This work deals with the question whether the way one understands his strangeness can influence possibility of integrating migrants into the majority. The work presents some theories of personal and ethnical identity in the tradition of social constructivism. In these theories the identity is usually constructed in the opposition to strange or other, but can strange or other be the basis for the construction of one's identity? This problem is approached from the stand point of the basic sociological theories of stranger (Simmel, Schütz, Park, Siu, Bauman). Based on these theories this work argues that stranger can be an identity. The following analysis of in-depth interviews shows if and how is identity of stranger manifested in everyday life of migrants.

The integration of Ukrainian Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in host communities is as multi-dimensional as the political crisis of 2014 that led to the displacement. Having made a difficult choice to let go of their past lives to escape from the constant shelling and instability of the self-proclaimed republics, IDPs hoped to find shelter and be accepted by their fellow countrymen. While many surveys claim that Ukrainians generally seem to have tolerant attitudes towards IDPs, the findings of my study strongly indicate that quite often IDPs normalize stigmatization they face. This study employed qualitative research methods and relied on twenty-eight semi-structured in-depth interviews with internally displaced students – a group not often studied by researchers. Each interview explored issues relating to the identities of IDPs and their juxtaposition (Ukrainian, resettler and regional identity). Similar to other studies based on qualitative strategies, this research has its limitations, stemming from difficulties to extract opinions that would not be tainted by the desire to fit into a particular narrative or match perceived expectations. While researchers can attempt to remain unbiased and be aware of their subconscious beliefs, we cannot be certain that what interviewees share with us is what they sincerely believe. Nevertheless, taking into account these limitations, qualitative studies are essential for understanding the experiences of Ukrainian IDPs. While more research is needed to get to the roots of the issues surrounding the unique challenges of IDPs’ integration, this thesis makes a step to analyze what causes stigmatization of Ukrainian IDPs, how IDPs choose to respond to the stigma, what kind of strategies they use to manage it, how they interact with locals in the host communities and what are the consequences of such stigmatization. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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This thesis deals with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on global and local level. The researchquestion deals with the problems associated with IDPs - what challenges IDPs are facing and thefuture prospects for IDPs worldwide and on local level in the Samegrelo region in Georgia.The thesis is divided into two parts: In the first part I define the IDPs using the GuidingPrinciples on Internal Displacement, the critique towards the Guiding Principles and adescription of the vulnerability of IDPs worldwide. (Part 1, Chapter 1, Sections 1,2 and 3).I continue to describe the IDPs on local level, paying special attention to those in the Samegreloregion, in Georgia. In addition, I point at a delicate issue regarding ethnicity. Further, I providefigures on the IDP population, by showing the massive IDP movement in 1994 and 2008.Further, I use a description to the Indicators of Vulnerability with regards to integration of IDPs inthe region, and alongside with these indicators I contrast the content with the Government ofGeorgia Action Plan for the Implementation of the State Strategy for IDPs, and the Guiding Principleson Internal Displacement. (Chapter 2, Section 1,2 and 3).In the following chapter I define foreign aid as a tool of policy and I point out the absence ofearmarked Official Development Assistance (ODA) destined for IDPs, although there isearmarked ODA specified for Refugees according to ODA policy.ODA disbursements to Georgia indicate that a majority of the ODA is used as humanitarian aidand the traceable assistance directed to IDPs is predominantly humanitarian. (Chapter 3, Sections1 and 2).A brief overview explains the transition from early rural cooperatives in the West, to the NGOsoperating in post-Soviet states from early 1990s, within the sectors humanitarian anddevelopment assistance. Despite a long list with short-term hard and soft projects implementedby Local NGOs, the outcomes never reached sustainable levels. (Chapter 4, Section 1).Second part of the thesis encompass a case study of a development project I managed during aninternship at the Human Rights Center of Georgia. I describe the conduct of the project and howthe team, working together with young IDPs, achieved to formulate an idea for sustainableincome generation. I also present the technicalities and the process on how we negotiated toconvince the elder IDPs about cooperating with us on the idea and the project. I describe theprocess of renovating a food processing room at the collective center where the IDPs were living,and how this project was aborted due to lack of funds. (Part 2, Case study).

Professor N. Emel Ganapati, Major Professor Despite a growing body of research on gender and disaster, little is known regarding the long-term recovery priorities and participation of internally displaced women in the long-term recovery process. Focusing on this important scholarly gap in the public administration literature, the overall goal of this study is to understand the long-term recovery processes of populations displaced by the 2010 Haiti earthquake through a gendered lens. The study’s specific aims are to: (1) understand the rebuilding priorities of IDPs in Haiti through a gendered lens; (2) determine factors that enable or hinder IDP women’s participation in decision-making processes; and (3) assist policymakers, non-governmental organizations, and international aid agencies in addressing the priorities of women IDPs. The dissertation is based on a qualitative research study. Its data collection methods include semi-structured interviews (n=97), focus groups (n=63), participant observation, and a review of diverse secondary sources. Despite some similarities between the recovery priories of women and men IDPs in the short and long-term, women IDPs in Haiti had several additional priorities due to: (1) the traditional roles they play in the household; (2) their perception inside and outside the household as passive “victims” that needed help; and, (3) the location and conditions of IDP camps (e.g., increased risks of sexual assaults and violence) within which they lived. Their participation to voice their priorities were limited to participation in informal settings (e.g., camp committee meetings) in camps managed by the government or international aid agencies; and were affected by the following: (1) organizational factors (e.g., diverse range of organizations with diverse organizational cultures); (2) formal institutional factors (e.g., lack of participatory mechanisms customized for IDPs); (3) policymaker-related factors (e.g., stigma towards the IDPs); (4) IDP related factors (e.g., lack of trust); (5) place-related factors (e.g., lack of access to transportation); and (6) social capital-related factors (e.g., women’s groups). This study provides useful information to public administration scholars and policymakers who are working to support individuals living in the camps while those individuals rebuild their communities and livelihoods.

Proteins are essential parts of living organisms that initiate and control almost all cellular processes. Despite the widely accepted belief that all functional proteins fold into stable and well-defined three-dimensional (3D) structures mandatory for protein activity, the existence of biologically functional disordered proteins has been increasingly recognized during past two decades. Proteins with inherent structural disorder, commonly known as intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), play many roles in a biological context. However, in contrast to their folded counterparts, they are dynamically unstructured and typically fluctuate among many conformations even while performing biological functions. In fact, it is this dynamical structural heterogeneity that that allows for IDPs to interact with other biological macromolecules in unique ways. Moreover, while a majority of proteins in eukaryotic proteomes have been found to have intrinsically disordered regions (IDR), the mechanisms by which protein disorder fives rise to biological functionality is still not well understood. Through a series of simulation studies on specific systems, this thesis probes several aspects of the emerging structure-function paradygm of IDPs, namely the mechanics, intermolecular assembly, and structural transitions occurring in these proteins. The lack of well-defined 3D structure in IDPs gives rise to distinct mechanical properties, the subject of the first study in the thesis on the elasticity of a elastomeric gluten-mimetic polypeptide with an intrinsically disordered character. This disordered polypeptide was shown to exhibit distinctively variable elastic response to a wide range of tensions, which a classical worm-like chain model failed to accurately describe, thus requiring a molecular-level analysis. IDPs frequently are frequently involved in protein-protein interactions, the focus of the second study on the propensity of an IDR, the B domain in dynamin-related protein 1 (Dpr1), to self-assemble into dimer structures while remaining disordered in all solution conditions. Despite a hypothesized auto-inhibitory role for this domain in Dpr1 that was assumed to be triggered by an disordered-to-order transition, the B domains in solution showed no tendency to form ordered structures even in the presence of order promoting osmolytes. Instead, self-association in the presence of osmolyte was found to occur by favorable intermolecular intereactions between specific region on the surface of the B-domains. Other IDPs do undergo a disorder-to-order transition in response to environmental cues, in ways that are unique disordered proteins, the focus of the last study on intermolecular ordering transitions in silk-like proteins. Factors such as protein sequence and physical tension were investigated, and results suggested that tyrosine residues in the key silk sequence motifs promote templating of beta structure from disordered precursors and that elongational stresses preferentialy stabilize antiparallel beta-sheet order. Together, these three computational studies provide insight into the nature of the structure-function mechanisms of IDPs.

The principle of child protection and the efforts to protect children from abuse and neglect in pre-modern societies have different notions. According to De Mause, the past was a barbaric place for children and the history of childhood is a nightmare (De Mause, 1995, p. 1). In 1989, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child outlined the fundamental rights of children, including the right to be protected from economic exploitation (Convention on the Rights of the Child: 1990). This study explores issues of Child Protection Policy in humanitarian settings, and focuses on how the outbreak of COVID-19 has affected its implementation in South Sudan Internally Displaced People (IDP) in Camp settlements. This study is underlined by the theory of Participatory Communication while making use of concepts like Communicative Competence and Community Engagement. A case study and qualitative approach method is chosen for this research because it explores  and captures the uniqueness and complexities of South Sudan IDPs Camp in “real life” contexts  through systematic inquiry and data analysis (Geertz, 1973). The primary research tool of this study makes use of both primary and secondary sources of information. Qualitative research methodology through literature review, semi-structured interviews are used to gather data from respondents because qualitative research method aligns with the aim of finding out “how” and “why” (Kulothungan & Oham, 2019, p.12). Public statements, reports, policy documents and other resources are also used. Results from the empirical data suggest that Child Protection services in IDP camp settlements have been greatly affected by COVID-19 mitigating measures because schools and Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) are not operational as before and children are not getting the maximum support and services that they need. These measures have significantly affected the wellbeing of children in key areas including education, food and nutrition, gender and mental health. The study gives crucial insights into how stakeholders can address challenges in implementing Child Protection Policies during a global pandemic and in humanitarian settings.

Georgia, the Post-Soviet, transition country with struggling economy and territorial disputes has been dealing with forced migration since 1990s. In 2008, the country experienced another internal displacement wave and about 30,000 people were forced to flee from their homes. The state constructed compact IDP settlements and provided housing to affected households. After more than a decade, there is a significant gap in economic livelihoods of the IDP households in those settlements. The location and the size of the IDP settlements has had impact on the economics of IDP population and acted as main drivers of inequalities in integration across the settlements of forcibly displaced persons. The thesis will explore how the settlement facilitates or hampers employment and income-generation process for IDPs.  The conceptual framework utilized will be the combination of asset-based approach and cumulative disadvantage theory, push and pull factors theory of migration and the three key framework dimensions of camp design. The methodology used will include primary data collection through semi-structured interviews, secondary data collection through scholarly articles and reports, and the analysis and discussion of both.

This study aims to identify potential ways in which the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention) improves the quality of life for IDPs. Relying on the concept of bare life, it answers if and how the convention prevents bare life. Drawing on theory and previous research on bare life in relation to IDPs, the analytical framework forms four theoretical dimensions to which the Kampala Convention, Translating The Kampala Convention Into Practice: A Stocktaking Exercise (ICRC, 2017) and The Kampala Convention: Key Recommendations Ten Years On (ICRC, 2019) are applied. Based on a grading, the results tell of the convention’s effects. The IDPs’ rights and political agency are adequately respected; quotidian culture and prevention of exclusionary practices are promoted yet insufficiently. Adding humanitarianism, biopolitics and host communities as additional findings, there are areas that should be carefully respected, but bare life is mostly prevented. Hopefully, this study can add knowledge to the progress of the Kampala Convention and provide a framework for similar analyses of policy and practice on aiding people in distress.

Doctor Educationis / Sudan is one of the countries with a large number of people who move around the country for safety and better living conditions due to conflicts and the long-lasting war. These people are referred to as Internally Displaced People (IDPs), and most of them live in rural areas. The war in Sudan has led to socio-economic deterioration and has negatively affected social services such as health and education, particularly in the IDP camps. As a result, children's access to education and the quality of education remains a great concern. Educational challenges include poor infrastructure, lack of facilities and teaching-learning materials, overcrowding, and shortage of trained teachers. Illiteracy rates are higher among women, and drop-out rates are higher among girls. It is believed that traditional socio-cultural practices are barriers to girls' access to education in this country. In light of the above, this study investigates factors that contribute to girls' construction of educational aspirations in the IDP camps of North and South Sudan. The girls' educational aspirations are explored concerning gender empowerment discourses to gain an understanding of how gender empowerment is perceived and implemented by young females as they move between the school and home environments. It analyzes the impact of socio-cultural factors on girls' educational aspirations, perceptions, and self-esteem to understand the significance of education within a gender empowerment framework in the lives of young girls 10 disadvantaged communities of Sudan. Through the lens of the Capabilities Approach and various Feminist views, the study explores how gender discourses in education are understood, and the extent to which they contribute to building girls' opportunities and capacities in the local context. The study provides an analysis of the girls' opinions of themself and the influence of socio-cultural factors on their inspirational plans and expectations.