Migrant Associations Research Articles

Campaigning across continents: how Latin American parties link up with migrant associations abroad

Emigrant voting rights have opened new electoral arenas, and many political parties increasingly campaign across borders. Yet relatively little is known about the challenges parties confront when campaigning transnationally and the strategies they have developed in response to these challenges. This paper addresses these shortcomings. First, I investigate the hurdles Latin American parties face in linking up with organized migrant collectives in residency countries for campaigning purposes. Second, I probe into the transnational linkage strategies these parties deploy to tap into migrant associations’ resources and mobilization capacities. This study builds on a comparative research design and draws on almost 40 semi-structured interviews with Bolivian and Ecuadorian party activists as well as association leaders in Barcelona, Spain. Departing from the party interest group literature, I identify three transnational linkage strategies Bolivian and Ecuadorian parties implement: 1) Infiltration, 2) Co-optation, and 3) Cooperation. All parties execute these tactics informally in order to comply with local norms that require associations to remain apolitical. The analysis further demonstrates that differences between home-country electoral systems shape the types of linkage strategies Bolivian and Ecuadorian parties use. This article contributes to the study of migrant politics and political parties in important ways. This study highlights how political parties actively negotiate their entry into the transnational electoral arena, and sheds light on how migrants remain politically connected to their home countries.

Borderwork in the Grey Zone: Everyday Resistance within European Border Control Initiatives in Mali

ABSTRACT EU externalised border control has become a bone of contention in EU–Malian relations. Based on fieldwork among Malian state officials, migrant associations and EU staff in Bamako, the article explores readmission agreements and border police collaboration. By examining the often-underestimated agency of national authorities, the article shows how EU border interventions aimed at producing control and confinement deep within the EU–African borderlands are contested and shaped by Malian state actors’ ‘borderwork’ (Rumford 2008). It argues that the contentious border politics produce ‘hidden acts’ through which moments of ‘sovereign exception’ (Agamben 1998) are produced in the ‘grey zone’ (Feldman 2019) of Europe’s externalised migration–security apparatus. Meanwhile, in the grey zone state actors’ everyday tactics of resistance are constitutive of new forms of sovereignty that is agency enabling.

Ghana and COVID-19: Perspectives on Livelihoods, Health and Living Conditions of Internal Migrants in Accra

The prevalence of COVID-19 in cities across the world has impacted various category of people, especially people living in slums, older persons, persons with disabilities and migrant workers. In this paper, we examine the effects of the pandemic on internal migrant workers in Accra, Ghana’s migration hotspot and measures implemented by the Government to help them cope with the pandemic. Findings showed COVID-19 has impacted internal migrants. In particular, their living conditions and health-seeking behaviour put them at risk of contracting and spreading the virus. The Government of Ghana’s response to the pandemic through lockdowns and travel restrictions exacerbated the conditions of migrants as they are trapped in poverty and unable to escape poor living conditions. While interventions to contain the virus included vulnerable groups such as internal migrants, it is recommended that Government in partnership with NGOs, civil society groups and migrant associations, commit more resources targeted at improving the economic, health and living conditions of internal migrants. In the short term, a dedicated financial support system for internal migrants is crucial to help ameliorate the impact of COVID-19.

The immigrant presence in collaborative structures of urban politics

AbstractParticipation and representation of disadvantaged groups are important, but partly still understudied aspects of democratic politics. The present article looks at the inclusion of migrant representatives in urban governance networks making use of original survey data from 40 large cities in France and Germany. We find that about half of policy‐relevant urban actors in both countries and across cities cooperate with migrant associations regularly. This indicates that urban governance networks are furthering the civic and political presence of migrants. Cooperation with migrant associations is more likely when specific representative local institutions (foreigner/integration councils) exist, and is also boosted by the overall density of governance networks in a city. Politicians and local administrators remain central actors in such networks, while social welfare organizations emerge as important interlocutors with migrant associations. The article identifies and discusses differences between the two countries.

Addressing Healthcare Gaps in Sweden during the COVID-19 Outbreak: On Community Outreach and Empowering Ethnic Minority Groups in a Digitalized Context.

Since its early stages, the COVID-19 pandemic has interacted with existing divides by ethnicity and socioeconomic statuses, exacerbating further inequalities in high-income countries. The Swedish public health strategy, built on mutual trust between the government and the society and giving the responsibility to the individual, has been criticized for not applying a dedicated and more diverse strategy for most disadvantaged migrants in dealing with the pandemic. In order to mitigate the unequal burden on the marginalized members of society, increasing efforts have been addressed to digital health technologies. Despite the strong potential of providing collective public health benefits, especially in a highly digitalized context as Sweden, need for a stronger cooperation between the public health authorities and migrant community leaders, representatives of migrant associations, religious leaders and other influencers of disadvantaged groups has emerged. Suggestions are presented on more culturally congruent, patient-centered health care services aimed to empower people to participate in a more effective public health response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Absent and present: Biopolitics and the materiality of body counts on the US–Mexico border

As the deaths of undocumented migrants expose the violence of border security policies around the globe, a complicated politics emerges between bodily death and the ways in which the migrant association of decedents (dis)appears in vital records – even as many migrants physically disappear during their border crossings. What happens between death and bureaucratic disappearance after a migrant body is discovered? How does the overwhelming material presence of migrant death, someone who dies through an unnecessary and excruciating process like drowning or dehydration during a border crossing, become not-a-migrant? This article considers these questions by exploring the materiality of body counts at the nexus of biopolitics, forensic anthropology, and material culture studies. To probe the process behind migrants’ seemingly systematized bureaucratic postmortem disappearance, this ethnographic case study of local postmortem investigations of migrant deaths at the US–Mexico border examines practices around burial or cremation and body discovery.

In Pursuit of Being and Belonging: Migrant Associations and the Integration of Nigerian Migrant Entrepreneurs in Harare

The main thrust of this article is to analyze how a migrant association, particularly the Nigerian Community in Zimbabwe (NCZ), facilitates being, belonging and integration of migrants in the host society. Grounded on ethnography as a method of inquiry and transactional theory as an analytical framework, the article attempts to answer two questions: i) how does the association help to bond and enrich the lives of migrants; and ii) how does the association facilitate the bridging of social connections with the other with the ultimate goal of burying differences, which in essence helps them to continue staying and accumulating in the diaspora. The article illustrates how the association facilitates newcomers integration, through a range of activities, purportedly, to enrich the lives of migrants in strange downtown environs. As increased contact with the indigenes ensues, the article also shows that the association shifts focus and starts to lessen the social differences between us and them through various activities. The article concludes that migrant associations act as a buffer for migrants as well as a bridging mediator vis-Ã -vis the host society. With these observations, the article recommends that there is a need for nation-states to leverage on migrant associations for effective migration management as their roles need to be incorporated into migration policies. Additionally, establishing a line of communication with migrant associations is vital. Migrant associations and the nation-state need to find more spaces of communication and interaction to bridge the divide that separates us and them.

Моделирование процессов адаптации/интеграции мигрантов: методологический аспект

In the light of growing migration flows, the issue of migrant adaptation/integration into the host society is becoming one of the most relevant. Recipient states deal with it differently. In a number of countries, they give a priority to the need to integrate migrants into the host community through individual work with them (Germany), while other countries, on the contrary, rely on work with migrant associations – diasporas (Canada). This article presents a methodological attempt to create a model of migrant adaptation/integration, based on highlighting the main actors of this work, describing their activities, identifying the difficulties that they may encounter.

Mémoires migrantes : quand les élèves vont à la rencontre de l'histoire orale des migrations

“Migrants remember” is an oral history project for a number of classes over several years. Students are helped in constructing an oral-media collection of the history of migrant associations in Lausanne and the canton of Vaud. This school oral history activity questions in a concrete manner several aspects concerning diversity in school history teaching and puts students at the centre of their relationship to other cultures. This article tries to point out some markers for reflection concerning the links between migration, history and citizenship teaching and the notion of otherness.

INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF UKRAINIAN MIGRANTS’ ACTIVISM IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Different approaches to defining and evaluating the institutionalization of civic activism are considered. The data of original researches in which the author and colleagues conducted a survey of civically active Ukrainian youth in the EU countries were analyzed (in-depth interviews were used). Ukrainian youth activists operating in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland and the Czech Republic were the respondents. Based on this study, the current state of institutionalization of Ukrainian activism in various EU countries is analyzed. It has been found that the work of migrant associations is diverse and is usually based on the enthusiasm or interest of activists, which leads to flexibility, proximity to the needs and beliefs of the communities concerned, but does not guarantee a high level of sustainability. Also, the data obtained indicates the formal recognition at the state level of the relevant organizations, which means compliance with a number of requirements of the authorities of the host country. Interaction with the state institutions and local self-government of both host country and Ukraine in the course of project activities is typical, which shows another aspect of the process of institutionalization of Ukrainian migrants’ activism. An important feature of activism is the «mobilization» approach, which is characterized by the activities of small organizations that unite a wider circle of less active supporters and mobilizes them at certain times. It is revealed that the current state of institutionalization of Ukrainian activism in the EU indicates both positive features (flexibility and compliance with the requests of communities or individuals in need of assistance; taking into account the current situation in Ukraine) and negative (dependence on the initiative of individual activists, relative unpredictability of activities as well as results).

Communicating with migrants: children’s health literacy, digital technology, health promotion tools

Abstract Background Being a migrant can enact road blocks in the process of integration, if language barriers persist in the communication between health professionals and migrants. Moreover, health literacy levels (HL) can differ, based on different cultural contexts or conceptions of health and illness. This research aims at exploring migrants (digital) HL and the mediating role of migrant’s children in primary health care setting. Health professionals’ resort to migrants’ children as interpreters and mediators has been highlighted with the younger generations’ digital literacy, as critical tools to overcome such barriers. Assessing and promoting migrant’s HL is a public health mandate in the promotion of individual and family health to establish a common ground base for communication. Methods A qualitative and ethnographic study based on narratives, participant observation, focus group and ethno biographic interviews with nurses, migrants, medical doctors and intercultural mediators, involved 52 participants in a primary health care setting in Santarém district, Portugal. Partnership with the Observatory for Migration, the High Commission for Migration (ACM) and with migrant associations, enabled the completion by migrants of an online questionnaire focusing on digital HL. Results Migrants’ children were identified as facilitators in the clinical setting at three levels: the communication, HL promotion and adherence to continuity of care. Conclusions Improve migrant’s HL and health decisions is feasible when considering several strategies to overcome cultural barriers. Migrants’ children are potential mediators in the process of communication between health professionals and adults. Awareness of their potential allows adjustments in the primary health care sector. The need to further investigate migrants’ HL and digital HL (e.g. telephone translation services, Internet-based tools for scheduling health appointments) are some tasks that need further research.

‘We are Each Other’s Keeper’: Migrant Associations and Integration in Urban Africa

While literature on migrants’ associations is well documented in Europe, North America and South America, little is done on Africa’s internal migrant associations in spite of their proliferation and role in dealing with migration and urban precarity. We ask how do migrant association facilitate the integration processes of their members in the host area and how has their role in the process changed over the years? Through a concurrent (convergent) triangulation research design, we survey 120 participants, interviewed 14 and content analyse (media) reports. We conclude that migrant associations are still relevant in engendering adaptive and supportive environment for migrants’ integration. Even though these core objectives have not changed per se, the changing socio-cultural, economic and political surroundings of host communities and the needs of migrants requires that migrant association shift in their approaches to remain relevant.

De lo difuso a lo concreto: los procesos de identificación regional en el seno del asociacionismo migrante castellano y leonés en Latinoamérica

ABSTRACTIn this article, we analyze the processes of regional identification within the Castilian and Leonese migrant associations in Latin America from the late nineteenth century to the present through two examples. The first concerns the successive regional associations founded in Mexico during the twentieth century. The second refers to societies self-defined as Castilian and Leonese that have emerged or become revitalized throughout Latin America. Both examples reflect that the ethnic identification within migrant associations has maintained a diffuse character, as a result of the characterization of the idea of the Castilian as the essence of the Spanish. With the consolidation of a new territorial framework in Spain at the end of the last century, and the emergence of new political interlocutors—the regional institutions—discourses and practices focusing on the Castilian and Leonese have been strengthened. Finally, both examples demonstrate the contingent and negotiated nature of ethnic identification processes by the population linked to Castilla y León in Latin America.

Bangladeshi migrant associations in Italy: transnational engagement, community formation and regional unity

ABSTRACT Referring to the case studies of two cities in Northern Italy, this article seeks to understand how Bangladeshi migrants use associations to seek transnational “ways of belonging” and “ways of being”. It analyses how this transnational attachment to their home country has played an important role in building their own “community”. The findings reveal that Bangladeshi migrant organizations work to maintain “transnational ways of belonging” by enabling migrants to retain their cultural roots; this is reflected in their observation of festivals, national days, and other practices and rituals. Although, as a relatively new migrant community, they do not share as many economic links through these associations as many other “diasporic” organizations, migrants widely express a sense that these economic connections are with their country of origin. However, there is competition within the community based on regional origin, as well as have many ambivalences and contradictions.

An Urban/Modern Version of Tribe: “The Kalenderi/Hiyyi Association” / Aşiretin Kentsel/Modern Bir Versiyonu Olarak Kalenderi/Hiyyi Derneği

This article focuses on an “existing tribe” (regarded as a pre-modern social organization representing rural society) to reorganize/transform itself as a civil society organization (the “ideal” organization of modern society and urban life). The efforts and strategies of tribes for reviving and sustaining themselves in urban life are analyzed over the narratives of the “well educated, skilled and urban” members of the Executive Board of “The Kalenderi/Hıyyi Association” (KHA). In big cities, the establishment of associations by the migrants coming from the same ethnic/religious community or the same locale is a common thing. But KHA is not a migrant solidarity association, it is located in its “homeland”. A well-educated group of tribesmen put a special emphasis on the preservation of former relations and traditions in modern urban life and establish the KHA. During the research, it is observed that other urban tribesmen (from all world) effectively uses cyber space, while respond the call for “unity” from their “relatives”. The association regards “all tribe, as a community of broader relatives” and utilizes technology effectively to contact these “broader relatives”. This type of organizational behavior brings a unique and effective perspective on organizational pattern of tribes. The article argues that new forms of tribes such as “cyber tribes” could emerge in future (for instance, tribes ruled by “elected” leaders or tribes reorganized in different modern forms ranging from solidarity associations, pressure groups, corporations or else). In all these “modern” forms, the prerequisite of membership will be “traditional” (being a “member” of “the tribe”). The cyber space also may give birth to its own leaders and these “cyber leaders” (especially of social online platforms) may gather new generation tribesmen around themselves and challenge the “traditional leadership”.

Establishing a culturally specific nursing home for Finnish-speaking older persons in Sweden: A case study.

AimThe study aims to describe the establishment of a culturally specific nursing home for Finnish‐speaking older persons in Sweden.DesignA descriptive qualitative study.MethodsA descriptive case study based on a review of 14 public documents and individual interviews with two experts in the area, analysed with qualitative content analysis.ResultsThis study found that shared language, preservation of customs and habits and collaboration between the representatives of the municipality, Finnish‐speaking migrant associations and staff at the nursing home influenced the development of the culturally specific nursing home for older Finnish‐speaking people intended to avoid loneliness, isolation and misunderstandings among older Finnish‐speaking. Collaboration between healthcare service for older persons and minority people resulted in an optimal culturally specific nursing home, simultaneously encountering the majority culture. Nursing and healthcare services need to be aware of positive effects of collaboration with stakeholders to achieve optimal culturally specific nursing homes.

Part of the problem or of the solution? The involvement of religious associations in immigrant integration policy

Across Europe we see faith-based organizations (FBOs) getting involved in the policy field of immigrant integration. The interweaving of the policy fields of religion politics and immigrant integration is particularly delicate in systems of religionstate cooperation. Here, FBOs and state actors build on each other to fulfil certain tasks. This paper explores how FBOs are involved in the field of immigrant integration and which techniques of government are being used. Drawing on empirical case studies from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the paper shows that religious communities fulfil multiple roles as civil society actors, as religious representatives or as migrant associations. While similarities occur due to comparable structures and institutions, observed differences are the consequence of different constellations of suspicion and trust between FBOs and state actors.

Remaking the State or Creating Civil Society? Vietnamese Migrant Associations in Poland

In this essay, I analyze Vietnamese migrant associations in Poland, which have been routinely classified as “non-governmental organizations.” And yet, through their involvement in networks of relationships with a broad range of actors, including transnational connections with institutions back in Vietnam, they are in fact positioned in a liminal zone between the state and civil society. On the one hand, migrant associations are to a large extent entangled with the politics of the Vietnamese state through various channels, including the embassy, and through personal and institutional connections maintained with mass organizations such as the Fatherland Front and the Women’s Union. On the other hand, they are able to retain some degree of autonomy and pluralism, remaining active agents engaged with the fraught social and political activities of Vietnamese diasporics in Poland.

Migrant preschool children's school readiness and early elementary school performance

ABSTRACTLittle is known about the early educational performance of children in migrant farmworker families. The authors examined the school readiness and early school success of 289 four-year-old preschool children of migrant families attending Redlands Christian Migrant Association centers. Children's school readiness was assessed and public school records were used for longitudinal follow-up. Children improved on age-4 school readiness domains, and although some struggled with emergent English literacy, many performed well on school readiness measures and later coursework. Children quickly became proficient in oral English, and had above-average school attendance. Many scored low on high-stakes tests; however, typically well enough for grade promotion. Students in the sample were comparable to similar students in poverty. School teachers and administrators should have high expectations for students from migrant families because many of them do stay in the public school system, and appear to be quite resilient despite many challenges they face.

The State and the Grassroots: Immigrant Transnational Organizations in Four Continents

Reviews 779 Overall, their book breaks new ground on the topic of transnational policy networks, revealing how power works through these technocratic, expert-driven networks. Fast Policy is a brisk, engaging read, full of ana- lytically rich and empirically driven sub- stance that teaches us much about new experiments of statecraft, their lure and agendas as they travel, and the tensions which arise as they confront the structural inequities that they are often designed to mask or ignore. The State and the Grassroots: Immigrant Transnational Organizations in Four Continents, by Alejandro Portes and Patricia Ferna´ndez-Kelly, eds. New York: Berghahn Books, 2015. 338 pp. $120.00 cloth. ISBN: D AVID S COTT F ITZ G ERALD University of California-San Diego dfitzgerald@ucsd.edu The State and the Grassroots: Immigrant Trans- national Organizations in Four Continents reports findings from a set of ten related proj- ects on the migrant organizations of eighteen different national-origin groups, which are spread across the United States, France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The volume, edited by Alejandro Portes and Patricia Ferna´ndez-Kelly, provides a wealth of empirical detail on the activities of these organizations and makes substantial advances toward answering major questions in the literature on migrant transnationalism. The central contributions are fourfold. The book brings together 1) the U.S. and western European destination contexts, 2) national- origin groups with highly variable relation- ships with the governments of their countries of origin, and 3) migrant groups that vary widely in the extent to which they are pre- dominantly working class or highly skilled. Finally, it includes surveys of migrant organ- izations that enable some comparisons across national origin and destination coun- try cases. Early scholarly accounts of migrant trans- nationalism, by which the authors mean engagement of various kinds across state borders, paid insufficient attention to how source and destination country governments shape the contours of migrant organization. The accounts in this volume are far more attuned to the political constraints and opportunities in part because the studies include such different contexts. For example, the relaxation of hostilities between source and destination countries opens up spaces for migrant activities oriented toward the homeland. The growth of such activities in the Vietnamese American case following the establishment of diplomatic relations in the 1990s is the most vivid such example. The political economy of the origin country also structures migrant ties. Market reforms in China and India set the conditions for intensified relationships and investments of overseas Chinese and Indians. On the destination country side, govern- ments vary widely in their interest in assisting organizations oriented toward the homeland. France, Spain, and Belgium have provided government support for ‘‘co-devel- opment’’ in migrants’ countries of origin, though this has been more difficult in Belgium given its complex federal system. The Spanish government has made co- development a condition of much support for migrant organizations, thus shaping their agendas. Reliance on state resources can car- ry a price. Budget cuts in Spain during the 2008 to 2012 financial crisis dealt a ‘‘death- blow’’ to the organizations (p. 267). Destina- tion country factors may also inhibit migrant organization. The political culture in France, which emphasizes national republican unity, restrains the development of national-origin migrant associations with a strong political focus. Destination country policies may have dif- ferent effects on cross-border organizing over different time scales. In his introductory essay, Portes notes that permanent outmigra- tion is accompanied by a weakening of the local productive structure in places of origin, whereas circular migration encourages great- er investment. In the case of Mexican migra- tion to the United States, the 1986 Immigra- tion Reform and Control Act’s legalization provisions and stricter U.S. border enforce- ment have shifted Mexican migration from a pattern of circular mobility to permanent settlement. I would argue that in the short run, mass legalization created the conditions Contemporary Sociology 45, 6 Downloaded from csx.sagepub.com by guest on October 20, 2016