve mobilizing huge financial resources from Toronto to achieving their housing needs in the country of origin, while many Ghanaians struggle to meet their own needs in Toronto. A logistic regression analysis shows that personal income and strong ties with Ghana are statistically significant predictors of investing in housing in Ghana. At the same time, significant predictors of Ghanaians’ propensity to own a house in Canada include loyalty to Canada and household income. The study contributes conceptually and empirically to three areas of research – transnationalism, housing careers, and immigrant settlement and integration – which hitherto have been studied as separate themes. Conceptually, it breaks away from the traditional way of researching immigrant settlement and housing careers by introducing a new conceptual dimension, transnationalism. Further, this research has added new insights about a recently arrived immigrant group in Toronto. Finally, the study contributes to the social work literature by identifying an emerging field of international social work. It has drawn attention to the fact that in the era of transnationalism, the emergence of a population of migrants whose needs and lives transcend national borders will affect the future of social work research and practice.

This thesis analyses the concept of transnationalism as a newly emerging approach in the field of international migration. This study aimed to try to understand the context of the emergence of this new approach in relation with changing global context. Additionally, this study also aimed to analyse functions of the concept of transnationalism as a new theoretical frame and a new analytical tool to generate an appropriate research agenda in order to study contemporary migratory phenomena. This study has concluded that the concept of transnationalism can generate an appropriate approach and research agenda to understand contemporary migratory phenomena. In spite of the fact that transnationalism is not a well-established approach, transnational practices and relations of migrant communities in specific and contemporary migratory phenomena in general can be studied in the frame of this new concept.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Texas Christian University, 2008. / Title from dissertation title page (viewed Dec. 8, 2008). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis is primarily based on ethnographic fieldwork that lasted fifteen months, between 2010 and 2012, in Keqiao, a municipal county in eastern Zhejiang Province, China. Despite its inferior administrative status and rather inland location, Keqiao is China's trading frontier for fabrics, which are the semifinished textiles that are industrially weaved, knitted, dyed, and printed in bulk before being exported. Contributing to the turnover of more than one-third of all fabric produced in China, the county's fabric wholesale market is not only the mainstay of Keqiao's economy. It is also the world's centre for fabric supplies, and where around 10,000 Indians have flocked to start their intermediary trading businesses. The major aim of this thesis is to examine the everyday encounters between Indians and Chinese in the local fabric market. It begins by exploring how Keqiao emerged as the global distribution centre for a wide variety of cheap fabrics. It also shows how Keqiao becomes characterized by the growing importance of low-end fabric sales and the influx of Indian traders, who specialize in exporting these fabrics. The thesis then describes the encounters between Indians and local Chinese in the fabric market, addressing the challenges and difficulties that these Indians, especially the newcomers, confront when dealing with the Chinese suppliers. Focusing on novice traders, the thesis turns to investigate the internal dynamics of Indian trading companies. Remarkably, novice Indian traders successfully learn several strategies to counteract their precarious position in the workplace. These strategies leverage the accumulation of work experience and expanding social networks. These insights bring the thesis to chapters that highlight other strategies, particularly those created from encounters between Indian traders and Chinese clerks, as well as those between Indian traders and Chinese salespersons. Taken together, this thesis illustrates how transnational and local actors team up to create their own, locally based, intermediary economy within a small Chinese county, and how such a collaborative economy, which I term a 'global fabric bazaar', sustains these actors. Without this collaborative economy, these players would otherwise be vulnerable within the fabric wholesale industry because this supply chain is increasingly polarized and weakened by today's global capitalism.