Thesis (M.A.)--Massey University, 2003. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 20, 2007). Accompanied by two Excel files in zipped format. Includes bibliographical references (p. 341-358).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 220-224).

This study aims to enrich existing local sociological literatures on Mainland new arrivals by exploring the assimilation of their children, including 1.5 generation born in Mainland China and second generation born in Hong Kong. In particular, it focuses on the everyday schooling experiences of children of Mainland new arrivals, such as their learning experiences, their relationship with school or teachers, and their everyday communication with peers. Combining Michele Lamont's concept of boundary and Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of field and capitals with contemporary assimilation theories in the U.S., this study conceptualizes assimilation as a multidimensional process through which migrants and their subsequent generations use different available strategies and capitals to adopt, negotiate, and draw boundaries in various social fields in order to be recognized members of the host community they are living in. Drawing on 11 in-depth interviews with children of Mainland new arrivals studying in secondary school, this study finds that, contrary to the oppressive experiences of first generation Mainland new arrivals especially mothers, second / 1.5 generations have more room or structurally enabled agency to negotiate rather than simply adopt boundaries defining "us" and "other" in the school context. This can be seen, for example, when second and 1.5 generation students alike actively use and modify social meanings represented in cultural products such as electronic games and TV programs to draw boundaries to build and sustain peer relationship in school.

La France n’a pas encore de système de collecte d’informations sur les immigrants standardisé. Ainsi, l’état de santé des immigrants est, aujourd’hui encore, déterminé de manière irrégulière. La seule information de santé des immigrants disponible correspond au statut de santé déclaré par l’immigrant. Ceci est à la fois problématique et surprenant car la France est considérée comme une des nations au monde à avoir le meilleur système de santé malgré le manque de données concrètes sur l’état de santé des immigrants. Une question se pose alors : « comment les immigrants se fraient un chemin dans le système de soin français ? ».Les Philippins vivant dans le sud de la France sont la cible de cette étude. Cette étude utilise le sondage, le « Key Informant Interview » et l’observation directe pour rassembler des données afin de comprendre comment leur culture et leur langage maternel interfèrent avec le système de soin français.Dans cette étude, l’hypothèse émise était que le langage est une barrière pour les immigrants Philippins cherchant l’accès aux soins médicaux. De plus, la culture traditionnelle de santé joue aussi un rôle important dans la pratique de santé des Philippins, même si ces derniers sont en France depuis de nombreuses années. Ils ont réussi malgré tout, à s’adapter au système de soin français. Cependant, cette adaptation doit être clairement identifiée et décrite. A l’interface de la culture, du langage et du système de sin de santé du pays d’accueil, les immigrants, consciemment ou non, créent une culture de santé émergente, différente de leur culture d’origine, qui identifie mieux un bon ou un mauvais état de santé ainsi que la manière de l’exprimer.Cette étude révèle que malgré le temps passé dans le sud de la France, la culture de santé traditionnelle des Philippins joue toujours un rôle dans leur pratique de santé. Les problèmes de santé sont toujours une affaire de famille. Ainsi certains médicaments sont importés des Philippines. D’un autre côté, ils profitent aussi des avantages du système de soin de santé français. Ils rendent visite à leur docteur plus souvent, ils prennent religieusement leurs médicaments et ils profitent des nombreuses options de traitements disponibles en France. Ils peuvent profiter de tout cela parce qu’ils sont couverts par le système universel d’assurance maladie français.D’un autre côté, les immigrants Philippins restent des patients passifs. A cause de la langue qui reste encore une barrière, leur comportement vis à vis de médecin est fait de hauts et de bas. Les Philippins sont d’un naturel timide. Ainsi ils essayent toujours de ne pas avoir de longues conversations. Ceci reste un défi pour les professionnels de santé qui ne sont ni formés ni préparés à gérer des patients parlant un langage étranger. / France is yet to have a standardized immigrant health data collectionsystem. As such, data of immigrants’ health is still irregularly determined. Theclosest immigrant health data available is the self-reported status of health. Thisis a both a problematic state and surprising because France enjoyed the title ofbeing one of the countries in the world with best health care system despite thelack of concrete immigrant health data. This put into question how immigrants aremoving around the health care system of France.Filipino immigrants living in the South of France are the main respondentsof this research. Focusing on how their native culture and language interplay withthe health system of France, this study utilized Survey, Key Informant Interviewand Direct Observation to gather data.This research hypothesized that language is still a barrier for Filipinoimmigrants seeking medical care. In addition to this, the traditional health culturealso plays a very important part in the Filipino immigrants’ practice of healthdespite their long years of stay in France. Despite this however, they were ableto adopt to the French health care system however, this adoption needs to beproperly identified and described. Within the interplay of culture, language andthe health system of the host country, immigrants –knowingly or unknowinglycreatean emerging health culture that is distinct to their cultural origin,understanding of a good or bad state of health and manner of expression.This study revealed that despite the fact that Filipino immigrants in theSouth of France have been living here for a considerable amount of time,traditional health beliefs are still part of their health practices. Health matters arestill a family affair and there some of their medicines are imported from thePhilippines. On the other hand, they have also adopted some ways to takeadvantage of the French health care system. They visit their doctors more often,they religiously take their medications and they enjoy more treatment options.They were able to enjoy all these because they are covered by the UniversalHealth Insurance System of France.On the other hand, Filipino immigrants remain a passive patient. Hemaintains a come and go attitude with their medical providers because languageremains a barrier. In addition, Filipinos are natural shy people and they always trynot to have long conversations. This remains a challenge for healthprofessionals for they themselves are not properly trained and prepared tohandle patients speaking another language.

Purpose: This DNP project examines the effectiveness of a brief educational presentation to improve cultural competency care for obesity among African Immigrants. This project focused on providers at southwestern urban primary care clinic to become culturally competent in caring for African immigrants with obesity. The findings and recommendations of this project also serve as resource for other providers locally and nation-wide who provide care for African immigrant population. Method: Utilizing a purposeful sampling method, quantitative pre-test and post-test questionnaires were used to evaluate cultural knowledge and intended clinical practices of participants (N =5), feasibility and satisfaction of the educational activity. Aggregate data collected from the pre-and post-test questionnaires were analyzed and discussed through thematic and descriptive analysis. Results: All participants demonstrated significant enhancement in cultural competency in knowledge in regard to nutrition, physical activity and linguistics/communication, body image perception and obesity management in African cultural context. Also, one hundred percent (n=5) of the participants recorded very high level of satisfaction of the intervention content and delivery. Conclusion: The education intervention was successful in enhancing providers’ cultural knowledge and competence in caring for African immigrants with obesity. It also serves as valuable initiative to further develop culturally competent care based on evidence-based practice to enhance the quality of care delivery for African immigrants as well as other vulnerable minority populations. For the over two million African Immigrants in the United States, obesity and its related complications is a constant struggle for this minority population. Health disparities exist for all minority groups suffering from poverty in the US, and the immigrant population is at a higher risk for these disparities due to the slower rate of acculturation. The effort to address obesity among immigrants especially those of African descent is significantly influenced by providers’ cultural knowledge, sensitivity and competency in healthcare delivery. This project outlines the development, implementation and evaluation of a brief PowerPoint presentation aiming to educate healthcare providers on cultural competency and appropriateness in caring for African Immigrants with obesity.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Remittances from South Africa to other African countries have been a growing phenomenon over the past few years. A substantial proportion of such flow is informal and yet, the complexity and heterogeneity of migrants mean that relatively very little is known about which migrants remit, what they remit, how much and how, what the challenges are and how their remittance behaviour varies according to nationality. Using the case study of African immigrants in Cape Town, South Africa, this study sets out to explore the nexus between international migration and remittances, in particular the relationship between migrants' characteristics and remittance behaviour. This study is anchored around the international migration system theory, prospect theory and the social capital theory. The methodological approach is both quantitative and qualitative. The information was collected from an extensive literature review, survey questionnaires administered to 83 immigrants from Zimbabwe, DRC, Rwanda and Somalia, selected using purposive and snowballing techniques, a focus group discussion with 12 participants from the case study and observations of two informal remittance sending sites. This study found that African immigrants send cash, goods and social remittances to their respective countries. Furthermore, using nationality, education and income as the key variables of characteristics of immigrants, this study revealed that economic immigrants from Zimbabwe tend to remit cash and goods more frequently, Somalis remit more socially, Rwandese send goods using formal courier companies, while the Congolese remit through buses. In addition, educated and higher income African immigrants tend to remit formally, and more in terms of goods value and cash amount. This study further established that informal remittance systems still dominate. Beside cost, speed, safety, reliability, customer care, friendliness, trustworthiness and convenience; informal remittance operators offer flexibility through loans and the collection of remittances from regular senders at low service charges. Informal remittance systems also provide other services that attract immigrants. Formal remittance systems on the other hand, have no strong appeal for African immigrants, especially the less educated remitting in rural areas due to low coverage. They are also bureaucratic burdens, by requiring proof of income, and address as well as documentations that immigrants are not able to produce. In addition, the challenges related to the South African money transfer policy environment, the registration and licensing of Money Transfer operators drives remittances further underground. Within the context of remittances, the researcher recommended the measures needed to bolster the use of formal systems, this ranged from the government's relaxation of remitting requirements and licensing conditions, formal remittance operators' extension of their reach, provision of better information about their services and reduction in transfer cost, to informal remittance providers pooling their resources together in order to have a strong capital base that can be easily legitimized.

The research seeks to explore why women in Zimbabwe still face hindrances in accessing micro finance services and what can be done to meet their needs in a more holistic and effective way. Women play a crucial role in the economic development of their families and communities but are faced with certain obstacles that hinder them from performing their role effectively. Such hindrances as poverty, unemployment, low household income and societal discrimination. UNIFEM (1992) confirms that the majority of the world‟s poor have a predominantly female face and argues that women earn only 10 percent of world‟s income and own less than 10 percent of the world‟s property. African women have been characterised by the lack of empowerment caused by societal perceptions and negative cultural practice. In many cases of women rights violation it has been noted that this has been exacerbated by the over reliance on the male counterpart. Development practitioners have noted that micro finance as one of the strategies needed for women empowerment. Despite the concept having been practiced for at least 15 years now, women still face challenges in accessing micro finance services. There is need for Micro Finance Institutions to recognise the position of women in relation to men as actors in society.

The process of adjustment of immigrants into Canadian society is an important economic, social, political and cultural issue; politicians, researchers and practitioners are trying to coordinate their efforts into making this process smoother and easier for the immigrants. The present study which employed exploratory, qualitative methods solicited the perceptions of immigrants regarding their adjustment process and also the perceptions of multicultural/resettlement workers as part of the process. Eighteen immigrants ( male, female ), from diverse continents, countries, age, sex, professions and education were interviewed and asked to fill out 2 Hudson scales (GCS and ISE). Ten multicultural/resettlement workers had answered a 23 item questionnaire. Major psychosocial aspects related to adjustment are described as elicited from the data and literature research. Implications for social work practice are outlined. It was found that attention to a systems framework for viewing the individual multidimensional problems/interactions is important when considering the adjustment process (which is a difficult process as the interviewers described it). The interviewed people manifested grateful consideration of the government efforts toward the distribution of benefits and opportunities to newly arrived immigrants in Canadian society. The interviewed people who had had the opportunity to have a host expressed their appreciation to the Host Program offered through Immigrant Services Society. Implications for the social work profession, issues related to an ethnic sensitive approach at the micro and the macro level are presented. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This paper analyses the probability that first- and second-generation immigrants in Sweden enter the self-employment market, and the propensity of being self-employed in certain industry levels. Furthermore, whether the motives and characteristics for choosing self-employment differ between generations by including control variables. To solve this thesis question, a cross-sectional sampling from the European Social Survey database between the years 2010 to 2018 and the Linear Probability Model was used. The result in this study indicated that the propensity to become self-employed is not significant between the analysed generations. Concluding that first- and second-generation immigrants have an equal amount of activeness in self-employment and that all characteristics have an effect on their propensity to become self-employed. The generations being self-employed in the low-barrier industry is dependent on their educational level. It was found that females had the highest probability of being self-employed in comparison to males. However, a drawback of this study was the sample size which was significantly small and also the multiple variables that were insignificant.

This interview study was conceived from the idea about how students who are second generations immigrants, have experience with the Swedish history lessons and how it relates to their identity building. Six different students were selected for the interview, and they all shared backgrounds but had different ethnicity. The study showed that several of the students felt that there was a disconnection with the Swedish history lessons and with their identity. The most common complaint was that the student felt that they could not voice their opinion or that the Swedish history lesson was too Eurocentric in their education plan. Some students also felt that they could not discuss certain topics, because of fear from the teacher. The study did however show that some of the students was more lenient and accepting of the Swedish history study and felt that their teacher knew what they were talking about, and that some certain topic was highlighted and that they could relate to their identity.