Thesis (M.A.)--University of Montana, 2007. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Aug. 7, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 28-29).

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Following the social and political turmoil in many countries after the recent economic crisis, many Albanian migrants regarded a return to their ‘homeland’ as the best solution during a time of uncertainty. Adding to the literature on return migration, this research investigates a group of migrants, not previously studied extensively, whose return to their country of origin was triggered by the lingering economic crisis in Europe, particularly in Greece. The research explores the experiences of return migrants and their children in Albania by focusing on their (re)settlement issues, the ways they (re)construct a sense of belonging, and how their identity is impacted by these changes. Return migrants (aged 30-50 years) and their children (aged 7-18 years) participated in this research (n=51). Qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with respondents aged 13 years and above, augmented by focus groups and family case studies. This research was conducted in two waves and several participants were followed up to document changes. Findings show that the economic and socio-structural constraints in the origin country and uncertainties about the future experienced by adults create barriers to their overall ability to adjust and construct a sense of belonging in Albania. The research documents further that children of return migrants experience exclusion and nonbelonging, instigating feelings of being foreigners for a second time. While children showed improvement in their socio-spatial worlds overtime; in Wave 2 adults continued to grapple with employment instability and future uncertainties. Entangled in between these experiences and a simultaneous quest to belong, the research contributes to a better understanding of return migration in times of economic crisis.

This thesis offers a consideration of how the ideological foundations of Zionism determine the movement’s exclusive relationship with an outside world that is posited at large and the native Palestinian population specifically. Contesting Israel’s exceptionalist security narrative, it identifies, through an extensive examination of the writings of Theodor Herzl, the overlapping settler colonialist and ethno-nationalist roots of Zionism. In doing so, it contextualises Herzl’s movement as a hegemonic political force that embraced the dominant European discourses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including anti-Semitism. The thesis is also concerned with the ways in which these ideological foundations came to bear on the Palestinian and broader Ottoman contexts. A closer consideration of Ottoman Palestine reveals a hidden history of imperial inclusivity that stands in stark contrast to the Zionist settler colonial model. The thesis explores the effects of the Zionist project on Palestine’s native population, highlighting early reactions to the marginalisation and exclusion suffered, as well as emerging strategies of resistance that locate an alternative, non-nationalist vision for the future of the region in the collective reappropriation of a pre-colonial past. The question is broached about the role that Palestinian literature can play within the context of such reclaiming efforts. More precisely, it debates whether Palestinian life writing emanating from the occupied territories contributes, in its recording of personal history, to the project of re-writing national history in opposition to the attempted Israeli erasure. Finally, by drawing a direct line from original Zionist thought to the politics and policies of the state of Israel today, the thesis suggests an on-going settler colonial structure that has become increasingly visible through the state’s use of spatially restrictive measures in order to finally conclude its settlement project. Israel’s obsessive ‘walling’ is discussed in that context as the physical escalation of Zionism’s founding ideological tenets.

While deconstruction has been taken up widely in the field of Postcolonial Studies, there is very little work done on the relationship between deconstruction and the question of Palestine. This thesis maintains that deconstruction has both something to offer the discourses surrounding the question of Palestine and that deconstruction needs to be opened up to the undeniable if it is to continue to be relevant to contemporary emancipation struggles, specifically here the Palestinian struggle. This is not to say that the Palestinian struggle needs deconstruction, or that deconstruction can provide some magical solution. The aim of this thesis is rather to explore Derrida’s own attitudes towards Israel/Palestine and to ask whether deconstruction is hospitable to the needs of Palestinian self-determination.

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Han, Le. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-123). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.9 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Methodology --- p.32 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Themes of Being Chinese in Documentary Texts --- p.41 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- The Construction of Home and Nation in Transnational Settings --- p.69 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Constructing an Imagined Global Chinese Community --- p.82 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.101 / References --- p.121

Australian immigration policy has traditionally been justified as a means to ensure national security and promote economic development. Neither of these rationales retains much contemporary force. A larger population is no longer regarded as critical to Australia's defensive capacity, and the quest for economic development, synonymous with aggregate growth, has been superseded by a concern about per capita growth performance. While humanitarian and cultural justifications for immigration have been advanced, they are either restricted in scope or contentious. Currently, the programme is operating on a large scale without a clear rationale. The purpose of this work is to investigate the economic consequences of immigration, and so consider whether the economic rationale may be recast in an alternative form. In this chapter, the existing literature is reviewed and a strategy for carrying the analysis further is outlined.

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M.A. (Greek) / Please refer to full text to view abstract