Migration Studies Commons^™

Role Of Debt In Overseas Labour Migration In India, K.G. Santhya, Snigdha Banerjee, Basant Kumar Panda, A.J. Francis Zavier, Avishek Hazra, Shilpi Rampal

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Population Council, in partnership with the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, undertook a multicomponent study to better understand the relationship between debt and overseas labor migration from India. The study shed light on: levels and patterns of household indebtedness among migrant households, with a special focus on households with overseas migrants; cost of overseas labor migration from India and the role of debt in financing overseas migration; role of debt in migration-related decisions; differences in work-related choices and experiences and financial vulnerabilities migrant workers experienced by household indebtedness; and migrant workers’ …

Addressing Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of Women And Children Through Prevention And Reintegration Approaches: Lessons From Bangladesh And India, K.G. Santhya, Sigma Ainul, Snigdha Banerjee, Avishek Hazra, Eashita Haque, Basant Kumar Panda, A.J. Francis Zavier, Shilpi Rampal

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The Global Estimates of Modern Slavery report of 2021 stated that 6.3 million people were in situations of forced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) on any given day worldwide. Asia and the Pacific region (which includes South Asia) were host to more than half of the global total of forced labor, including those in CSE. Bangladesh is one of the three main countries of origin for trafficked persons in South Asia. India has been identified as a source, destination, and transit location for trafficking of forced labor, including CSE. Though governments in both countries have made commitments to prevent and combat …

The Ukrainian Immigrant Experience In South Carolina, Nataliya S. Vykhovanets, Alexander Lorenz

University of South Carolina Upstate Student Research Journal

The following paper focuses on the Ukrainian immigrant community living in the Upstate region of South Carolina and the vast differences in immigrant experiences of former and more recent Ukrainian Immigrants. Ukrainians have been migrating to the US since the late 1800s, but unfortunately, there are few studies available on this ethnic group.

To give readers a background on the topic, this paper first documents the history of Ukrainian immigration to the US by describing and comparing the four waves of Ukrainian migration to the United States. The following section introduces a questionnaire, created to collect data on the Ukrainian …

Racialization Of Foreigners And Self In The Chinese Immigration Project, Xunwen Zou

Sociology Honors Projects

With the Western invasion and colonization during the 20th Century, China began its internalization of the Western Enlightenment values, leading the country to an identity crisis that paved the way for its race to modernity. Attempting to understand the world and itself, China developed a new racial order largely shaped by the Western discourse and distinctly different from its ancient understanding. Based on 18 semi-structured interviews, this study explores contemporary racialization in China and its application in the racial project of immigration. I found that racial understanding in China is based on a racial/cultural hierarchy. The hierarchical top, Whites/Europeans, represents …

Promoting Safe Overseas Labour Migration: Lessons From Ask’S Safe Migration Project In India, K.G. Santhya, A.J. Francis Zavier, Shilpi Rampal, Avishek Hazra

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

More than a quarter of all overseas Indians resided in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in 2020. Migration to Gulf countries is dominated by unskilled and semi-skilled workers who work on a contract basis and who must return home once their contract expires. The Indian government has introduced measures to promote safe overseas migration for work, but labor exploitations in the India-GCC migration corridors are widely documented. The Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) in partnership with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) supported the Association for Stimulating Know-how (ASK) in pilot-testing a project to build a safe …

Ethical Recruitment And Employment In The Construction Industry In India: Perspectives And Experiences Of Workers And Micro-Contractors, K.G. Santhya, A.J. Francis Zavier, Snigdha Banerjee, Shilpi Rampal

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

In India, the construction industry is the second-largest employer, with 51 million workers currently employed. Contracting and subcontracting has contributed to the rise of intermediary labor contractors, who provide migrants with information about labor markets and bring them to construction sites for work. Engagement in physically demanding low-skill jobs, low wages, harsh working conditions, and often deplorable living arrangements characterize the lives of many migrant construction workers. The Population Council, in partnership with the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, undertook a qualitative study to explore the nature of the labor supply chain …

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 …

Unpacking The Influence Of Islamic Religious Culture And Individual Religious Affiliation On Testing Hiv-Positive, Brittany Hayes, Amy Adamczyk

Publications and Research

The distribution of HIV cases varies cross-nationally. We separate the influences of Islam at the macro-and micro-levels to understand the role of religion in shaping the spread of HIV. Drawing on biomarker data from the Demographic and Health Surveys, we construct a multilevel database (Individual N= 568,476; Country N= 30). We examine a series of national-and individual-level predictors that may mediate the relationship between Islam and testing HIV-positive. Individual religious affiliation and proportion Muslim retained their risk-reducing effects even when accounting for a range of mediators and suppressors. Islam has a sui generis effect on testing HIV-positive.

The Past And Future Of Migration, Poverty, And Small-Scale Agriculture In Mexico, Kimberly Zamora Delgado

CMC Senior Theses

The conflated pattern between poverty, rurality, and indigeneity in Mexico signifies drastic inequality between populations. Poor, rural communities often do not receive as much public services, infrastructure improvements, and employment opportunities as urban areas, which causes out-migration into the cities. Some of the few jobs available in rural areas are in the agriculture sector, either through small-scale subsistence farming or seasonal employment on a large-scale farm. Historically, certain wealthy states such as Sinaloa, Michoacán, and Sonora received greater support to up-scale into modernized agriculture, which made them into the largest agro-exporters. On the other hand, poor states with greater indigenous …

Factors Associated With Receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) Among Newly Resettled Refugees In The United States, Edson Chipalo, Zainab Suntai, Simon Mwima

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In the United States, SNAP was made available to refugees in 1977, and most refugees rely heavily on SNAP to sustain themselves before becoming self-reliant. Knowledge of sociodemographic factors and chronic debilitating conditions related to receiving SNAP benefits among refugees is limited. This study aimed to examine sociodemographic factors and chronic debilitating conditions associated with receiving SNAP benefits among refugees resettled in the United States. This study used a cross-sectional, nationally representative sample (n=6,100) of the refugees who entered the U.S. between 2013 and 2017. The data were obtained from the 2018 Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR) from participants aged …

Trauma And Resilience Among Migrant Children From Mexico And The Northern Triangle En Route To The United States, Georgina Sanchez Garcia, Mark Lusk, Paula Chavez Santamaria

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Children who are forced to migrate to flee violence, extreme poverty, and natural disasters are exposed to trauma in their countries of origin and on the migrant trail. Forced child migrants from Central America and Mexico who flee to the U.S. border are particularly vulnerable. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 76 migrant children from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. We listened to their stories and assessed exposure to adverse events, traumatic stress and child resiliency. While children experienced adversity and trauma, they were protected by high levels of resiliency that is grounded in family, faith, courage and camaraderie.

A Comparative Study Of Immigration Integration Programs For Selected City Governments In California, Oregon, Washington, And Texas, Christelle Lorenzana

Master's Projects

Over the last eight decades, immigration into the United States has increased and has become a prominent political issue in the United States (Pew Research Center, 2015). Although the federal government is responsible for enforcing immigration laws, municipalities work with immigrants directly in a more supportive role. Currently, no national policy focuses on integration or welcoming immigrants to the urban community. In recent decades, the federal government has focused on immigration enforcement, border control, and what to do about the influx of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. However, cities are working to develop their own programs, tools, and policies to …

Life Stories Of Older Chinese Immigrant Women In The U.S., Lijun Li

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study is an effort to turn to older Chinese immigrant women aged 60 and above, one of the most marginalized groups in American society, to recognize their humanity and rediscover the unseen and unheard. It asks what we can learn from their life stories, particularly from the ways in which each experience(d) being a woman in different societal systems. Using in-depth life story interviews supplemented with secondary sources of information, this study crafts four women’s stories that are first read and interpreted individually to capture the whole person in context, and then are looked at thematically. Nine themes are …

'Indirect Pathways Into Practice': Philippine Internationally Educated Nurses And Their Entry Into Ontario's Nursing Profession, Lualhati Marcelino

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

While there are several studies that highlight the quantitative and statistical profiles of internationally educated nurses (IENs) from the Philippines who migrate to countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the United States and Canada, there is little research that delves deeply into the qualitative review and analysis of their experiences in their own words. This study addresses that gap by applying the transnational feminist concept of “global care chains” in a single case study design that explores the experience of nurses who migrated to Ontario through permanent and temporary immigration streams and were interviewed in 2011 to 2012 to …

‘Stuck’ In The Waiting Room: African And Haitian Migrants Between Liminality And Mobility In A Mexican Border Town, Julia Hause

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the border town of Tijuana, Mexico as a site of fragmentation and rupture along the migration journeys of African and Haitian migrants transiting the South American-Central American corridor towards North American destinations. Extra-continental migration of migrants from Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean to Latin America has been an emerging migration trend as global migration governance becomes increasingly restrictive and externalized. U.S. immigration and asylum policies implemented at the southern border have made migrating and making claims to international protection difficult for those migrants who arrive at the border. These policies, coupled with the indefinite U.S. land border …

A Sanctuary World: Understanding The Past, Present, And Future Of Sanctuary Movements, Annaleigh Cummings

Undergraduate Theses

In the late 1970s through the 1980s, sanctuary movements emerged in the United States to support and provide sanctuary for immigrants and asylum seekers without a legal status of U.S. citizenship. This movement has its roots in the ancient church tradition of offering sanctuary to people accused of crimes. Religious leaders offered protection against the government in the name of their beliefs. It is a cycle that has often been repeated throughout history from the medieval European era to abolitionists helping runaway enslaved people in the United States to the contemporary movements existing today. This project explores and analyzes three …

Between Politics And Procreation: Examining The Role Of Integration In Ethiopian Israeli Fertility Transition, Annice Young

Archived Theses and Dissertations

Both ominous and apocalyptic, Israel's fertility regime is fraught with demographic paranoia that its Jewish majority won't survive natural Palestinian growth. To remedy this â demographic threat,â Israel has implemented the most active immigration and fertility policies in the world, boasting the highest number of fertility clinics per capita while opening its borders to all Jews regardless of national origin. This paper will examine the social impact of Israel's immigration policy, using the fertility practices of Ethiopian Jewish migrants as a case study. I aim to explore how latent discourses of racial hygiene, cloaked in national security, are reflected in …

The Effects Of Israeli Settlements On Palestinians In The West Bank Narratives Of Suffering: Turning The Invisible, Visible, Jessica Kathleen Durant

Archived Theses and Dissertations

The results of dehumanising the Other can be catastrophic; exemplified by the extreme brutality of colonisation, the Holocaust and the current violence perpetrated against Palestinians. All carried out in the name of â we' the superior, humane against â them' the â inhumane', the â less than'. This thesis argues that the legal rights regime legitimises the creation of the inhuman â Other' and is thereby implicated in the continuation of the violence against â them'. Thirteen interviews were carried out with Palestinians who lived near settlements in the West Bank. The interviews were in the form of semi-structured conversations, …

Captivity As Crisis Response: Migration, The Pandemic, And Forms Of Confinement, Eleanor Paynter

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

During Europe’s recent “refugee crisis,” Italy responded to increased migrant arrivals by sea with progressively restrictive border and asylum policies. While crisis-response restrictions are perhaps unsurprising, those implemented since 2014 have produced a set of situations that appear, at least initially, paradoxical: Following Interior Minister Matteo Salvini’s 2018 “Closed Ports” campaign, independently-operated rescue ships continue to be blocked from disembarking the migrants they have rescued. At the same time, asylum officials have rejected claims for protection at higher rates, while border officials deport a minority of those whose claims are rejected. Thus, under the guise of crisis management, some migrants …

Refugee Homes And The Right To Property: Sunk Costs And Networked Mobility, Jordan Hayes

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

For refugees outside their state of origin, access to humanitarian protection can come at the cost of the right to own a home. Following Anneke Smit’s scholarship on the possible contradictions between humanitarian protection and property rights, this paper explores the case of refugee homes built in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) by Syrian asylum seekers. Interviews with Syrian refugees collected in Iraq from 2018-2019 reveal the paradoxical situation faced by refugees who invest time, expertise, memory, hope, and money in a house—yet do not own it. While non-citizens in the KRI rarely have the chance to secure legal …