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Over the past few decades, the volume of international migrants has increased considerably. As a result, impacts of international migration on migrants' communities of origin have become much more prevalent and diverse. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, this dissertation investigates a little studied aspect of such diverse impacts: the impact upon ethnic structures and relations in migrants' communities of origin. More specifically, I examine to what extent international migration affects the level of socioeconomic inequality across ethnic groups and how such impacts influence indigenous people's ethnic identity in two Central American countries: Guatemala and Nicaragua. I contend that ethnic identity shift is one of the most significant changes that international migration brings to these countries because such a shift can even endanger the existence of the indigenous population. I have found that international migration reinforces ethnic identity shift from indigenous to Mestizo in both countries. At the same time, the pace of such a shift differs by a community's characteristics including its demographic composition and definition of indigenousness. While it is hard to deny the fact that international migration provides indigenous people in both countries economic opportunities that are hard to obtain through other ways, it can also have unexpectedly negative effects on ethnic minorities and their cultures in the long run. Since indigenous people in both countries face a tough economic reality, it is difficult to prevent them from migrating to other countries. In such a situation, to conserve indigenous cultures and prevent more indigenous people from abandoning their ethnic identities, we need to assure that indigenous people can feel pride in their cultures while they participate in national economy and politics under the strong pressure caused by changes originating from international migration and multicultural reforms. Understanding how the definition of indigenousness is constructed and transformed as well as a mechanism of ethnic identity shift is an essential step to finding solutions to the dilemma related to international migration among indigenous people and achieving a robust multicultural society. / text

This thesis aimed to explore mothers experiences of having a child with special needs througha gender equality perspective. Four mothers were interviewed through a semi-structured interview guide. Feminist disability studies and emotional labor with an intersectional perspective have been the guiding framework. To analyse the empirical material I have used aqualitative thematic analysis. Research has shown that heterosexual couples with children in Sweden are becoming more equal in terms of the unpaid” invisible” household chores. However, parents who has children with disabilities and in need for more extensive care tend to take on more traditional roles. The findings have shown that mothers are more often the one who takes care of the necessary chores concerning the child’s disability. At the same time, she also needs to take a step back in her career or not able to have work outside the home. For some of the families, the necessary chores have been divided into administrative or practical tasks were one parent has done more than the other. To get a deeper knowledge about why it was that certain gender division I have found that the deep emotional connection to their child had an intersectional effect in the decision to stay home for these mothers.

This is a case study that examines the perception of identity shift in trilingual speakers. The participants were three females from Moldova, a country in Eastern Europe, that have moved to the U.S. Participants responded to open-ended questions during an individual interview and self-report. The questions were about (1) the way they think in their native language, (2) the way they feel in different situations while switching languages, and (3) their interactions with others, depending on their relationships with the participants, the situation, and the language they use at that moment. Primary findings suggest that trilingual speakers perceive a shift in their identity depending on the language they are speaking. The languages used for this case study are Romanian, Moldovan-Romanian, Russian, and English. These are the languages spoken by a people who have been in social, cultural, and political conflict for centuries, most recently throughout the Soviet Union era, and even up to recent post-Soviet conflicts. Studying the perception of identity shift in multilingual speakers allows linguists to understand fluidity in identity in additional language-acquisition contexts. Such findings may help in second-language acquisition research, language teaching, immigration-assimilation research or resistance-to-assimilation research. The results of this study support previous findings of people switching their personality according to the language used at that moment. In this case, personality is similar to identity.