This study investigated the health needs of immigrant women from the African Great Lakes living in South Africa in the province of Gauteng, Tshwane Metropolitan city. It described their challenges and related factors compromising their holistic wellness, and identifies their context specific health needs as a gender group. A qualitative approach was utilised concurrently with participatory action research method. Data collection involved triangulation of instruments. A literature study was conducted to select relevant information usable as basis for this study. Data analysis and interpretation revealed factors that make it difficult for immigrant women from the African Great Lakes region to gain access to health care services in South Africa, identifying their specific women’s health needs. Recommendations proposed that policy makers and implementing professionals rendering women’s health care services should consider utilising a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to meet these basic needs. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public health)

This descriptive study investigates the link between religion, (institutional and private) identity (ethnic and personal) and the community (Portuguese and South African) in the context of religious and cultural pluralism. It analyses sixteen Portuguese women in Durban - nine Roman Catholics, five Protestants and two agnostic and it is executed within the framework of the theory of conditionalism or 'radical relationality', as expounded by J.S. Kruger. The religious practice, experience and identity of the participants are explored, and their social integration as well as famiIy and marital relationships (with special reference to submissiveness) are examined in the light of Catholic Feminist theology. The influence of their experiences on their religion and vice-versa, as well as the fluidity of their identities are analysed. The. results of the study highlight the paradoxical role of religion, as well as a decline in ethnic identity and Catholicism. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M. Th. (Religious Studies)

Through increasing immigration, the U.S. society is becoming more linguistically and culturally diverse. Yet, as many U.S. language minority groups seek to assimilate, they face many challenges. One challenge is that their home language does not match the dominant language, English, that their children are learning at school. For Korean communities, maintaining Korean language presents a problem for families, especially for the mothers and children. The purpose of this study was to explore the U.S. Korean immigrant mothers' and children's perceptions of and experience with maintaining the Korean language and the effect that has on the development of social capital and cultural identity. I conducted two focus groups--one with mothers, another with their children, using a semi-structured interview protocol. I used narrative inquiry as my qualitative approach and then used thematic analysis to summarize my findings. I identified four major themes: (a) use of Korean language: positive and negative experiences, (b) perspectives on Korean language maintenance: benefits and limitations, (c) effect of parental involvement: provision of social capital, and (d) value of cultural identity formation: acculturation and the reality of learning Korean. This study revealed that parental support for children's heritage language retention seems to have an effect on language maintenance. Thus, because of this seemingly strong relationship, there seem to be significant benefits for children, families, and the overall society when the U.S. educators and other Korean immigrant parents strongly encourage American-born Korean youth to maintain their mother tongue in the U.S.

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

When immigrants move to another country, their success is determined by acceptance within the new society. Acceptance within the new society is dependent upon removal of the language barrier and thus learning the English language. My question for this study are as follows: 1) are there cultural or environmental barriers which may inhibit the ability of immigrant women to learn and use English, and 2) are there role expectations which may prevent women from taking full advantage of opportunities to learn the new language? Such barriers may arise from the nature of the interpersonal relationships or roles within the family unit, or values held by women or their spouse/partner, such as attitude toward gender equality, which could influence the ability or opportunity to learn English. This research explores the experience of immigrant women from the former Yugoslavia in accessing and learning the English language. These women who are between the ages of twenty and forty-five and their families, have immigrated to a small western Canadian city, since the war in that country in 1990. In addition, this study explores the influence of factors such as educational attainment, efficiency in their first language, motivation and desire on learning and retaining English. My analysis, based on interviews with seven immigrant women, revealed that even though hierarchical structure is evident in their cultural beliefs, women empower themselves through their motivation and desire to learn English, primarily for reasons of economic stability. / v, 112 leaves ; 29 cm.

This study examines the meaning of home for 19 Hindu Gujarati immigrant women living in the Montreal suburban municipality of Dollard-des-Ormeaux. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study redefines home as a multiple and dynamic concept, referring not only to the house but also the homeland, neighbourhood, cultural community and even the abstract feeling of belonging or being 'at home.' While this study concentrates on the women's present homes and neighbourhoods, the idea of the home as being reinvented across a variety of spaces and social relationships is a central theme. Home-making is argued to be an evolving social process that begins in the childhood and marital homes in India and continues with the transition into new homes in Montreal. The house and home spaces (the neighbourhood and cultural community) are sites where multiple dimensions of the women's identities are given a voice and reinvented. The women define the character of the home spaces, and also negotiate culture, ethnicity and identity within them. Through the construction of hybrid cultural identities, the women are able to make themselves and their families 'at home' between cultures. This study points to complex and sometimes paradoxical meanings of home, and emphasizes the significance of the suburban, rather than inner city, quality of home-making and adaptation processes among immigrant women in Montreal.

This study investigated the health needs of immigrant women from the African Great Lakes living in South Africa in the province of Gauteng, Tshwane Metropolitan city. It described their challenges and related factors compromising their holistic wellness, and identifies their context specific health needs as a gender group. A qualitative approach was utilised concurrently with participatory action research method. Data collection involved triangulation of instruments. A literature study was conducted to select relevant information usable as basis for this study. Data analysis and interpretation revealed factors that make it difficult for immigrant women from the African Great Lakes region to gain access to health care services in South Africa, identifying their specific women’s health needs. Recommendations proposed that policy makers and implementing professionals rendering women’s health care services should consider utilising a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to meet these basic needs. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public health)

This descriptive study investigates the link between religion, (institutional and private) identity (ethnic and personal) and the community (Portuguese and South African) in the context of religious and cultural pluralism. It analyses sixteen Portuguese women in Durban - nine Roman Catholics, five Protestants and two agnostic and it is executed within the framework of the theory of conditionalism or 'radical relationality', as expounded by J.S. Kruger. The religious practice, experience and identity of the participants are explored, and their social integration as well as famiIy and marital relationships (with special reference to submissiveness) are examined in the light of Catholic Feminist theology. The influence of their experiences on their religion and vice-versa, as well as the fluidity of their identities are analysed. The. results of the study highlight the paradoxical role of religion, as well as a decline in ethnic identity and Catholicism. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M. Th. (Religious Studies)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Na presente dissertação viso analisar e visibilizar a presença e atuação de mulheres teuto-brasileiras evangélicas na família, nas comunidades evangélicas e na sociedade do sul do Brasil, especialmente entre o último quartel do século XIX e meados do século XX, na perspectiva do privado e do público. Por isso proponho (re)escrever uma história do cotidiano de mulheres teuto-brasileiras evangélicas, considerando o cotidiano como lugar vivencial histórico e os espaços privado e público como interativos. No primeiro capítulo apresento os fundamentos teórico-metodológicos-analíticos desta: pergunto pelo lugar das mulheres na história da imigração alemã evangélica, enfoco o privado e o público como perspectiva de análise e abordo questões em torno de uma delimitação temporal. No segundo capítulo procuro reconhecer bagagens culturais que acompanharam mulheres (e homens) da Alemanha ao sul do Brasil (considerando suas experiências plurais) e que continuaram a inspirar o seu cotidiano, num processo de continuidades e descontinuidades, diante de novos contextos sócio-econômico-político-religiosos. Neste sentido abordo as experiências de mulheres (e homens) em torno das causas que conduziram à emigração da Alemanha ao Brasil, bem como da definição de privado e público no cotidiano de mulheres alemãs (evangélicas) no século XIX. Pergunto, ainda, pelas experiências constitutivas de uma espiritualidade de mulheres alemãs evangélicas e as iniciativas daí decorrentes, considerando a confissão evangélica como um diferencial em suas vidas. No terceiro capítulo vislumbro a realidade cotidiana que envolveu teuto-brasileiros/as evangélicos/as, especialmente as mulheres, por conta do processo de colonização no qual foram inseridos/as. Neste sentido pergunto pela presença e participação de mulheres no processo entre a emigração e a imigração, bem como pelo seu cotidiano entre o privado e o público possível. No quarto capítulo me ocupo com o processo de construção de "uma" identidade feminina étnico-confessional, considerando o exercício de um poder por parte de mulheres teuto-brasileiras evangélicas, ainda que dentro de uma lógica de submissão, visto estarem inseridas numa cultura patriarcal, sua relação com o trabalho no âmbito da comunidade teuto-brasileira evangélica e sua atuação na preservação da germanidade, como "mães da nação". Uma análise "da" história do cotidiano de mulheres teuto-brasileiras evangélicas permite vislumbrar circunstâncias, discursos e heranças culturais que marcaram suas histórias, num processo de continuidades e descontinuidades, e foram constitutivas de suas identidades, em permanente processo de construção, diferenciação e ressignificação; permite, ainda, visibilizar a participação ativa de mulheres teuto-brasileiras evangélicas nos âmbitos familiar, comunitário confessional e na sociedade do sul do Brasil, através do exercício de um poder, ainda que dentro de uma lógica de submissão, nos espaços privado e público (possível) e no vai-e-vem entre ambos. / In this dissertation I intend to analyze and give visibility to the presence and actuation of German-Brazilian evangelical women in the family, in evangelical congregations and in the society of southern Brazil in private and public perspective, especially between the last quarter of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th century,. Therefore I intend to (re)write a history of the daily life of German-Brazilian evangelical women, considering the daily life as the place of historical being and the interactivity of private and public spaces. In the first chapter I present the theoretical, methodological and analytical basis of this history: I ask about the place of women in the history of German evangelical immigration, I focalize on the private and the public as a perspective of analysis and I raise questions about time delimitation. In the second chapter I seek to recognize that cultural knowledge these women (and men) brought from Germany to the south of Brazil (considering their plural experiences) and that continued to inspire their daily life, in a process of continuities and discontinuities, in a perspective of the new social, economical, political and religious contexts. In this way I approach the experiences of women (and men) examining the reasons which led to the emigration from Germany to Brazil, as well as the definition of private and public in the daily life of German (evangelical) women in the 19th century. Further I examine the experiences that constituted a spirituality of German evangelical women and their initiatives, considering evangelical confession as a differential in their lives. In the third chapter I look at the daily reality which involved German-Brazilian evange1icals, especially about the presence and participation of women in the process between emigration and immigration as well as about the possibilities in their daily life between the private and the public. In the fourth chapter I examine the process of the construction of "a" feminine ethnic and confessional identity, considering the exercise of power by the German-Brazilian evangelical women, even if it was in a logic of submission, because they lived in a patriarchal culture; I examine their relationship to labor within the German-Brazilian evangelical congregation and their activity of preserving Germanism as "mothers of the nation." An analysis of "the" history of the daily life of German-Brazilian evangelical women allows one to glimpse at circumstances, speeches and cultural inheritances that had marked their histories in a process of continuities and discontinuities, and have been constitutive to their identities in a permanent process of construction, differentiation and resignification. It also allows one to visualize an active participation of German-Brazilian evangelical women in family, community and society in southern Brazil, through the exercise of power, even within a logic of submission, in the (possible) private and public spaces and in the seesaw between both of them.

Researchers have explored immigrant identity in various contexts, but few studies have examined identity in low-income immigrant women entrepreneurs. To address this research gap, I conducted in-depth interviews with eight low-income Latino immigrants who were starting their own businesses and receiving support through a local microenterprise development program (MDP). The study explored how participants' microenterprise efforts affected their identities and their investments in learning English. The research found that entrepreneurship promoted positive identity construction by providing opportunities for participants to develop personal and cultural pride, strengthened parental roles, and interdependence with the community. These benefits helped participants decrease family stress and increase optimism for the future, regardless of the microenterprises' financial success. Participants reported that their families were healthier and their children were doing better in school, suggesting a broad impact beyond the business owner. This finding indicates that MDPs and other social service programs should have explicit goals related to increasing participants' symbolic resources. In the language-learning realm, this study introduced the construct "relationship with English," extending Norton's (2000) notion of investment in language learning. The relationship construct encompasses the situated nature of immigrants' English use, investment in learning, and feelings about using English. The businesses helped most participants improve their relationship with English by providing motivation and informal learning opportunities. The non-English speaking participants improved their relationship with English by finding ways to use English even without working on their ability to speak. This finding suggests that social service agencies, ESL programs, and employers should broaden their view of immigrants' capabilities to use English and to invest creatively in their own learning. Another significant finding was that participants demonstrated signs of internalized racism, which can make it hard for immigrants to see their own strengths. New research could help MDPs and other social service providers address internalized racism and decrease its negative impact on identity construction. Looking ahead, long-term studies of MDP participants could help optimize program design, extend learnings to other types of programs, and help providers, policymakers, and funders allocate resources for maximum effect.