Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-05, page: 2668. Adviser: Maria E. Fernandez. Includes bibliographical references

In this dissertation project, I examine the experiences of displaced Hurricane Katrina survivors in the context of post-disaster housing policies and practices. This research is based on two years of in-depth interviews with Katrina survivors who were displaced to Austin, Texas. I analyze these interviews to understand the raced, classed, and gendered implications of post-disaster housing policies and to consider what these implications reveal about the relationship between social policies, housing, and social inequality more broadly. This project is informed by an intersectional understanding of social stratification systems and inequalities and a critical analysis of neoliberal social policy. First, I outline the gender, family, and class ideologies embedded in government-run post-Katrina housing policies and practices, and show how they specifically disadvantaged people who did not conform to them. I identify temporal domination as a specific aspect of class oppression evident in respondents’ experiences with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) rental assistance programs. Next, I specifically examine respondents’ experiences settling into their new neighborhoods and searching for jobs. I found that many black survivors ended up in segregated remote areas of the city, far from jobs and public transportation. Their job searching experiences suggest that employers used racist stereotypes about Latino workers to coerce them to work for low wages. This reveals the complex and interrelated racial dynamics of low-wage urban housing and labor markets. Finally, I explore how survivors got by in the face of such difficult and in some cases dire circumstances. One primary way survivors coped with the uncertainty caused by their displacement was relying on their social networks. While women tended to depend on adult child - parent and other familial relationships, men tended to distance themselves from the potential support of their mothers and other relatives. Respondents also constructed fictive kin relationships to provide support to others, sometimes for the explicit purpose of ensuring one or both members of the relationship had access to stable housing. This reveals how both gender and family relationships can shape disaster recovery and everyday experiences of poverty. Overall, this project contributes to the study of race/class/gender inequality, social policy, housing, and disaster recovery. / text

Recent research suggests that the college-going trajectories of English language learners (ELLs) may be improved by focusing on their academic abilities rather than their English limitations; that ELLs are capable of high-track, college preparatory coursework. Most research draws on feedback or observations of current high school students. This qualitative study uses semi-structured interviews to elicit retrospective perspectives of three Latina college students placed in English as a second language (ESL) during high school. These three former ELLs were able to navigate from ESL courses to higher-track, advanced placement (AP) courses, which prepared them for college. Results suggest that relatively short times spent in ESL may positively influence ELLs’ access to college preparatory coursework and integration with native English speaking (NES) peers who possess college-going social capital. Results also suggest that ELLs’ perceptions of teachers’ high expectations and college-going assistance may provide important social capital facilitating ELLs’ access to higher-tracks and college. / text

Growing up as the son of Mexican immigrant parents, in a city that has changed drainatically, I have had many questions as to the reason the city has changed so much. The city of West Chicago has experienced demographic shifts that are as astonishing on paper as they are in real life. This study answers why the Hispanic population chose the city of West Chicago as a destination and the positive impact that had on the city's economy. Hispanic family interviews also reveal the important factors and draws to the city, as well as an oral history of the city. / Department of Urban Planning

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, 2008. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-05, page: 2671. Advisers: Stephanie L. Mc Fall; Maria E. Fernandez. Includes bibliographical references.

xvii, 123 p. : ill. (some col.) A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Transition services for youth with disabilities are mandated by IDEA. Transition services are supported services that help individuals with disabilities move from special education in high school to employment, post-secondary education or vocational training in the adult world. Outcomes for youth with disabilities vary depending on culture, ethnicity, race, gender and socioeconomic status. Latino youth with disabilities experience poorer post-school outcomes than do white youth with disabilities. This study seeks to identify and describe the transition needs of youth with disabilities from Latino backgrounds who are transitioning from school to adulthood and therefore engaging in employment, post-secondary education or employment-related training. Through focus groups with Latino youth, their families, and the staff that serve them, I explored and identified the specific needs of this group with regards to receiving transition services. The findings of this study will guide the development of training for transition professionals in Oregon and will be disseminated to professionals in the field of transition across the country and around the world. / Committee in charge: Michael Bullis, Chairperson, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Lauren Lindstrom, Member, Counseling Psychology and Human Services; Deborah Olson, Member, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Spike Gildea, Outside Member, Linguistics

Historians of the prohibition movement in Texas have assumed that the state's main ethnic minorities-Germans, Mexican Americans and African Americans-strongly opposed restrictions on the production, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. This study focuses on the voting patterns in fifteen counties chosen to represent varying percentages of these ethnic minorities in their populations during three statewide anti-alcohol elections (1997, 1911, and 1919) in an effort to determine exactly the extent of opposition to prohibition on the part of ethnic minorities in Texas. It also examines the actions of the prohibitionists and anti-prohibitionists in courting the vote of ethnic minority groups. This analysis and comparison of election results in fifteen counties confirms overwhelming opposition to prohibition on the part of all three of Texas's ethnic minorities.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Hispanics and their levels of acculturation. This study's intent was to incorporate variables in order to identify generation and language as defining factors for acculturation. A Likert-type Bidemensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (BAS) was used to test six hypotheses.

This mixed methods research was conducted in the fall of 2014 to understand the perceptions and experiences of health risks and health outcomes due to pesticide exposure among community members (n=13) - concerned community members, agriculture workers and teachers- that live in the Central California agriculture counties of Monterey, Santa Cruz, Tulare, Fresno and Madera. This research explored: 1) The crops growing in participants’ communities, and how exposure to pesticides used in these crops pose potential health risks to participants and their communities 2) How pesticide exposure is impacting Hispanic/Latino communities in Central California, particularly those that are most vulnerable including school children, agriculture workers, and community members 3) The major public health concerns of impacted communities 4) Feelings of empowered to advocate for community health and environment and 5) What impacted communities wish to see on behalf of government and agribusiness to protect public health from pesticide exposure and toxins.