How does legal status shape access to housing? This research explores the housing journeys of Ghanaian migrants in the borough of the Bronx in New York City to answer that question. The aim of this research is to understand the processes by which poor documented and undocumented migrants access housing, and to uncover the hidden, informal sub-markets that they occupy. Data were collected over a 14-month period of fieldwork, through 2014 and 2015, using a mixed methods approach. Quantitative data were drawn from secondary datasets and qualitative data were obtained from in-depth interviews with migrants, housing providers, and intermediaries. This study adapts urban informality theory by adjoining it with the concepts of migrant enclaves, social capital, and survival strategies. Urban informality describes informal settlements in the Global South that arise due to suspended sovereignty, where the state allows settlements to form to facilitate rapid urbanisation at minimal institutional cost. Urban informality occurs in the Bronx differently than in the Global South: migrants do not construct housing but rather obtain units on the formal market that they then sublet on their own informal market. Complicit actors, including profit-seeking providers and indifferent public authorities, allow this informal market to form. The findings show that, surprisingly, legal status is not an organizing framework in the housing market. Rather, the strength of one's social ties to the Ghanaian migrant community strongly determines how housing is accessed. For instance, undocumented migrants report better housing outcomes (lower rents and higher satisfaction) compared to their documented counterparts because they have more robust connections to other migrants. The only migrant group that can overcome weak social network ties and still readily access affordable housing are unmarried female Ghanaian migrants, as they are desired as household labourers and potential spouses. This research further finds that documented and undocumented migrants are similar in one important respect, they resist support from public institutions: housing courts, social service agencies, and elected representatives. This stems from pervasive myths and misinformation regarding government: migrants tend to believe that public authorities seek to deport them or otherwise prohibit their families from immigrating to the U.S., and that they only truly serve Hispanics, who are in the majority in the Bronx. This results in avoidable impoverishment, particularly among documented migrants who decline to seek public benefits to which they are legally qualified and entitled. This study contributes to knowledge with its empirical findings, methodology, and theoretical developments. The findings deepen our understanding of poor migrant communities residing in the Global North, and the implications of legal status for housing access. The methodology provides a novel approach for uncovering and examining allocation processes in hidden markets. The adapted urban informality model gives new theoretical insights into the relationship between formality and informality, which has further applications in housing studies and urban economics.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Geography, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], v, 69 p. : map. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-69).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 404-434).

This thesis addresses the lack of attention to practices that take place in settings not considered primarily religious, such as life-cycle rituals in the growing body of literature on religious practices of recently emerging African diaspora communities in the West. It argues that these practices are not only filters for indigenous African religious beliefs but also furnish for African migrants contexts that perform functions similar to those performed by the formal African diaspora religious institutions. Using ethnography, the study investigated the role of death rituals in the lives of Ghanaian members of the United Ghanaians Association of South Florida. The findings show that funerals organized in South Florida for relatives of members of the Association enable this trans-migrant community to participate in the lives of their relatives in Ghana. Funerals also furnish for these migrants contexts for performing aspects of their culture helping to cultivate a shared sense of being together or identity, in the process. The study suggests that to understand the full dynamics of African migrant religious experience, a respectful attention must be paid to all the rites of passage that African migrants perform in the West, not only those within formal religious institutions.

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.

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.

The impact of ethnic residential concentration on the process of integration of ethnic minorities into the mainstream society has been increasingly debated among both scholars and policy makers across Europe. This thesis seeks to contribute to this debate by addressing the effect of ethnic residential concentration on the political participation of Black Africans in Britain. The study pursues three main objectives: investigating the marginalising or mobilising impact of co-ethnic residential concentration on political participation; disentangling the processes underpinning this relationship by focusing on the effect of ethnic-based social networks, represented here by voluntary organisations, religious institutions and informal social networks; exploring the influence of the immigration-related heterogeneity that characterises the Black African community on the relationship between residential concentration, ethnic social networks and political participation. A mixed-method approach is adopted. The quantitative enquiry focuses on the Black African community as a whole and relies on secondary data drawn from the 2010 Ethnic Minority British Electoral Survey. The qualitative enquiry is based on primary data collected through face-to-face interviews and participant observation among Ghanaians and Somalis in London. The quantitative analysis shows that, among Black Africans, residential concentration has a mobilising effect on voter turnout but a marginalising effect on non-electoral participation. Ethnic social networks do not seem to mediate this relationship. Residential concentration is significantly, and positively, correlated to individual participation in ethnic places of worship and embeddedness in ethnic informal networks but not to involvement in ethnic organisations. In turn, the latter positively influences non-electoral engagement whereas ethnic places of worship and informal networks are not related to political engagement. The qualitative findings suggest that residential concentration is more relevant for the creation of and participation in ethnic organisations among Somalis than among Ghanaians. However, this relationship is likely to be influenced by other contextual factors such as institutional support, ethnic diversity and tribal homogeneity. Somali organisations also seem to play a more active political role than Ghanaian groups with regard to both electoral and non-electoral engagement. The two communities appear to be more similar when considering the relationship between ethnic religious institutions and informal connections with co-ethnics. These networks are not necessarily dependent on ethnic residential clustering and their effect on political engagement is primarily linked to informal political discussion. Overall, the results suggest that the relationship between residential concentration, ethnic social networks and political participation of Black Africans varies considerably between the two national groups researched, primarily due to their immigration-related characteristics, as well as across modes of political engagement (i.e. electoral, non-electoral) and local contexts.

While much research has shown that some linguistic features can indicate a person is lying, this line of research has led to conflicting results. Furthermore, very little research has been done to verify that these supposed linguistic features of deception are universal. In addition, few studies have researched the cross-cultural perceptions of deception, which knowledge could greatly improve the detection of deception across cultures. The current study addresses these gaps in the literature by analyzing and comparing truthful and deceptive discourse of eight native English-speaking Americans and eight non-native English-speaking Ghanaians. The discourse was elicited in one-on-one interviews where each interviewee spontaneously responded to questions about themselves. Later, interviewee responses were judged by 47 native English-speaking Americans and 35 non-native English-speaking Ghanaians. The results showed that Americans and Ghanaians lie differently—Americans' lies were more superfluous and redundant; had more pronoun inconsistencies, adjectives, adverbs, and modal verbs; and had fewer negative emotion words than their truths. Ghanaians' lies, on the other hand, also had more pronoun inconsistencies but had fewer negations than their truths. Furthermore, the groups' baseline speech differed in superfluousness, positive emotion words, word count, and response latency. Regarding detecting deception, Ghanaians were slightly more accurate and significantly more confident in detecting lies than Americans. Both groups were slightly more accurate and confident in judging the veracity of statements within their own cultures. Neither group, however, demonstrated truth- or lie-bias cross-culturally. These results have implications for law enforcement investigators and analysts who can learn the differences between Americans' and Ghanaians' truthful and deceptive speech so as to more accurately detect deception through language. In addition, cross-cultural deception perception research can improve cross-cultural communication and understanding.

No description available.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Hamburg, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 337-375).