Sociology

This study examines the childhood emigration, cultural and linguistic transitions and adaptation pathways of Eastern European immigrant students on an urban university campus. Although Eastern Europeans and immigrant children represent a substantial segment of the immigrant population in the U.S. they are understudied groups. After the collapse of the Soviet Union large numbers of migrants emigrated from the former Soviet Republics, but less is known about their experiences compared to other immigrant groups. Immigrant children have historically come to the U.S. since its inception but compared to the adult experience their status has been rendered ambiguous and their experiences marginalized to such an extent that they have largely been invisible in the literature. Commonly children are referred to as "children of immigrants" rather than assigned their own category of "immigrant children." While it is generally acknowledged that primary socialization of children influence their secondary socialization, the influences of child migrants' inculcation in the first culture, migration, acculturation and integration experiences with associated emotions have not been sufficiently considered. There is a general assumption in much of the immigrant scholarships that the cultural influences of the first country on child migrants are essentially negated by the acculturation process in the U.S., and this conjecture leads scholars to construct various generational categories that collapse immigrant children with the second generation native-born youth in their analysis thereby potentially skewing or obscuring critical outcome information. Since immigrant children's voices have largely been missing in the research process, through 34 in-depth interviews with Eastern European immigrant college students, we examined the extent to which the child migrants experienced the migration dislocation and incorporation as well as the possible lasting consequences in their adaptation pathways, self-identifications, social interaction, and standpoints on societal issues associated with emotional acculturation. Collectively, the Russian and Ukrainian immigrant students' narratives about their college experience indicated that they were meeting with success academically, were focused on individual goals, expressed appreciation for diversity, and were integrated into the social and professional organization on the university campus. However, most of the participants who emigrated during childhood reported that they had difficult or traumatic migration transitions in their first U.S. schools and neighborhoods, and often they recounted emotionally the memories of these profound events associated with their acculturation during the interviews. As a group, the Eastern European students expressed that both positive and negative immigration and transitional experiences, perspectives gained from the shared struggle with their parents, openness to diversity, achievement orientation, and work ethic are some of the differentiating…

Sociology

This dissertation project examines the lived experiences of immigrant and second- generation Iranian immigrants to uncover the factors that shape their perceptions of belonging in two differ western nations. It is a qualitative methods study that utilized in-depth interviews. I address the limitations of past research by highlighting that Iranians' experiences of belonging and membership in western nations are greatly influenced by the national narratives of their host societies and the global politics surrounding Iran. My central research questions are: How do America's and Germany's national narratives of immigration influence Iranians' sense of belonging? and How do Iranians perceive the global politics surrounding Iran as impacting their lives in the West? Research on Iranians in the United States and Europe underscores Iranians' proclivity to become entrepreneurs in their new nation, the lack of solidarity and community among Iranians, and the discrimination that they experience due to their ethnic and religious identities. However, we lack comparative scholarship that examines Iranian immigrants' experiences in two nations where the national narratives are different. Moreover, there is an absence of research that addresses whether, and how, global politics influence perceptions of belonging. The three empirical chapters examine the data from sixty-four in-depth interviews with immigrant and second-generation Iranians living in northern and southern California, and Hamburg, Germany. In the first interview data chapter, I examine the motivations of Iranians' migration to the US and Germany, their settlement experiences, and their expectations of their lives in their new nation. Specifically in this chapter, I reveal that the lack of foreign policy considerations for post-Revolution Iranian exiles in the US and the institutionalized nature of refugee policy, and lack of it, in each nation helps explain the varying settlement experiences of immigrant-generation Iranians in the US and Germany. It is noteworthy that these experiences also helped shape Iranians' understanding of each nation's main values and characteristics. In the second empirical chapter, I show that national narratives of immigration are important in shaping Iranian immigrants' understandings, expectations, and experiences of belonging and membership in the US and Germany. These narratives inform their interpretations of not just the prospects of belonging, but the indications of whether they have accomplished it. In the last data chapter, I explore how Iran's global political standing influences the lives of Iranian immigrants living in the US and Germany. In both the US and Germany, the dominant negative discourse surrounding a highly politicized homeland stigmatizes Iranians' identities, and makes them more subject to experiences of marginality and discrimination. Specifically, in the US, global politics puts a cap on Iranians' quality of middle class experiences, and facilitates the construction of social marginality and…

Spanish

El presente estudio está dividido en tres partes principales, 1- la historia migratoria de los puertorriqueños a los Estados Unidos, 2- el análisis cualitativo y cuantitativo de cinco estrategias comunicativas presentes en la interacción conversacional femenina y masculina de los puertorriqueños de Filadelfia, y 3- el análisis temático de la conversación y su relación con el trasfondo histórico y el género. El primer foco de estudio se concentra en la historia migratoria de los puertorriqueños a los Estados Unidos. A partir del 1898 Puerto Rico pasó a ser territorio estadounidense, realidad que permitió flexibilidad territorial entre la isla y la metrópoli. A partir de ese entonces, se inició el movimiento migratorio entre ambos lugares y surgieron comunidades puertorriqueñas en distintas ciudades de los Estados Unidos, expandiendo la diversidad cultural en la metrópoli. El segundo foco de estudio evalúa el uso de cinco estrategias comunicativas, presentes en la interacción conversacional de la comunidad urbana puertorriqueña de la cuidad de Filadelfia. Se analizaron cualitativa y cuantitativamente las siguientes estrategias: 1- los turnos, 2- los temas, 3- la intervención cooperativa, 4- las interrupciones y 5- el promedio de palabras por turno. El análisis enfatiza en cómo se manifiestan las cinco estrategias en la interacción de hombres y mujeres puertorriqueños, y las posibles intenciones de sus usos, colaboración o dominio en la conversación. El último foco de estudio se concentra en los aspectos temáticos presentes en el discurso puertorriqueño y su relación con la historia migratoria. También se compara la temática masculina y femenina para observar si existen temas particulares asociados con uno de los dos géneros.

Temple University – Theses

Political Science

We frequently hear that Latinos are the fastest growing minority group in the United States. We also know that like many American immigrant groups, Latinos tend to reside in states where a critical mass of their community already is settled, in this case largely for geo-political reasons (e.g. New Mexico, Arizona, California, Texas, Florida and New York). Why, then, is Latino participation in national politics lower than white, Black, and Asian voters? And who has an interest in doing something about it? This project addresses several interrelated questions concerning the place of Latinos in American politics and the health of democracy in the United States. Political parties are meant to link citizens to the state. However, parties often fear that reaching out to certain groups may alienate the concerns of some core voters, providing a disincentive to political parties to prioritize Latino outreach. Here, I ask, to what degree are local political parties involved in mobilizing Latino voters as compared to other voting groups? Interest groups have much narrower constituencies than political parties by definition, but their purpose may not be exclusively, or even primarily, electoral. So, what role do interest groups and community organizations play in getting Latinos to vote? Perhaps parties and interest groups compliment each other's efforts to mobilize Latinos, so I ask, what relationship do political parties and interest groups develop in the push to mobilize Latino voters? I hypothesize that political parties increase efforts to mobilize Latino communities when these groups of voters are known to be reliable partisan voters and pivotal to winning elections at the local, state, and/or national level. Party organizations are unlikely to target Latino voters when they are few in number and make little difference in an election. Second, interest groups and organizations concerned with Latinos issues are going to be more consistent in mobilizing Latino voters whether or not they constitute a significant segment of the population and are pivotal to winning elections at the local, state, and/or national level. To answer these questions, I use several methods to gather data. Between November of 2008 and February 2009, I conducted a mail survey of 217 county political party chairs concerning Latino mobilization in the 2008 Presidential race. The survey was submitted to the chairs of every county political party in the ten states with the highest percentage of Latino population: Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Texas. Responses were then matched to county census and election data in order to understand the relationship between mobilization activity, county demographics, and partisan identity. What best predicts Latino mobilization? Using a multiple regression model, I found that Latino population size threshold and whether a county resides in a presidential swing state most strongly predict Latino mobilization. The greater the size of the…