Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Evolving Identities, Shaping Connection : The Effects Of Narrative-Sharing Spaces On Undocumented Latino Students, Christopher M. Heinrich

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study was undertaken to explore the ways in which undocumented Latino students navigate and shift personal identity, notions of group solidarity and political consciousness upon "coming out" as undocumented and participating in narrative-sharing spaces that specifically ask them to reflect on their citizenship status in the company of other undocumented young people. The study aims to help guide the social work community in developing further support for undocumented youth. The study sample comprises nine undocumented Latino students from the San Francisco Bay Area, ages 20 – 24. Data was collected through in-depth, in-person interviews that focused on participants' …

Enduring Loss : A Critique Of Cultural Competence Literature In Social Work Practice With Latin American Immigrants, Tamara Bransburg

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

In this paper I will use the concept of melancholia to critique and improve upon the theoretical constructs that are typically used in social work practice literature to understand the experience of Latin American immigrants. I will argue that acculturation and cultural competence models (re)enforce categories of self and other and reify notions of cultural authenticity that negate the complexity and specificity of immigrant experiences. In so doing, social work practice has taken up the United States' hegemonic narrative around immigration. As a challenge to this collaboration, I will propose an exploration of the concept of melancholia to inform social …

Lived Experiences Of Diversity Visa Lottery Immigrants In The United States, Tekleab Elos Hailu, Bernadette M. Mendoza, Maria K.E. Lahman, Veronica M. Richard

The Qualitative Report

Every year approximately 50,000 people immigrate to the United States through the avenue referred to as the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery. In this article, the authors present a literature review of immigration to the U.S. through the DV Lottery, reflect on their own immigration histories, and utilize phenomenology to investigate and describe participant feelings, expectations, and experiences as DV Lottery immigrants. Participants experienced mixed feelings, including high expectations prior to and difficulties after immigrating to the U.S. Findings presented include (a) life experienced in the U.S.; (b) access to learning and training opportunities; and (c) recommended support future DV Lottery …

Who Is An American? The Construction Of American Identity In The Utah Minuteman Project, Michele Elizabeth Bendall

Theses and Dissertations

The Minuteman Project is a national civilian border patrol group, founded in 2005 to defend the U.S.-Mexico border from "invasion" by illegal immigrants and protest the "blatant disregard of the rule of law" exhibited by government and politicians. This study explores one state chapter of this organization: the Utah Minuteman Project (UMP). The research questions I seek to address are: Who are the Minutemen? What motivates them? How do the Minutemen define what it means to be an American? Using a grounded theory approach, I explore the construction of American identity among the members of the UMP using a range …

Fear Vs. Facts: Examining The Economic Impact Of Undocumented Immigrants In The U.S., David Becerra, David K. Androff, Cecilia Ayón, Jason T. Castillo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Undocumented immigration has become a contentious issue in the U.S. over the past decade. Opponents of undocumented immigration have argued that undocumented immigrants are a social and financial burden to the U.S. which has led to the passage of drastic and costly policies. This paper examined existing state and national data and found that undocumented immigrants do contribute to the economies of federal, state, and local governments through taxes and can stimulate job growth, but the cost of providing law enforcement, health care, and education impacts federal, state, and local governments differently. At the federal level, undocumented immigrants tend to …

Imagining Integration, Bethany Keisner

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Counterpoint: Reply To Orrenius And Zavodny, Vernon Briggs

Vernon M Briggs Jr

[Excerpt] On the fundamental conclusions, the positions argued by Pia Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny and my own are in essential agreement. The immigration policy of the United States is in dire need of changes. The public concern is, in their words, “driven by the increase in immigration in recent years, particularly of unauthorized immigration.” Our mutual worries pertain to the disproportionately adverse impacts of the immigrant inflow on the nation’s low-skilled work force and the high fiscal burden borne by local communities and states with growing immigrant populations. The differences between the two papers center on the approaches taken to …

The Elusive Goal: The Quest For A Credible Immigration Policy, Vernon Briggs

Vernon M Briggs Jr

[Excerpt] The starting point for all immigration reform efforts must be making the immigration system enforceable. Nothing else makes sense. Otherwise, immigration policy is on a squirrel wheel going nowhere. Illegal immigrants will keep coming in defiance of its terms.

Using Federal Documents To Dispel A Myth About Ellis Island, Katherine A. Pennavaria, Rosemary L. Meszaros

Rosemary L. Meszaros

Government workers at New York’s Ellis Island have been accused of murdering ancestral names to serve their own purposes and prejudices. Despite zero evidence to support this accusation, the myth stubbornly persists. They did not change names. They worked from manifests, which were governed by law.

"Proving Yourself" In The Canadian Medical Profession: Gender And The Experiences Of Foreign-Trained Doctors In Medical Practices, Vanessa Noelle Dolishny

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In recent years the medical profession has become feminized. Additionally, there has been an increased representation of foreign-trained professionals in the Canadian medical profession; many of which are women. Thus, there is a significant number of female medical practitioners who are foreign-born and foreign-trained. This demographic faces many barriers, which are often characterized as a “double disadvantage”. This paper investigates the experiences of foreign-trained medical professionals once they have gained access to the profession and whether the feminization of medicine has impacted the experiences of these individuals. Immigrant status was found to be highly significant to one’s experiences in the …

Using Federal Documents To Dispel A Myth About Ellis Island, Katherine A. Pennavaria, Rosemary L. Meszaros

Rosemary L. Meszaros

Government workers at New York’s Ellis Island have been accused of murdering ancestral names to serve their own purposes and prejudices. Despite zero evidence to support this accusation, the myth stubbornly persists. They did not change names. They worked from manifests, which were governed by law.

Bypassing Civil Gideon: A Legislative Proposal, Erin B. Corcoran

Law Faculty Scholarship

Eighty-four percent of immigrants appearing before immigration judges are unrepresented. Immigration judges are overwhelmed with the dual role of adjudicating cases and serving as counsel to pro se individuals appearing before them. In addition, due to the rising costs of retaining a lawyer, immigrants are turning to immigrant consultants. These incompetent and unscrupulous individuals are preying on vulnerable immigrants and engaging in the unauthorized practice of law. In addressing unmet legal needs for immigrants, most advocacy efforts for immigrants regarding the acquisition of competent representation focus on persuading the courts that immigrants appearing before an immigration judge have a constitutional …

The Career Of Vernon Briggs, Jr.: A Liberal Economist’S Struggle To Reduce Immigration

Vernon M Briggs Jr

[Excerpt] At the conclusion of Cornell’s spring semester in 2007, Briggs ended his 47 years of college teaching. As he retired, Cornell honored him with emeritus status. Since then, he has occasionally given public talks and written articles on the need for immigration reform. He says his work still draws motivation from a principle he left with his students at the end of the last lecture in each of his classes over his entire career: “The mode through which the impossible comes to pass is effort.”

That quote from Justice Oliver Wendell Homes was passed on to Briggs by Michigan …

The Effect Of Immigrant Composition On Student Achievement: Evidence From New York City, Ryan Yeung

Ryan Yeung

There has been a large body of recent literature focused on the effects of school composition on student outcomes. These studies have focused on peer group characteristics such as achievement, gender composition, ethnic and racial composition, and socioeconomic composition. This area of research has been commonly called "peer effects." A relatively unexplored area of peer effects research involves the effect of immigrant children on their schoolmates. Because of the heterogeneity between immigrant groups, this study focuses on East Asian and Dominican immigrant children. As these two groups are on opposite sides of the socioeconomic spectrum, comparing results of the two …

Caught In The Immigration Cross-Fire: The Changing Dynamics Of Congressional Support For Skilled Worker Visas, Maryam Tanhaee Stevenson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project examines the congressional politics associated with legislation on skilled foreign workers, specifically the H-1B visa which was created by the Immigration Act of 1990. It attempts to explain why legislative policies were successful on a small scale between 1998 and 2004 and completely unsuccessful after 2004.

Specifically, this study is a longitudinal qualitative analysis that uses Krehbiel's pivotal politics model (1998), Cox and McCubbins' party politics models (2005; 2007), Sinclair's (2007) unorthodox lawmaking theory, and Gilmour's (1995) strategic disagreement model to explain four key periods of H-1B legislation: (1) the passage of the Immigration Act of 1990; (2) …

International Knowledge Flows And Technological Advance: The Role Of International Migration, Kacey N. Douglas

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Immigration is a major aspect of globalization. As the world becomes increasingly integrated, it becomes important to learn more about the effects of immigration on global economic growth. According to Robert Solow’s long run growth model, technological advance is the only form of economic growth sustainable in the long run. Those who contribute to technological advance – highly skilled labor – however, increasingly emigrate from lesser developed to more developed countries in a process known as brain drain. This process has been shown to lead to a permanent increase in income and growth in the host country relative to the …

From Pupusas To Chimichangas: Exploring The Ways In Which Food Contributes To The Creation Of A Pan-Latino Identity, Sarah B. Fouts

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Framed through the standardizations of food and generalizations of people, this research explores the shifting ingredients of migrant identities and the ethnic foodways carried with them as they cross the border into the United States. Using ethnographic observational fieldwork, content analysis of menus, and semi-structured interviews with restaurant staff and migrant workers, this study examines the transnational narratives of the day laborer population and their deterritorialized food culture in post-Katrina New Orleans. Further, this research explores this flow of people and culture through a globalization lens in order to achieve a more holistic understanding of the “migrant experience” and how …

The Heart Of The Immigration Debate, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

The Power To Regulate: State Vs. Federal Authority In Immigration Law, Mallory E. Young

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Does Culture Matter? The Effects Of Acculturation On Workplace Relationships, Guowei Jian

Communication Faculty Publications

In spite of immigrants’ growing role in the workforce of the United States and other developed countries, organizational communication research about the experience of immigrant employees in the host culture is still very limited. Drawing on the bidimensional acculturation theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate the association of acculturation of immigrant employees with three types of workplace relationships: leader–member exchange (LMX), coworker, and mentoring relationship. Based on a survey of immigrant employees in a U.S. Midwestern city, the study reveals that the two dimensions of acculturation, adjustment to one’s host culture and retention of one’s original culture, …

Practitioners' Perpectives On The Impact Of Migratory Separation On Attachment Among Southeast Asian Clients: An Exploratory Study, Diem T. Cao

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Evidenced by the multitude of literature across disciplines, attachment theory has ignited one of today’s most prolific lines of research. Attachment Theory’s core themes of security, separation, and loss apply well into the common experience of immigrants and refugees who have dealt with these issues in their immigration experience. Consistently, studies have shown that separation and traumas before, during, and after the migration journey have been identified as potential predictors for serious psychological distress and mental health problems among immigrants and refugees. Given the profound implications from recent studies, there exists limited research on how migratory separation affects attachment. Thus, …

The Demand For Green Cards, Richard Bruns

All Dissertations

I estimate the demand curve for Legal Permanent Residence in the US, and the government revenues and migrant welfare gains that could be achieved by replacing all or parts of the current immigration system with a Uniform Price Auction. Willingness to pay and welfare are based on the net present value of the difference in income that people earn in the US compared to other countries. I obtain an equilibrium annual demand curve by modeling the dynamics of how pent-up demand for residence responds to the introduction of an auction for residence permits. I separately estimate the demand curves for …

Narrative Identity Within A Workers' Rights Organization, Emily Ann Hallgren

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research includes in-depth interviews and participant observation to examine the construction of narrative identity by the staff members and worker-members of a workers' rights organization in Northwest Arkansas. I seek to understand how the organization negotiates the broader cultural and institutional narrative identities with the personal narrative identities of the worker-members in a cultural context hostile toward undocumented immigrants. Further, I examine how the worker-members themselves both internalize and challenge the organizational, institutional, and cultural narratives about undocumented immigrant workers. Findings reveal that the staff members and the worker-members create different narratives for different purposes, though both are concerned …

Marginalized Within The Borderlands: The Undocumented Citizen Students Of The University Of Texas-Pan American, Christian V. Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The Rio Grande Valley, geographically located on the southernmost tip of Texas and north of the Mexican State of Tamaulipas, is far removed from the social and cultural centers of both the United States and Mexico. Within this geographically and socially marginalized space lives a group of citizen students who lack legal documentation to reside in the U.S. This ethnographic study will seek to convey the perceptions of undocumented citizen students, their families, and the background assumptions through which they understand their current and future state of social place. The University of Texas-Pan American is home to over 19, 000 …

The Many Birds Of Passage: A Cultural Self Study On Immigration Then And Now, Paige V. Lindley

Antonian Scholars Honors Program

The Many Birds of Passage: A Cultural Study of Then and Now, is a docu-drama based upon the Norwegian experience of immigration and the Mexican experience of immigration. It focuses on the current system of immigration and the way in which our policies are formed by presenting different voices of immigrants, including a self monologue as well. They are powerful stories representing a few immigrants’ experiences from different points of the process of migration. It begins with the decision process and goes from the journey to arrival and the ultimate experience of staying or returning home or beginning a new …

The Relationship Between Immigration And Nativism In Europe And North America, Cas Mudde

Cas Mudde

Mass migration is thought to be a major factor behind the rise of the radical right. But while there clearly is a relationship (particularly in Western Europe), the connection is not as straightforward as is often assumed. Higher levels of immigration in the three regions examined in this report - North America, Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe - do not correlate automatically to higher votes for radical right parties.

In short, the relationship between immigration and nativism is unclear and complex. Many assumptions are based on feeble empirical evidence - suggesting the need for more cross-national data projects. …

"Nudge A Mexican And She Or He Will Break Out With A Story": Complicating Mexican Immigrant Masculinities Through Counternarrative Storytelling, Berenice Villela

Scripps Senior Theses

In this thesis, I explore Latino masculinities and contest their uniformity through transforming an oral history conducted with my father into a collection of short stories. Following storytelling traditions of Latino/Mexican culture, I converted an oral history interviews with my dad into a collection of short stories. From these short stories I extracted themes relating to the micro and macro manifestations of gender policing. Drawing from Judith Butler's Theory of performativity and Gloria Anzaldua's theory of Borderland identities, I rethink masculinity and offer Jose Esteban Munoz's theory of disidentification. With these theories in conversation, I analyze the themes of the …

A Comparison Of Theory And Lived Experience: Immigration To Bloomington-Normal, Jennifer Ceisel

Honors Projects

This project compares theories of international migration and theories of integration into the U.S. to the lived experience of actual immigrants in Bloomington-Normal, as ascertained by McLean County census data, supplementary reports by community agencies, and personal interviews of immigrants. While interview participants were recruited on a referral basis and are not representative of the entire immigrant population, their personal stories help to humanize the data. Following national urban-to-rural settlement patterns, immigrants who participated in this study chose Bloomington-Normal over urban migration hubs like Chicago. However, Bloomington-Normal stands out from other downstate Illinois communities because of the profile of employment …

National Identity And The Education Of Immigrant Youth In Spain, Kathleen C. Mautner

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the present-day educational policies enacted by Spain in response to the country’s growing immigrant populations, specifically by comparing the policies implemented in two of Spain’s distinct autonomies. The thesis ultimately argues that the regions’ differing conceptualizations of national identity and their distinct relationships to the central Spanish state play a fundamental role in their motivations to enact comprehensive and effective policies that promote immigrants’ educational and social success.

American Sueño: Hispanic Immigrants' Cultural Adaptation In American Small Cities, Tatiana Almeida

Masters Theses

This study investigated certain aspects of the cross-cultural adaptation process of Spanish-speaking Hispanic immigrants residing in small cities in the United States. Using Young Yun Kim's cross-cultural adaptation theory as a theoretical framework, the researcher investigated the journey those sojourners undergo and how their cultural identities are shaped throughout the process. The two questions that guided the research were: (1) What are the difficulties that Hispanics that migrate to small cities in the United States encounter? (2) What are the mechanisms (media usage, language acquisition, habits, life style etc.) utilized by them in order to adapt to the new environment? …