Immigrant Communities Research Articles

Translanguaging in Family Communication

This paper reports on a phenomenological study that examined Hungarian American parents’ perceptions and practices related to translanguaging—a systematic scaffolding strategy that utilizes multiple linguistic repertoires to facilitate competence and performance in two or more language—in family communication. We used semistructured interviews with questions related to language use, parents’ reactions to translanguaging, and their perceptions of why and how translanguaging occurs in oral and written family communications. The participants included twelve Hungarian American families with adolescent children who used the Hungarian language in family communication. The findings indicated that most families found translanguaging natural and positive, and these families used supportive and constructive behaviors when translanguaging happened. A few parents rejected the practice of translanguaging when the communication took place in Hungarian, which indicated monoglossic language ideologies. These divergent views of family language policy were often explained by the familial, social, and cultural contexts of the families. Because parents are the main stakeholders in language maintenance, their perspectives and practices are essential. This paper contributes to our understanding of family language policies regarding translanguaging and offer recommendations for a minority language community, the Hungarian American immigrant community, for which translanguaging is not well researched. jszilagy@brockport.edu

Adminigration: City-Level Governance of Immigrant Community Members

The concept of adminigration provides a much-needed lens in theorizing immigration enforcement, citizenship, and urban geographies. We define adminigration as the governance of immigrant community members through city-level policies and programs, whether or not these explicitly focus on immigrants. Our focus on adminigration involves three theoretical interventions: (1) bridging literature on immigrant bureaucratic incorporation and crimmigration to situate city-level administrative practices within immigration policymaking; (2) a focus on how localized definitions of membership, as enacted by cities, produce citizenship, legality, and illegality, and (3) the argument that these practices play out in space, resulting in variegated urban landscapes that are better characterized as a network than a level. We develop these points through a review of the literature on bureaucratic incorporation, crimmigration, citizenship, and the spatialization of immigration policymaking. To illustrate the utility of this framework, we conclude with a case study of adminigration in a California city that we call “Mayville.”

Perspectives of public health organizations partnering with refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities for comprehensive COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing.

To understand public health organizations' experiences providing comprehensive COVID-19 case investigation and contact tracing, and related promising practices with refugee, immigrant and migrant communities. We interviewed public health professionals (September 2020 to February 2021) from local and state health departments using a geographically stratified, purposive sampling approach. A multidisciplinary team at the National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants and Migrants (NRC-RIM) conducted a thematic analysis of the data. Six themes were identified: understanding community and public health context, cultivating relationships, ensuring linguistic and cultural concordance, communicating intentionally, evolving response, and implementing equity. The interconnection of themes and promising practices is explored. As public health continues to learn from and build upon COVID-19 response experiences, the thematic findings and potential promising practices identified in this project may foster proactive, community-engaged solutions for public health, and other organizations working and partnering with refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities. Implementing these findings with COVID-19 into current and future public health crisis responses may improve public health, collaborations with refugee, immigrant, and migrant communities, and staff wellbeing.

“Every Crisis is a Time for opportunity”: Immigrant-Refugee Leadership Perspectives in the COVID-19 Era

ABSTRACT The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately affected immigrant and refugee communities, along with community-based ethnic organizations (CBEOs) serving these communities. Our study explored the impact of COVID-19 on immigrant and refugee communities and the CBEOs serving them by conducting in-depth interviews with CBEO leaders (N = 7). Six salient themes emerged: heightened organizational strain; COVID-19’s exacerbation of social issues; loss of community wealth; barriers to COVID-19 information; immigration policies, vulnerability, and structural barriers; and a path to better opportunities.

Ruptured Rhetoric

Under the pressure of the political environment, Chinese immigrant communities of a new sort have had to form in the UK. From 2020 to 2022, strict COVID-19 policies enforced by the Chinese government left a large number of Chinese nationals stranded overseas. Concurrently, the political conflicts in Hong Kong since 2019 and shifting geopolitical dynamics in China prompted a significant influx of Hong Kong citizens emigrating to the UK. Within this context, soundwork has emerged as a powerful implement for shaping ideology, aesthetics, identity, and subjectivity in these immigrant and diaspora communities. Amid these challenges, ethnic Chinese sound artists based in the UK actively contribute to the construction of Sinophone communities, incorporating the local culture while challenging the homogenized concept of “Chineseness” in terms of a new, critical epistemology. These Sinophone communities take place in venues such as performance spaces, art galleries, and public areas. Artistic activism plays a pivotal role, with sound art serving as a potent medium of expression. Artists such as Chris Zhongtian Yuan, Bo Choy, Yarli Allison, and On Yee Lo employ various forms of artistic expression, including video arts, installations, films, and performances, to capture the political circumstances and psychological states of these communities. By drawing on theoretical frameworks from Sinophone theory and sound studies, this paper analyzes the soundworks of four artists of the Chinese ethnic or Hong Kong diaspora based in London, focusing particularly on the protest, storytelling, ritual, resistance, nostalgia, and mythological elements in their works’ sonic effects.

Before Brown v. Board of Education : Paul J. McCormick, the Mendez v. Westminster Decision, and its Religious-Social Context

Abstract: Paul J. McCormick (1879–1960), judge of the United States District Court of Los Angeles, rendered in 1945 the most impactful decision of his career. His decision in Mendez v. Westminster was the prelude to the civil rights movement in the United States. McCormick's Catholic faith and his relationship with the immigrant community in Los Angeles influenced his opinion. Nearly a decade before Brown v. Board of Education , McCormick delivered a verdict favoring Mexican families seeking equality in education. His decision favoring the desegregation of schools in southern California marked the beginning of the end of school segregation throughout the United States. This study of the decision's religious and social contexts shows how Mendez v. Westminster complicates the historical narrative of racial desegregation.

Role of cultural brokering in advancing holistic primary care for diabetes and obesity: a participatory qualitative study

ObjectivesDiabetes and obesity care for ethnocultural migrant communities is hampered by a lack of understanding of premigration and postmigration stressors and their impact on social and clinical determinants of health...

The Moroccan “Yizkor Book”: Holocaust Memory, Intra-Jewish Marginalization, and Communal Empowerment in Israel

The writing of “Yizkor books” (Yizker bikher, רעכיב רוכזי)—memorial books for European Jewish communities that were destroyed in the Holocaust—has developed and expanded as the remnants of these lost communities scattered around the globe in the post-war era. The motives for writing comparable books among non-European Jewish communities—which experienced different circumstances of dispersal but were still influenced by Holocaust memory—and the way these books nourished the intentional creation of immigrant communities, are understudied. This article focuses on the related genre of what we define as community-oriented autobiographical memoirs penned by Moroccan Jews who migrated to Israel in the 1950s. Within these books, we trace patterns of narration and memory construction utilized by Moroccan leaders in an effort to cope with the stereotyping and exclusion of their communities from mainstream culture by the Ashkenazi-European elite in Israel. We explore how these narratives by Moroccan immigrants were, on the one hand, inspired by commonplace Israeli Holocaust memories depicting the traumatic annihilation of Jewish life in Morocco, and, on the other hand, accounts of Moroccan marginality in Israel.

Sources of COVID-19 infection among Chinese immigrants in Canada

PurposeWith the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the sources of COVID-19 infection is crucial for developing effective public health strategies to control the spread of the disease. Chinese immigrants in Canada represent a population for which no study had previously been conducted to investigate the sources of COVID-19 infection. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by examining the prevalence of various sources of COVID-19 within the Chinese immigrant community and identifying potential risk factors associated with each source. MethodsAn online cross-sectional survey was conducted in early 2023, which included questions on five possible sources of COVID-19 infection: family, social gatherings, workplace, public places, or unknown. A total of 591 responses were received, of which 488 eligible responses were included in the analysis. Results56.4% of the survey respondents were female, 45.0% had a university degree (or higher), and 19.4% of the participants were 65 years of age or older. Among the 226 individuals who contracted COVID-19, the most commonly reported source of infection was family members (29.2%), followed by public places (27.4%), and social gatherings (16.4%). Additionally, 16.4% of the respondents were uncertain where they had contracted the virus, and 10.6% of the respondents contracted COVID-19 from their workplace. ConclusionsA large majority of participants were able to identify the source of their COVID-19 infection, with results suggesting that individuals are at the highest risk for contraction of COVID-19 from infected family members. Our findings can inform public health efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 in Canada.

A Mythic France for Export: Auguste Genin, Cultural Brokers, and the Third Republic's Mission Civilisatrice in Porfirian Mexico

Abstract: Historians of Mexico after its independence from Spain in 1821, especially during the era of rapid modernization under President Porfirio Díaz (1876–1911), speak generally of the strong French cultural influence on the middling and privileged classes in the Republic who viewed France as a model of emulation for national development. This afrancesamiento (Francophilia) is often taken for granted and few have questioned what "Frenchness" meant at a time when France itself was constructing a national identity, who were its greatest promoters in Mexico, and how did the Mexican experience compare with the Third Republic's (1870–1940) civilizing mission ( mission civilizatrice ) in France's formal colonies in Southeast Asia and Africa. The goal of this article is two-fold. The first is to advance the notion of certain members of the French immigrant community in Porfirian Mexico as cultural brokers, and the second is to place the French model of modernity to which these foreign residents and Mexican elites referred to in its domestic and larger imperial context. The influential Franco-Mexican Auguste Genin and his writings offer an illustrative case study through which to introduce and assess this. Particularly revealing is how Genin imagines the process by which the indigenous population of Mexico would be transformed into modern citizens and how this project—this imaginary construct—found a source of inspiration in the simultaneous French project to construct a French identity and a model ideology for overseas empire during the Third Republic.

Multidimensional Impacts of Nickel Mining Exploitation towards the Lives of the Local Community

The mining companies’ activities caused problems in the community. This research aims to analyze the impact caused by mining activities on the lives of local communities. The research location was in Mandiodo Village, North Konawe Regency. This research used a qualitative approach, and data was collected through observation and in-depth interviews with several community leaders and village government officials. The collected data were analyzed descriptively. The study results show that mining activities negatively impact the social, economic, and environmental lives of local communities in Mandiodo village. Nevertheless, a positive impact can be seen from the increase in the income of some people due to the diversification of the community's economic businesses: boarding house rental services, basic food stalls, and the opening of new jobs for local people to work in companies, as well as acculturation between immigrant and local communities. On the other hand, negative impacts are detrimental to local communities: flooding in residential areas during heavy rains and the threat of landslides, air pollution which can cause various respiratory tract infections, siltation of beaches and seawater pollution, decreased fishermen's income, and damaged roads and bridges. Efforts to overcome the company's negative impacts have not been appropriate because the compensation and recognition the company has provided to the community are not commensurate with the negative impacts that are still detrimental to local communities. The conclusion is that the existence of mining companies causes disasters and losses for local communities.

청주시 거주 러시아어권 이주민 현황과 과제

This paper specifically examines the residency status of Russian-speaking immigrants, including the ethnic Korean diaspora, living in Cheongju City. Throughout this study, it addresses several challenges related to immigrant settlement and social integration. Among foreign nationals of ethnic descent, there has been a noticeable shift in the last five years. The proportion of Chinese and American nationals among foreign compatriots has declined, while there is an increasing trend in the number of diaspora from Central Asian countries, particularly ethnic Koreans from Russia. If the foreigner-to-total population ratio exceeds 5%, it is commonly acknowledged that the country has transitioned into a multicultural society. By this standard, our society could also be described as multicultural. As of March 2023, the number of registered Russian-speaking immigrants residing in Cheongju City was recorded at 6,435. Considering the fact that around 20% of domestic foreigners are unregistered, it is estimated that there are approximately 7,700 residents with Russian-speaking backgrounds, including ethnic Koreans, in Cheongju City.
 The attraction of foreign immigrant populations in the era of low birth rates and an aging society has become an inevitable reality, leading to active discussions even about the establishment of an immigration agency. For the rapidly increasing Russian-speaking immigrant community in Cheongju City, individually tailored support measures have now reached a stage of review and reevaluation. Urgent efforts are needed to establish a Task Force (TF) consisting of relevant government and private organizations, including Cheongju City Hall, Chungbuk Provincial Office, Immigration Office, Education Office, universities, and the Small and Medium Business Association. Comprehensive information gathering and extensive network-building for Russian-speaking immigrants residing in Cheongju City should also be pursued, based on collaborative research in the fields of sociology, geography, and humanities. It is essential for the culture of Cheongju City, South Korea, to mature into a harmonious and mutually beneficial coexistence with the cultures of Russian-speaking immigrants, and this requires the collective attention and endeavors of all of us.

Financial S tress in t he A sian C hristian Immigrant Community During COVID-19

Financial S tress in t he A sian C hristian Immigrant Community During COVID-19

The emergence of new immigrant organisations in the USA: collective engagement

ABSTRACT Immigrant organisations tend to engage with immigrant communities within a host country and their country of origin through various transnational activities. This study explores the emergence of immigrant organisations among new immigrant groups in the United States by shedding light on opportunity structure, group characteristics, and collective engagement. Empirically, this paper draws upon interviews of 33 Bangladeshi immigrant organisations in the United States. This paper reports that the intersection of opportunity structure and group characteristics creates a favourable environment for the emergence of immigrant organisations within a new immigrant group. This research suggests that local engagement is a process of adapting to a new environment while still holding onto the cultural norms and values of one’s home country, and transnational engagement improves the lives of the marginalised people in their country of origin.

Analysis of Psychological Well-Being among Migrant Communities

This qualitative study aims to analysis the reality of psychological well-being (PWB) within immigrant communities in around Unimal Campus, Reuleut, Aceh. The primary objectives are to establish a model of psychological well-being specific to migrant communities in this locality and to identify the key factors that exert influence on their psychological well-being. The factors under investigation include economic status, social support, social networks, religiosity, personality traits, emotional regulation, and loneliness. By adopting a phenomenology qualitative approach, this research seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the experiences of immigrant communities in Reuleut. The study's subjects comprise immigrant communities residing in Reuleut, Aceh. Through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis, the research sheds light on the nuanced dimensions of psychological well-being within this context. The findings contribute to the broader understanding of psychological well-being factors that resonate within migrant communities, thereby presenting an informed perspective on the conditions and challenges faced by immigrants in Aceh. The outcomes of this study reveal that gender does not significantly impact the manifestation of resistance behaviors among students. The study underscores that both male and female students exhibit moderate levels of resistance towards teachers. This lack of gender-related distinctions in resistance levels underscores the potential influence of other factors, such as pedagogical approaches, classroom dynamics, and student perceptions. Consequently, this research underscores the imperative of cultivating positive teacher-student interactions and fostering an environment where students' voices are valued and comprehended, irrespective of their gender.

Conceptualizing Russian Food in Emigration: Foodways in Culture Maintenance and Adaptation

Abstract Food preparation and consumption is an essential part of culture. Leaving their homeland and finding themselves in a society with eating habits different from theirs, migrants face a dilemma of adapting their diets to those customary in their new place of residence or trying to maintain their food habits. Relying on the ethnographic method and applying thematic and critical discourse analyses, this article explores how Russian-speaking migrants discuss changes in their foodways and what role Russian food stores play in the life of immigrant communities. Material for analyses was drawn from fieldwork conducted in Finland, Germany, Israel, and Switzerland. It includes in-depth interviews, immigrants’ essays, and group discussions. We also studied culinary discussion groups on Facebook and documented linguistic landscape related to food consumption in the diaspora. Among the salient themes in the discourse dealing with eating habits abroad are food nostalgia, trying out familiar recipes with new products, evaluating traditional dishes of the host society, and re-evaluating Russian cuisine, searching for the right food in the new country and trying to showcase the best of one’s own cooking to other people. Immigrants’ discourse about food and the labels on the food products available in “Russian” stores outside Russia reveal frequent use of paroemias and quotations and allusions to Soviet and post-Soviet popular culture. Russian-speaking immigrants’ reflections about their old and new foodways reveal that they are an integral part of search for a new hybrid self-identity.

From undeserving to deserving: Undocumented students’ resistance to being shut out in the transition to college

AbstractThis study examines college access among undocumented students in Elkhart County, Indiana to understand how institutional actors are responding to revelations of their legal status. Using data from 39 life history interviews, we demonstrate how undocumented students’ transition to college can hinge on the extent to which students are deemed deserving or undeserving by institutional actors. Also, participants seek out resources for reaching college through resisting abrupt abandonment by seeking alternative sources of support to ensure their transition to college. We argue that undocumented students are much more active in this process than tends to come across in previous research.Practical Takeaways Institutional actors—teachers, counselors, or college administrators—can constrain or facilitate undocumented student's transitions to college at various points. Institutional actors in new immigrant communities tend to lack resources and information needed to meet the college going needs of undocumented students. When denied access or overlooked during the pursuit of higher education, undocumented students are agentic and seek out resources elsewhere.

Exploring the Effect of Anti-immigration Rhetoric on Emergency Department Use by Undocumented Adults.

An unwelcoming policy climate can create barriers to health care access and produce a 'Chilling Effect' among immigrant communities. For undocumented immigrants, barriers may be unique and have a greater impact. We used administrative emergency department (ED) data from 2015 to 2019 for a Midwestern state provided under a data use agreement with the state hospital association. General linear modelling was used to estimate the impact of anti-immigrant rhetoric on ED visit intensity among non-elderly adults who were likely Hispanic/Latino with undocumented status. Compared to 2015, the average ED visit intensity among adults who were likely Hispanic/Latino with undocumented status was significantly higher during 2016-2019 when anti-immigrant rhetoric was heightened. The magnitude of this change increased over time (0.013, 0.014, 0.021, and 0.020, respectively). Additionally, this change over time was not observed in the comparison groups. Our findings suggest that anti-immigrant rhetoric may alter health care utilization for adults who are likely Hispanic/Latino with undocumented status. Limitations to our findings include the use of only those likely to be Hispanic/Latino, data from only one Midwestern state and the loss of data due to non-classification using the NYU ED algorithm. Further research should focus on validating these findings and investigating these identification methods and anti-immigrant rhetoric effects among other undocumented groups including children and adults of different race or ethnicity such as black, both those that identify as Hispanic/Latino and those that do not. Developing strategies to improve health care access for undocumented Hispanic/Latino adults also warrants future research.

A Subsidized and Culturally-adapted Community Supported Agriculture Program to Improve Diet of Chinese Immigrant Communities

A Subsidized and Culturally-adapted Community Supported Agriculture Program to Improve Diet of Chinese Immigrant Communities

The Origins of Armenian Nationalism in the United States and the American Armenian Press (1880s-1920s)

The growing scholarship on the ethnic press in the United States has greatly contributed to our understanding of their functions within ethnic communities and in the broader society. This study, focusing on a sample of the Armenian ethnic press, demonstrates that in the formative stages of the Armenian immigrant community (1880s-1920s), the Armenian press promoted long-distance nationalism, on the one hand, and ‘cultural congruence’ between American and Armenian values, identities, and worldviews, on the other hand. Armenians arrived in the United States in increasing numbers beginning in the late nineteenth century, as they fled Ottoman persecutions and massacres, and the community further grew in the aftermath of the genocide during World War I. As Armenians established roots in their new environment, their cultural production during the period under consideration included more than one hundred dailies, weeklies, and monthly journals. These publications fell into three categories: nationalist/long-distance nationalist, religious, and non-political/professional. The Armenian ethnic papers catered to the tastes of nostalgic immigrants and emphasized the urgency of reforms in, or outright liberation from, the Ottoman empire. Thus, this case study demonstrates that the Armenian ethnic press propagated long-distance nationalism as they sought to forge community solidarity and to fortify cultural preservation. At the same time, they also promoted American values, the American Dream, active citizenship, and Americanization in general—a significant point regarding the paradoxical role of the ethnic press in host societies but often neglected in the literature on ethnonationalism and long-distance nationalism. This article also briefly discusses the long-term ramifications of Armenian ethnic cultural development as a diaspora community in the United States.