Migration Studies Commons^™

Welcoming The Stranger: Abrahamic Hospitality And Its Contemporary Implications, Ori N. Soltes, Rachel Stern, Endy Moraes

Religion

Embracing hospitality and inclusion in Abrahamic traditions

One of the signal moments in the narrative of the biblical Abraham is his insistent and enthusiastic reception of three strangers, a starting point of inspiration for all three Abrahamic traditions as they evolve and develop the details of their respective teachings. On the one hand, welcoming the stranger by remembering “that you were strangers in the land of Egypt” is enjoined upon the ancient Israelites, and on the other, oppressing the stranger is condemned by their prophets throughout the Hebrew Bible.

These sentiments are repeated in the New Testament and the Qur’an …

Education And Community: Education Helping Immigrants Find Community And Belonging., Belle Lemieux Chan, Josephine Smith, Lauren Gracey

Egypt Migrations Partnership and Comparative Immigrant Experiences

Education serves as a structured pathway for immigrants to establish a sense of community and belonging in their new country. Through the consistency and frequency of interactions within educational environments, immigrants have the opportunity to form meaningful friendships with peers from diverse backgrounds. These connections not only enhance their quality of life but also facilitate a smoother transition into their adopted homeland. By engaging in academic pursuits alongside fellow students, immigrants find camaraderie and support, fostering a sense of belonging that transcends cultural barriers. In essence, the educational community becomes a sanctuary where immigrants can thrive socially and academically, forging …

Preserving Cultural Harmony: Music's Role In Connecting Communities, Justin Marton,, Hudson Steele, Ahmed Khawaja

Egypt Migrations Partnership and Comparative Immigrant Experiences

This project tells the story of different ethnic groups and their relation to their cultural heritage through music. It goes over the roots of their music, and the stages of immigration to Canada and how they’ve adapted this music to their new environment.

Food Ceremonies And Celebration; Transcending Boarders, Simon Yong, Rebecca Bailey, Waseelah Abubaka,, David Lepage

Egypt Migrations Partnership and Comparative Immigrant Experiences

The story map presents the topic of food ceremonies, specifically food ceremonies for people who immigrated to Canada. The site compares diverse immigrants and their adaptation to Canada and its different culture. Specifically, focusing on traditional food stemming from celebrations and religious events such as; Ramadan, Eid, Simbang Gabi and Orthodox beliefs, and its adaptation to Canada and its importance in immigration.

Emerging Adult College Students' Perceptions Of Immigrants: A Multisite Experimental Study, Alexa Dee Barton

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States (U.S.) has consistently had the largest populations of immigrants worldwide over the last two centuries, contributing to immigration’s ongoing importance as a political, social, economic, and health topic. A central point of focus has been attitudes toward immigration, which prior research has noted is influenced by both individual level and sociopolitical contextual factors. However, few studies have examined these attitudes comparatively across differing immigrant populations (e.g. nation of origin, type of immigration). Nor has the influence of perceivers’ stage of identity and social development been considered (e.g. emerging adult, generation of immigration, civic values). Utilizing quantitative methods, …

Skill Downgrading Among Refugees And Economic Immigrants In Germany: Evidence From The Syrian Refugee Crisis, Plamen Nikolov, Leila Salarpour, David Titus

Economics Faculty Scholarship

Upon arrival to a new country, many immigrants face job downgrading, a phenomenon describing workers being in jobs below the ones they have based on the skills they possess. Moreover, in the presence of downgrading immigrants receiving lower wage returns to the same skills compared to natives. The level of downgrading could depend on the immigrant type and numerous other factors. This study examines the determinants of skill downgrading among two types of immigrants – refugees and economic immigrants – in the German labor markets between 1984 and 2018. We find that refugees downgrade more than economic immigrants, and this …

Safety And Belonging In Immigrant-Serving Districts: Domains Of Educator Practice In A Charged Political Landscape, Rebecca Lowenhaupt, Dafney Blanca Dabach, Ariana Mangual Figueroa

Publications and Research

Drawing from a context of reception framework, this article asks the following questions: How do educators describe issues of safety and belonging in the context of a charged immigration policy climate? What practices have educators developed to support immigrant-origin youth? And, what are the relationships between educators’ perceptions of safety and belonging and educator practices? We analyze educators’ survey responses administered across six school districts in different contexts across the United States, including the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West. We synthesize four domains of educator practice: signaling affirmation, building shared knowledge and capacity, finding and mobilizing resources, and creating space …

Immigrants And Crime, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

The gap between public perception of immigrant criminality and the research consensus on immigrants’ actual rates of criminal participation is persistent and cross-cultural. While the available evidence shows that immigrants worldwide tend to participate in criminal activity at rates slightly lower than the native-born, media and political discourse portraying immigrants as uniquely crime-prone remains a pervasive global phenomenon. This apparent disconnect is rooted in the dynamics of othering, or the tendency to dehumanize and criminalize identifiable out-groups. Given that most migration decisions are motivated by economic factors, othering is commonly used to justify subjecting immigrants to exploitative labor practices, with …

Migrants And Refugees: Are They Holding Us Back Or Pushing Us Forward?, Dany Bahar

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

As part of the Brookings Scholar Lecture Series, Brookings Mountain West presents a lecture titled "Migrants and Refugees: Are they holding us back or pushing us forward?" by Brookings Fellow in Global Economy and Development, Dany Bahar. It is often cited that human mobility is key to economic growth and productivity. Evidence also points to the economic costs and benefits of international migration for both the sending and receiving countries. This lecture explores if roads to economic growth and prosperity require restrictions to migration, or quite the contrary.

Black Women’S Wellbeing: The Intersections Of Race, Immigrant Status, And Mental Health Among African Diasporan Women In Houston, Texas, Sianneh Vesslee

African American and Africana Studies Summer Fellows

My central research question is: how has white supremacy impacted African Diaspora women’s mental health, access to mental healthcare, and identities as mental health patients in the United States as discernible in advertisements and state policies for psychological wellness? More specifically, I will investigate whether and/or how white supremacy shapes the ways in which advertising and state policies for mental healthcare address the particular needs of black women who immigrate to Houston, Texas from Lagos, Nigeria and Coahuila, Mexico. I choose those geographies because Houston is a U.S. city with one of the highest populations of black immigrants from Nigeria …

Socially Isolated Cambodians In The Us: Recommendations For Health Promotion, S. Megan Berthold, Sengly Kong, Jason Ostrander, Seiya Fukuda

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Cambodian genocide survivors experience health disparities associated with their traumatic experiences. Cambodian community organizations in the United States are severely challenged to serve these survivors. Community leaders have identified a sub-set of community members of particular concern: those at either end of the age spectrum (elders and young people) who are socially isolated. As part of a larger community-based participatory research project, we conducted a focus group with seven Cambodian community leaders from six cities that sought to better understand the phenomenon of social isolation of Cambodian elders and young people in order to inform health promotion efforts. Cambodian leaders …

Organizational Life And Political Incorporation Of Two Asian Immigrant Groups: A Case Study, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

Civil society is the foundation of a healthy democracy but its immigrant element has received little attention. This paper is a case study of immigrant organizations of highly skilled Asian Indians and Chinese immigrants in a suburban town of Edison, New Jersey. I find that civic participation of Asian Indian immigrants spills over into political incorporation while Chinese immigrant organizations remain margin- alized. I argue that local processes of racialization are central in explaining differences in political incorporation of immigrants. In the local context, the Chinese are seen as successful but conformist model minorities and Asian Indians as invaders and …

Latino Migration Within New York State: Motivations And Settlement Experience, Katherine W. Platt, Lina P. Rincón

Policy Documents

This study focuses on understanding why and how Latinos decide to migrate within New York State, specifically in Albany. The authors examine the reasons that push Latinos to migrate internally hoping to find alternative explanations from those provided by neoclassical economics approaches which argue that migration decision-making processes are based on rational cost-benefit calculations (Massey et al. 1997). The authors hope these explanations contribute to grounded policy and program recommendations seeking to improve Latino life in the Albany area and in New York State. While economic opportunity (job opportunities/professional development) is still the leading reason that pulls Latinos from different …

Culture, Hybridity And The Dialogical Self: Cases From The South Asian-American Diaspora, Sunil Bhatia, Anjali Ram

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

This article outlines a dialogical approach to understanding how South Asian-American women living in diasporic locations negotiate their multiple and often conflicting cultural identities. We specifically use the concept of voice to articulate the different forms of dialogicality--polyphonization, expropriation, and ventriloquation--that are involved in the acculturation experiences of two 2nd-generation South Asian-American women. In particular, we argue that it is important to think of acculturation of the South Asian-American women as essentially a contested, dynamic, and dialogical process. We demonstrate that such a dialogical process involves a constant moving back and forth between various cultural voices that are connected to …