Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Evaluating Climate Migration Through Discourse Analysis Of International Policy Framework And “El Progreso” Community Blog, Olusola Akanni

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Environmental changes are driven by global warming, such as rising temperatures, melting ice, and increased natural disasters which directly affect the living conditions of huma thereby driving migration. This study highlights the inadequacies of current migration management policies as the United States is seeing a significant influx of migrants from Central America. The focus of this discourse analysis is on the role of inadequate policies and the failure of international efforts like the Paris Climate Agreement in addressing the issue of climate-induced migration effectively. Despite the goals set by such international agreements to mitigate the effects of climate change …

Moving Through The Violence: Yemeni Migrants And The Reconstruction Of Lifeworlds In Cairo, Jonathan Hearn

Theses and Dissertations

This Master’s thesis is based on an ethnographic study, following the lives of a small number of Yemeni people rebuilding their lives in Cairo. Their displacement is the consequence of many factors not least the outbreak of war in 2014. In response to this, I ask: In the midst of ongoing conflict, how do Yemeni migrants go about reconstructing their lifeworlds in Cairo? That is, to ask how are Yemeni migrants in Cairo responding to the violent disruption of their social realities and what sense are they making of the consequences. The reorganisation of social realities disrupted by conflict means …

What Is Beyond Graduation For Mena Scholarship Alumni? Understanding The Global Journeys Of Tomorrow’S Leaders Scholarship Alumni, Albaraa Quradi

Theses and Dissertations

The research conducted by the author delves deeply into the migration experiences of students from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a specific focus on graduates of the Tomorrow's Leaders scholarship program. Through the use of a case study methodology, the study investigates the complex interconnections between migration, development, inequality, and the students' countries of origin.

The investigation critically analyzes the aftermath of pursuing higher education on a scholarship basis, shedding light on how migration experiences are intertwined with broader issues of development and inequality in the MENA region. Furthermore, the research examines the factors that drive …

Learning To Fly While Staying Grounded: How Forcibly Displaced Individuals Develop A Sense Of Belonging In Disempowered Cities, Janina L. Selzer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite a growing interest in belonging, immigration and urban scholarship has yet to develop an empirically grounded, spatially sensitive, and complex theorization of the concept itself. Drawing on a comparative case study of two disempowered cities – Bielefeld, Germany, and Detroit, US, – this dissertation analyzes how and to what extent forcibly displaced Yazidi and Chaldean Iraqis develop a sense of belonging. By triangulating data from semi-structured interviews, ethnographic observations, as well as a discourse analysis of policy documents, the following pages trace how politics of belonging are continuously produced, reproduced, and challenged through a spatially mediated and often contradictory …

Navigating Cultural Crossroads: Exploring Fictional And Interview Narratives Of Nigerian Immigrant Women Living In The Southern United States, Tolulope Adeusi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nigerian immigrant women undergo constant navigation of their personal identities when conflicting cultural dynamics sometimes engender a balancing act between their personal beliefs and the ongoing process of acculturation. Their new Southern environment offers its own traditional mores, as well as greater opportunities for economic advancement. This places Nigerian Immigrant Women in a position where they must reconcile their desires for personal independence and empowerment with societal expectations that emphasize more traditional gender roles. This study explores the interview narratives of Nigerian immigrant women, reinforced by fictional accounts from prolific African women writers, which provides a more nuanced discussion of …

Pregnancy In United States Immigration Detention: Listening To Migrant Women's Stories, Amanda Heffernan

Nursing ETDs

Over the last five years, dramatic shifts in immigration policy across three presidential administrations have impacted migrants arriving at the U.S.’ southern border, with unique impacts on pregnant migrants. The purpose of this study was to document, analyze and contextualize the experience of pregnancy in United States immigration detention. Specifically, the study aimed to: 1) understand the situation of pregnant migrants detained in United States immigration detention facilities between 2017-2022; 2) situate the experience of detained pregnant migrants within multiple contexts, including their own individual and family migration stories and the larger context of United States immigration policy; and 3) …

Forecasting Migration To The United States From Hong Kong And India, Priyanka Pkogta@My.Harrisburgu

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates the forecasting of migration from India and Hong Kong to the United States. To study this, quantitative design is employed so numerical data can be used. The proposed research strategy uses the post-positivism approach, as this method can help with looking for explanations via numerical data. The data collection is through using archived data available from the Department of Homeland Security’s website, which is analyzed using descriptive and inferential analysis. The results show how migration trends increase for India but slowly decrease for Hong Kong, along with the best models used to forecast migration.

Choosing To Come Back: Second-Generation Egyptians Returning As Social Change Agents, Hajar Khalil

Theses and Dissertations

Research has found that upon visiting their parents’ homeland, second-generation immigrants were able to gain a better understanding of where they came from, allowing them to reflect upon their own lives in respect to their family history (Marschall, 2017). Some researchers call this journey the ‘self-awakening’ or ‘searching-self’ journey (Christou, 2003). The aim of this research is to understand the process of second-generation Egyptians return journey to their parent(s)’ homeland in order to create social change. The two main questions posed are: 1) How do second-generation Egyptians construct their narrative identity, and 2) How do they conceptualize themselves as social …

Liquid Border, Yingfan Jia

Masters Theses

A River is a mighty and constantly-evolving force, leaving behind an intricately designed and constantly changing system. Not just a river, the Rio Grande stretches all the way from Colorado before intersecting with the US-Mexico Border in southern Texas - a point where the powerful forces of nature now merge with a clearly-defined political boundary. The outcome of this is a unique ecological niche, which may often go unnoticed despite its distinctiveness.

Texas is famous for its farms and ranches, and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas was once an agricultural hub. However, urbanization and the depletion of water …

Whose Nation Is It? A Critical Analysis Of The Impacts Of Conservative Nationalism And Migration Security On Marginalized Groups In America, Joshua Jackson

International Studies (MA) Theses

This research aims to examine the effects of migration securitization on marginalized citizens in the United States of America by examining it through a conservative nationalist lens. While the securitization of migration is “the process through which the phenomenon of migration is framed as a threat to the survival of a certain referent object” (von Rosen, 2019, p. 36), the byproduct of that framing extends beyond the initially constructed threat (von Rosen, 2019). The framing of immigration and migrants as a threat to the United States is not a new occurrence and has served to bolster conservative politicians and construct …

"Can I Trust You?" Observing Human Intervention At The Border, Julia Grace Marmor

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Current border policies and interventions operate from a stance of efficiency over the value of human life and dignity. This project presents ethnographic data of a trip to work along the US-Mexico border in a humanitarian organization as means of identifying moments in everyday interactions and policies that highlight larger, structural values of authorities in receiving migrants to the United States. Through analysis of observations in this landscape, the significance of humanity and small-scale disruptions employed by nonprofit groups in the area serve to open up moments that are often overlooked in the study of border politics and humanitarian work.

The Places We'll Go: Rural Migration In Canada, Lindsay Finlay

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

As Canada increases immigration rates, there is a greater need for geographic dispersion to counteract issues of population aging and economic disparities. Historically, Canada’s main Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) have experienced the greatest gains in terms of immigrant recruitment and retention. The problem, however, is that this leaves rural regions falling behind in terms of both population increases and overall development. As such, understanding the characteristics of both rural movers and residents is of utmost importance, especially in regard to potential policy initiatives aimed at ensuring newcomers to Canada are evenly distributed across the country. This study adds to the …

Deep Roots In Eroding Soil: Building Decolonial Resilience Amidst Climate Violence And Displacement In A Louisiana Bayou Indigenous Community, Lia Mcgrath Kahan

Senior Independent Study Theses

The Pointe-au-Chien Indigenous community of coastal Louisiana is fighting for survival as climate change and socio-political factors threaten to displace them from their ancestral home. This project takes an ethnographic and historical approach to exploring how colonization and climate change have influenced Pointe-au-Chien tribal members’ ability to stay on their ancestral land. Climate projections estimate that the bayou this community has lived alongside of for generations will soon be unrecognizable, leading to potential displacement and devastating cultural loss. Due to the increasing severity of climate change, it is crucial to look to the experiences of frontline Indigenous communities to support …

Geovisualization And Open-Source Web Mapping Of Big Origin-Destination Data, A Test Case, Joseph Hiebert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Migration plays a key role in determining the health and success of cities, counties, and countries. It also plays a key role in determining the health and wellbeing of the individuals and families that undergo a migration event. This has led many scholars to map and study global migration patterns to understand how and why people move. While migration data are powerful, the origin-destination (O-D), tabular format of the data can be hard to interpret. To make O-D data more powerful, geographers can lean on computer cartography and new geovisualization techniques to help decision makers make sense of large, complex …

Tek Dem Han An Tun Fashion: Gender, Class, Ethnicity, And Placemaking In The Jamaican Transmigrant Network, Brenique Bogle

Senior Projects Spring 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Impact Of Rhetorical Framing On Determining Climate Refugee Responsibility In International Policy, Clare Steiner

Senior Theses

In 2021, the World Bank predicted that six regions, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, North Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, would produce as many as 216 million climate migrants by 2050.[1] Both slow-processes, like rising sea level and land degradation, and sudden onset events, like cyclones and floods, will worsen existing vulnerabilities and create higher rates of forced displacement around the world. Since those escaping the consequences of global warming are not escaping direct ‘persecution,’ they fall through the cracks of current legal protections. These barriers to refugee status raise questions …

The Grid Elegies, Pamela A. Kallimanis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Immigrants are a key component in New York City’s pandemic. Historically, New York is a city of immigrants and their children. In the latter part of the 20th Century, more immigrants arrived due to changes in migration policy. There was also an increased outmigration through second and third generations, which mirrors an economic trajectory seen in previous points in history, mainly in the 1970s. At that time, there was the lure of government policies – from federal mortgage agencies that graded white suburban areas as safer areas for banks to make loans than racially mixed urban areas, to road construction …

“There Shall Be Made No Differentiation:” The Maintenance Of Stratification In The State Of Kuwait Through The 1959 Nationality And Aliens Residence Laws, Alzaina Shams Aldeen

Masters Theses

Article 29 of the Kuwaiti constitution states that “The people are peers in human dignity and have, in the eyes of the Law, equal public rights and obligations. There shall be made no differentiation among them because of gender, origin, language or religion.” If I were to say that the 17, 818 km ² that make up the State of Kuwait is home to 4.2 million people, it would be a misrepresentation. While 4.2 million people do live in Kuwait, citizenship and immigration laws restrict 70% of its population, to varying degrees, from making their country of residence a home. …

Rethinking Immigration Justice: Mexican Community Activism While Serving Migrants In Transit., Angélica Villagrana

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research study focuses on the externalization of migration control and its effects on staffmembers of community organizations that serve Central American migrants in transit. While literature on migration enforcement places emphasis on border control and internal removals, research on new forms of migration enforcement has paid little attention to the extension of border control beyond physical borders. This study employed an ethnographic approach to address the overarching question of how community organizers have responded to the adoption of US practices on extraterritorial migration control by the Mexican government while serving migrants in transit. Data collected provide empirical evidence contextual …

Situational Awareness, Maeve Higgins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This is a long-form essay exploring the politics and power at play along the U.S.-Mexico border. My objective with this piece was to better understand how and why this increasingly militarized border has grown in the past decades, as well as who is profiting and who is suffering because of this growth. To do this I relied on academic theorists, journalism and on-the-ground research. I discovered that the year I visited The Border Security Expo was also the year that Customs and Border Patrol saw their biggest ever budget, and I gained insight into what they spent this budget on. …

The Inter-American Human Rights System In The Context Of Migration: Us Immigration Policies, Maira E. Delgado Laurens

Master's Theses

International human rights laws are critical to ensuring a minimum protection level for those migrating to other nations across the globe. Despite intense efforts by the United States to sidestep such policies while misrepresenting their repeated violations of human rights now taking place at the U.S.-Mexico border, these policies remain in full force in the global governance community. The actions of the Trump administration and others clearly indicate the need for political intervention to ensure such rights are maintained. Using qualitative content analysis and participatory observation, this article reviews the effectiveness of thematic hearings, under the Inter-American Commission on Human …

A Treacherous Journey Through Latin America: The Plight Of Black African And Haitian Migrants Forced To Remain In Mexico, Zefitret A. Molla

Master's Theses

The growing presence of Black African and Haitian migrants in Mexico poses a new set of challenges to a country that is already struggling to recognize the presence of Afro-Mexicans and where mestizaje still dominates the national discourse on race. Due to restrictive U.S. and Mexican immigration policies since 2016, many of these migrants have found themselves forced to remain in a country they had only intended to transit through on their journey northward to the U.S. Mexico has only recently taken the necessary steps to recognize its Afro-Mexican population which had been marginalized and erased from history. This paper …

Brain Drain In Mississippi, Clifford Adam Conner

Honors Theses

Brain drain is the out-migration of educated individuals from an area. It is a problem with which Mississippi is overly familiar. This thesis uses data gathered from a survey of 965 respondents to identify who is leaving the state and for what reasons. The data gathered suggest confirmation that brain drain is an issue for the state, with roughly two-thirds of respondents having left the state or seriously considering doing so. The impetus for this varies with each individual, but respondents underscore economic and societal factors within Mississippi as pushing them away from the state. Quality of life factors are …

El Chapo's Trial As Legitimation Of The War On Drugs: A Neoliberal Mechanism Of Social Control And Imperial Intervention, Maurizio Guerrero

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While it has been established in the academic literature that the War on Drugs is a mechanism deployed by the neoliberal state to control people of color in the United States and justify imperial interventions in Latin America, there's a lack of research on how this approach to the drug problem is legitimized in the public opinion. The 2018-2019 trial in a New York federal court of the drug trafficker Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, considered one of the most notorious criminals in history, was rendered into a spectacle by the media and, thus, provided a prime example of the discourses …

Agro-Environmental Approaches To The Moderation Of Outmigration From Northeast Thailand, Megan Perron

CMC Senior Theses

Thailand’s increasing migration rates out of the country’s poorest region over the past few decades have resulted in a range of issues for both migrants and relatives of the migrants who choose to remain at home. A combination of rapid urban growth in Bangkok and a declining agricultural sector in the Northeast, driven by climate change and unsustainable farming practices, is driving rural-to-urban migration that subjects them to harsh working conditions and social marginalization. To attract migration back to Isaan, the implementation of Climate-Smart Agriculture in the near term and eventually, Regenerative Agriculture, will likely build climate resilience in the …

Assessing The Impact Of Denizenship In The Making And Evaluation Of Temporary Foreign Worker Policies In Canada, Sihwa Kim

MA Research Paper

Despite the larger number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) that are channelled through a long-standing Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), their experience with the program and, more broadly, within the Canadian society has been overlooked.

This study examines the ways in which a denizen status coupled with other social factors, such as race and amount of human capital, create marginalizing migratory experience for low-skilled TFWs in Canada. As denizens, these migrant workers are isolated in the geographical, economic, political, and social periphery of Canadian society. The longstanding inequality embedded in the structure of TFWP legitimizes differential entitlements and experiences of …

Legitimizing Violence At The European Border: Gendered Misrepresentations At Sea And The Vulnerable Other, Michela Demelas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis highlights a temporal and spatial gap in the feminist literature about migrants' journeys throughout the Mediterranean, and investigates the gendered dynamics acting upon the encounter between the European border and racialized bodies at sea. The Mediterranean sea’s material features allow Europe to approach migration as a humanitarian crisis coming from outside, which discharges its responsibility for the deaths. Yet, essentialistic views represent the feminized Other as vulnerable and needing to be saved from the male Other and the sea. Such views shape the Western narratives around concrete rescue procedures and border authorities behaviors. The encounter between the border …

Migratory Timescapes: Experiences Of Pausing, Waiting, And Inhabiting The Meanwhile Of Migrants And Asylum Seekers In Mexico, Isabel Gil Everaert

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Mexico´s southern border with Guatemala, this dissertation provides insights into contemporary experiences of migration in Mexico by engaging with the notions of movement, control, and settlement from a critical perspective. I explore these experiences through the idea of migratory timescapes, defined as structural temporal-relational contexts in which migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers are socially embedded. In the case of this dissertation, I unpack three migratory timescapes which are situated in a regional context of growing displacement and increasingly restrictive migratory and asylum policies, what I call the block-and-wait system.

First, I introduce the idea …

Public Sentiment Toward Migration In A Globalizing World: The Case Of Spain And Its Distinctive Demeanor Toward Its Immigrants, Caroline Thompson

Honors Theses

This thesis discusses Spain's overall public opinion around immigration, exploring factors that contribute to the development of a country's attitude toward its immigrants. Spain exemplifies a particularly distinctive attitude in relation to its European Mediterranean counterparts, displaying an increased receptiveness toward its immigrant population. I examine economic factors, studying whether or not perceived economic competition can lead to significantly increased negativity toward immigrants. However, I find that, specifically regarding the Spanish case, economic competition does not determine the country's attitude toward immigration. Therefore, I focus on this element of authoritarian legacy and its contribution to public opinion around immigration. Following …

Familismo, Fafsa, And Sallie Mae: A Study Of Second Generation Latinx Student Loan Debt, Jasmine Gonsalez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As college expenses continue to skyrocket, borrowing thousands of dollars to pay for college has become a rite of passage towards achieving the American Dream. Very little has explored the problem of rising student loan debt thorough a sociologically-oriented lens, and even less work has examined the variations in the lived experiences of underrepresented student borrowers. This study focuses on second-generation Latinx students who have used student loans to pay for college. As American citizens with Latin American roots, this generation lives in a precarious situation, often straddling the lines between their traditional family-oriented values, and the more individualistic values …