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The Impact Of Immigration Policies & Integration Programs On Multicultural Identity In Germany, Laila Bernice Schneidergossens

Master's Theses

Discussed against the background of current political developments and attitudes in Germany, the following research examines what roles immigration policies and locally implemented integration programs play in the development of immigrant identity in Germany. Further, this thesis illustrates how these policies and programs can effectively lead to a new conscious understanding of multiculturalism. Germany has created a society where the cultures of immigrants and autochthonous Germans do not intersect, thus creating separate entities that exist in a parallel reality. Immigrants face the dilemma of maintaining their ethnic sense of identity while simultaneously adapting to the cultural and political norms in …

Challenging Notions Of U.S. Citizenship: The Contributions Of Mexican Americans, Tracy E. Kirby

Master's Theses

The United States has always been a nation of immigrants, in which the idea of “citizenship” has had very strong intrinsic values, and has divided those who “have it” from those who “don’t,” since the first legal construction of such categories in 1790. Longstanding contradictions, characterized by ceremonies awarding citizenship to some and laws of exclusion, deportation, and forced removal for others, have embodied U.S. approaches to citizenship, and created a dichotomy between “citizen” and “alien.” This Master's Thesis will initiate a discussion and reformulation of what it means to be a citizen in the United States, and more importantly …

Ruling Out David Miller's Argument For Immigration Restrictions, Yenipher Delarosa

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The paper will describe one of David Miller’s arguments for limiting immigration by concluding that immigration is a threat to a successful democratic welfare state. There is a threat to a democratic welfare state when there is lack of trust in a heterogeneous society. Immigration contributes to heterogeneity. The paper will present flaws in Miller’s argument, which include the unacknowledged concepts of ignorance and fear that can lead to mistrust in cultural heterogeneous communities. I will then consider Miller’s response to the critiques. Lastly, I will mention some proposals for increasing trust and addressing the real issues in a multicultural …

Older Immigrants In The United States: The New Old Face Of Immigration, Jing Tan

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Religious Affiliation And Attendance As Predictors Of Immigration Attitudes In Nebraska, Courtney Lyons Breitkreutz

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines the relationship between religious affiliation, church attendance, and attitudes towards immigration. Following the ethnoreligious perspective, I predict that those who identify as Mainline Protestant, Evangelical Protestant, or Catholic will hold more positive attitudes than those who do not affiliate, which would reflect the teachings of their churches. I also predict that Catholics may have particularly positive attitudes because of social identity theory. Attending church services should be associated with more positive attitudes, according to religious restructuralism. Using 2006 telephone survey data of 1,135 Nebraskans from the Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS), I use binary logistic regression …

New York: An Analysis Of Current Changes In Party Support, Kerianne E. Kane

Senior Honors Projects

This paper is an analysis of the recent changes in party support throughout the state of New York. Based on research by James Gimpel and Jason Schuknecht in their 2004 book “Patchwork Nation,” the focus is on determining which specific factors have been contributing to the shifts in support for the two major parties in key regions of the state. In particular, migration and immigration as well as demographic changes within New York’s electorate are considered. More importantly, economic changes within the state and the effects they have had on party support are examined as well. My research is based …

Alien Language: Immigration Metaphors And The Jurisprudence Of Otherness , Keith Cunningham-Parmeter

Fordham Law Review

Metaphors tell the story of immigration law. Throughout its immigration jurisprudence, the U.S. Supreme Court has employed rich metaphoric language to describe immigrants attacking nations and aliens flooding communities. This Article applies research in cognitive linguistics to critically evaluate the metaphoric construction of immigrants in the law. Three conceptual metaphors dominate legal texts: immigrants are aliens, immigration is a flood, and immigration is an invasion. In order to gauge the prevalence of these metaphors, the Article engages in a textual analysis of modern Supreme Court opinions and presents original empirical data on the incidence of alienage terminology in federal court …

Rethinking Assimilation Through The Lens Of Transnational Migration, Bo Yong Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Given the changing global environment and different experiences of the new immigrants, it is necessary to delve into the question of how the notions and patterns of immigration and assimilation change through the lens of transnational migration that focuses on the connection of immigrants to the context of both sending and receiving countries. Recognizing the transnational religious activities and creative adaptations of the new immigrants to new environments can enrich the study of assimilation, which reflects the changing picture of multilayered American society and its constituents. To examine the assimilation process of Korean immigrants through their transnational religious activities, my …

Adult Children Of Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Memories And Influences, Nga-Wing Anjela Wong, Paul Watanabe, Michael Liu

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

Probing the changing makeup of American college campuses, Adult Children of Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Memories and Influences offers unparalleled insight into the journeys of today’s graduate students born to immigrant entrepreneur parents.

Through interviews with 40 graduate students attending Massachusetts colleges from across the country, Adult Children of Immigrant Entrepreneurs unearths the unique challenges, skills and propensities engendered by growing up in a household where at least one parent ran a business. It also reveals that the students feel a deep-seated desire to give back to the immigrant communities into which they were born and which helped to mold their identities.

The Latino Population Of New York City, 1990—2010, Laird Bergad

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines demographic and socioeconomic factors concerning the Latino population of New York City between 1990 and 2010.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: The City’s Latino population continued its steady increase from 1.7 million people and 24% of the total population in 1990 to nearly 2.4 million and 29% of all New Yorkers in 2010. Within the Latino population …

La Vida Online: The Parallel Public Sphere Of Facebook As Used By Colombian Immigrant Women In Atlanta, Michaelanne Dye

Michaelanne M Dye

This thesis examines how Colombian women within the city of Atlanta utilize Facebook as a parallel public sphere, a cultural phenomenon through which the silenced use mediums of popular culture to discuss private and public dilemmas (Dewey 2009). Through ethnographic research in Atlanta, I analyze how these young women use Facebook as they negotiate their identity through the multiple contexts of their everyday lives. Drawing from feminist critiques, I explore whether Facebook provides an alternative to the traditional public sphere, while also investigating how power structures influence freedom of expression online. Through an international network of friends, these women tackle …

Immigration To Germany: Past And Present Experiences, Peter O'Brien

Political Science Faculty Research

Germany long stood as the epitome of the ethno-nationalist approach to immigration. However, passage of the new Citizenship Law in 2000, which introduced jus soli, seemed to signal a sea change in the direction of a postnational outlook. This paper warns against seeing in the new legislation an emerging normative consensus around the kind of liberal cosmopolitanism advocated by the likes of Jürgen Habermas, Ulrich Beck or Will Kymlicka. I document the persistent allure and influence of nationalism and point to the growing appeal and sway of proposals and policies informed by a postmodern normative outlook. Germany’s normative landscape, …

Expressions Of Another Center: Borderlands Visual Theory & The Art Of Luis Jimenez, Eric Castillo

American Studies ETDs

An artist who constantly challenged various social and political boundaries, Jimenez and his art contribute to a growing discourse about U.S. sculpture and 21st century American art. By combining various methodologies such as formal analysis, visual analysis, and critical biography, I will underscore the significance of Luis Jimenez's art in 21st century American art. Jimenez's art functions autobiographically particular moment in his life affected his art in many ways. His time in Mexico City, New York, and Rome are a few pivotal moments that shifted the focus of his art and encouraged him to return to the Southwest where his …

Immigration And Social Solidarity In A Time Of Crisis: The Welfare State And Integration, David Abraham

David Abraham

Very suddenly a cloud has settled over the immigration regimes of the European welfare states as well as the United States. Confidence in the ability to integrate and the value of integrating newcomers into a system of legal and social solidarity has waned. The weakening of both liberal civic nationalism and secular constitutional patriotism has unsettled national identities and undermined legal reforms intended to facilitate the inclusion of immigrants, especially Muslims. The road ahead will be very difficult for both the welfare state and immigrants. More forceful integration policies might be better for sustaining the welfare state, but individual liberties …

Democracy Online: Immigration Discourse Over Time, Brian David Harris

Theses and Dissertations

The growth of internet communication has affected deliberative democracy by introducing new public spheres. One emerging public sphere is the discussion forum linked to online news sources. By analyzing 1,768 comments posted to a regional online news website, I discuss five key frameworks that commenters used to simplify the debate over immigration. I also find that extreme comments decreased in frequency over a two-year period while more moderate comments increased. In light of group polarization theory, this finding suggests that the forum is more like a single community with a fairly moderate average position to which people with differing opinions …

Chinese-Born Seniors On The Move: Transnational Mobility And Family Life Between The Pearl River Delta And Boston, Massachusetts, Nicole Newendorp

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

My account here of Chinese seniors’ migration trajectories to the U.S. in recent years builds on this increasing scholarly focus on the dialectic of the individual and collective in Chinese transnational family life by examining the motivations and desires of senior migrants who make use of recent opportunities for transnational mobility between China and the U.S. to reunite with family in the U.S.—all the while leaving other family members behind in China.

The Plus One Policy: An Autonomous Model Of Family Reunification, Jessica Feinberg

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Short History Of Sex And Citizenship: The Historians' Amicus Brief In Flores-Villar V. United States, Kristin Collins

Faculty Scholarship

The historians’ amicus brief that accompanies this essay was submitted to the Supreme Court in Flores-Villar v. United States, an equal protection challenge to federal statutes that regulate the citizenship status of foreign-born children of American parents. When the parents of such children are unmarried, federal law encumbers the ability of American fathers to secure citizenship for their children, while providing American mothers with a nearly unfettered ability to do the same. The general question before the Court in Flores-Villar – and a question that the Court has addressed in sum and substance on two other occasions during the last …

Ghanaians In Amsterdam, Their "Good Work Back Home" And The Importance Of Reciprocity, Ton Dietz, Valentina Mazzucato, Mirjam Kabki, Lothar Smith

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

This paper discusses the particular and strategic roles, which migrants play in the development of their country of origin, notably their rural "hometowns." It is based on a multi-sited, contemporaneous study in cultural economics that explores the influence of transnational ties between Ghanaian migrants in Amsterdam with individual and collective actors in Ghana, notably in rural Ashanti communities. This paper highlights the role of institutions, linking communities living abroad to their people back home, or broader: in the home country. In this contribution two of these, inter-linked institutions get special attention: community development, and funerals.

The New African Diaspora: Engaging The Question Of Brain Drain-Brain Gain, Akanmu Adebayo

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

The literature on the New African Diaspora is growing. One of the latest is the volume co-edited by Isidore Okpewho and Nkiru Nzegwu, published by Indiana University Press in 2009. A common thread in the literature is the identification of the "brain drain" as a major consequence of the establishment of the New African Diaspora. Another common postulation is that the "brain drain" can be turned into "brain gain" through the concerted efforts of African governments, international organizations, and members of the diaspora themselves. This paper interrogates popular and intellectual assumptions about diaspora, brain drain, and brain gain. The paper …

Korean Ethnic Identity In The United States 1900-1945, Thomas Dolan, Kyle Christensen

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Although Koreans and Korean Americans are ubiquitous in contemporary American society, the migration of Koreans to the United States did not begin until long after other East Asians (Japanese and Chinese) were brought to Hawaii and the West Coast. In 1900 only 31 Koreans were in the entire United States, but by 1910 over 4,000 had come. These fIrst Koreans corning to America differed from Chinese and Japanese immigrant workers primarily in that they were Christians, and many of the early Koreans also came as families instead of single men. As their numbers increased, the Koreans set up communities in …

African Catholicism And The Diaspora Phenomenon: A Socio-Political Analysis Of African Priests In The Diaspora, Iheanyi Maurice Enwerem

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Religious agents, including Catholic priests, are no exception with regards to involvement in the diaspora phenomenon. Among them, especially in the most recent time, are those who, for the purposes of this paper, are identified as "African Catholic priest-diasporas" (African priest diasporas, for short); that is, those Catholic priests from Africa who, for a variety of reasons, relocated from the continent to reside in a foreign country where they exercise their priestly ministry. This new and growing group of diasporas obviously forms part of the "African Diasporas"-a group African Union (AU) considers as Africa's "sixth region" (Auma, 2009). The paper …

Perpetuating The Marginalization Of Latinos: A Collateral Consequence Of The Incorporation Of Immigration Law Into The Criminal Justice System, Yolanda Vazquez

All Faculty Scholarship

Latinos currently represent the largest minority in the United States. In 2009, we witnessed the first Latina appointment to the United States Supreme Court. Despite these events, Latinos continue to endure racial discrimination and social marginalization in the United States. The inability of Latinos to gain political acceptance and legitimacy in the United States can be attributed to the social construct of Latinos as threats to national security and the cause of criminal activity.

Exploiting this pretense, American government, society and nationalists are able to legitimize the subordination and social marginalization of Latinos, specifically Mexicans and Central Americans, much to …

Remolding Mexican Identity: The Wax Art Of Francisco Vargas In 19th Century New Orleans, John Mangipano

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In December of 1915, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported on the death of the patriarch of four generations of Mexican wax figure artists whose artworks demonstrated a century of change in the city of New Orleans. The family's artworks included religious sculptures, representations of indigenous and peasant populations of Mexico, and the merchant populations of the French Quarter. Francisco's artworks represented Louisiana's agriculture at two World's Fairs in New Orleans and Buffalo. Francisco received a contract from Mississippi Commissioner R. H. Henry to produce the 30-foot King Cotton for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase International Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri. Though …

Illegal Immigration And The Dilemma Of American Unions, Vernon Briggs

Vernon M Briggs Jr

[Excerpt] Over its long and often turbulent evolution, the American labor movement has confronted few issues as persistently and as difficult has those related to subject of immigration. By definition, immigration affects the size of the labor force at any given time as well as its geographical distribution and skill composition. These vital influences, in turn, affect national, regional and local labor market conditions. Most immigrants directly join the labor force upon entering the country, as do eventually most of their family members. Hence, organized labor never has ignored immigration trends. As Samuel Gompers, one of the founders of the …

The Development Of Ethnic Identity Among African-American, African Immigrant And Diasporic African Immigrant University Students, Victor A. Ogundipe Jr.

Sociology Theses

The goal of this project is to investigate the development of ethnic identity among different Black ethnic groups in the United States. The three different Black ethnic groups that will be investigated are: 1) African immigrants, 2) African-Americans, and 3) Diasporic African immigrants (Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian, etc.). These groups were selected because they broadly encompass the bulk of the range of people of African ancestry in the United States amalgamated under the term “Black.” Through thematic analysis of in-depth interviews, this project explores the impacts of immigration status, discrimination and inter-group relations (between different Black ethnic groups) on the ways that …

Integration Experiences And Youth Perspectives: An Exploratory Study Of School-Going Somali Youth In Melbourne, Australia And Minneapolis, Minnesota, Yusuf Sheikh Omar

Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies

No abstract provided.

Immigrant Non-Profit Organizations: How Do They Serve Their Constituencies?, Gustavo A. Amaya

Research Papers

Immigration has become one of the most important topics in the United States. According to the Census Bureau (2011), Hispanics are officially the largest minority group in the nation. This has a direct impact on new legislation and federal, state and local government decision making. The consequences of these actions directly influence the way public administrators do their job. To better understand the changes and its consequences, all these levels of government must understand the situation and all factors involved to the best of their capabilities. This research paper explores the services a group of Mexican immigrant non-profit organizations provide …

Translating Postcolonial Pasts: Immigration And Identity In The Fiction Of Bharati Mukherjee, Elizabeth Nunez, And Jhumpa Lahiri, Ann Marie Alfonso-Forero

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines how postcoloniality affects identity formation in contemporary women's immigrant literature. In order to do so, it must interrogate the critical fields that are most interested in issues of national and cultural identities, migration, and the appropriation of women by both Western and postcolonial projects. By examining the fiction of Bharati Mukherjee, Elizabeth Nunez, and Jhumpa Lahiri through the triple lens of ethnic American studies, postcolonial theory, and transnational feminism, I will argue that theorizing postcolonial women's writing in the United States involves sustained analysis of how particular socio-political experiences are translated into the context of American identity. …

The Reciprocal Reshaping Of The American Dream And American Religion, Samir S. Gupte

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Religion has played an important role in the creation and dissemination of the idea now called the American Dream since the discovery of the North American continent. The first iteration of the American Dream manifested in the sixteenth century as a Return to Eden. The next phase was best represented by the Puritan quest for freedom of religion. In the eighteenth century, independence was the object of the American Dream. This was supported by the First Great Awakening. The nineteenth century American Dream can be characterized as opportunity as evidenced by immigration, westward migration, and the growth of commercial enterprise. …