Immigrant Settlement Research Articles

Service-policy gaps in the settlement journey of Arabic-speaking immigrant newcomer and refugee older adults in Edmonton, Canada.

Immigrant newcomers and refugees (INRs) are two migrant categories that experience consistent systemic barriers to settlement and integration in Canada as older adults. This paper explores the challenges experienced by Arabic-speaking INR older adults in Edmonton, Canada, during settlement and discusses policy and service implications. A qualitative description study using community-based participatory research principles was implemented to evaluate and support digital literacy in Arabic-speaking INR older adults. We included men and women aged 55 and older who identified as immigrants or refugees and spoke Arabic. Experiences of settlement challenges were consistently identified during data collection and engagement of INR older adult participants. A thematic sub-analysis of interviews with (10 individuals and one couple) of participants' narratives was completed in 2022 and was used to identify themes related to settlement barriers for this population. Two main themes were identified: (1) Limited English skills and digital literacy gaps create service barriers for INR older adults, and (2) Gaps in services and policies as basic needs remain unmet. We describe key challenges experienced by INR older adults, such as language barriers, precarious finances, poor access to health care services and lack of transportation and employment opportunities, which hinder successful integration into the new society. This study showcases the ongoing challenges with early settlement and integration that continue despite Canada's well-developed immigration settlement landscape. INR older adults often remain invisible in policy, and understanding their experiences is a first step to addressing their needs for resources that support healthy aging in the post-migration context.

A Transdisciplinary Analysis of the 2009 Catastrophe in Giampilieri Superiore by Land Use Evolution Over Time

AbstractOn October 1 2009 a deluge hit the Peloritani Mountains, in NE Sicily, Italy, where the rainfall data recorded 225 mm in 9 h. Giampilieri Superiore was the most affected townlet in terms of infrastructural damages and human losses (37 dead, 37 wounded, and more than 1000 evacuees). The debris flows, triggered by flash floods wreaked havoc of the urban structure. More than 200 mln € was granted to protection works for conveying water and debris flows to bypass the town. The disaster was numerically simulated by SCIDDICA (Digital Twin) with excellent approximation, and the effects of the safety installation were tested as well, proving to offer sufficient protection for the village. The Peloritani area overlooking the Ionian See flourished during the Saracen domination, whose legacy of systems of terraces, cisterns and wells guaranteed the finest water management in steep terrains, allowing a safe emplacement of watermills, around which Giampilieri and other villages developed. This hydraulic legacy has been undermined during the last decades due to lack of appropriate maintenance because of the progressive loss of the Saracen culture. It is unconceivable that subsidies on the scale granted to Giampilieri are sustainable when facing innumerable future climatic disasters. A cheaper and more viable solution is to be found, e.g., the settlement of immigrants in the area, promoting the labor-social inclusion of those persons who already possess such a Saracen culture or are willing to acquire it from the last local depositaries, according to a retro-innovation perspective and methodology.

The Relationship between Immigrant Settlement and Housing Costs in Global German Cities

The Relationship between Immigrant Settlement and Housing Costs in Global German Cities

Features of the pottery assemblage of the XIII–XIV centuries from excavations of the Syukeyevsky Vzvoz II Campsite medieval sediments

The article deals with the ceramic material from the excavations of 2021 on the territory of the multilayer archaeological site Syukeyevsky Vzvoz II. Judging by the totality of the finds (metal slag and pig iron, blanks and semi-finished iron products, blacksmithing tools), a blacksmithing workshop could have been located here in the Golden Horde period. Russian pottery make up the majority of the assemblage, which suggests that there is a settlement of immigrants from Russian lands here. By the nature of the finds, this location can be interpreted as the artisan periphery of a small urban-type settlement associated with iron processing.

The making of a global neighbourhood in China

Global neighbourhood, as a new immigrant settlement pattern, has been confirmed to benefit residential diversity and civic engagement in the United States. Based on fieldwork in Yiwu City, the world’s largest small-commodity distribution centre, we examine the formation of a global neighbourhood in China as a new immigrant destination country. Through field observations and in-depth interviews with immigrant residents, social workers and restaurant owners, we identify several factors contributing to the neighbourhood evolution, including immigrants’ market-driven rational choice, the local government’s multi-faceted service and the bridging role of Chinese ethnic minorities. This Yiwu model suggests a new way to think about immigrant settlement patterns that deserves more attention from urban scholars. Moreover, the patterns we discovered reveal new immigrant settlement mechanisms outside the US context, which enriches the current literature on global neighbourhoods and new immigrant destinations.

Information and immigrant settlement

We study a randomly-assigned program providing information on U.S. settlement for new Filipino immigrants. The intervention, a 2.5-hour pre-departure training and an accompanying paper handbook, has no effect on employment, settlement, and subjective wellbeing, but leads immigrants to acquire substantially fewer social network connections. We rationalize these findings with a simple model, showing that information and social network links are substitutes under reasonable assumptions. Consistent with the model, the treatment reduces social network links more when costs of acquiring network links are lower. Offsetting reductions in the acquisition of social network connections can hence reduce the effectiveness of information interventions.

Settler Antisemitism, Israeli Mass Violence, and the Crisis of Holocaust and Genocide Studies

This article examines the depiction of Israel as a nation-state like any other as a mechanism of disavowing Israeli settler colonialism. It is a depiction that also brings into focus the antisemitic marginalization and violence against Jews in nation-states. In this framework, the article shows that since modern antisemitism emerged at the intersection of the nation-state system and European imperialism and colonialism, Israel as a settler nation-state also functions according to the logic of what the author calls settler antisemitism. While the racialization of Jews in the frame of White supremacy in other settler-colonial states could include Jews as immigrant settlers but never more, White supremacy in Israel has manifested itself as Jewish supremacy, which defined the project of creating a White Jewish settler society. The article concludes with a discussion of the crisis in Holocaust and genocide studies that this situation has exposed, especially in the midst of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Studies of Second-Language Writing in Canada

Canada’s social and educational policies have always involved immigrant settlement and English-French bilingualism. Research on writing in second languages emerged in the 1980s from graduate programs of education and applied linguistics at major universities in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver, particularly scholars investigating cognitive and learning processes and rhetorical characteristics of writing in English as a mother tongue. In the 1990s several Canadian scholars established systematic programs of research focused on L2 composing processes, writing for academic purposes, assessment, and innovative educational programs— spawning, in turn, in the 2000s a third generation of L2 writing researchers who have now established themselves across Canada and around the world.

"A Gratifying Divergence": Immigrant Settlement and the National Narrative in Willa Cather's My Ántonia

Abstract: This essay examines Cather's 1923 essay "Nebraska: The End of the First Cycle" and her 1918 novel My Ántonia to analyze her representation of the immigrant figure that simultaneously defines the region (Nebraska) and enriches the story of America. The essay contextualizes Cather's writing within the statutes of nineteenth-century homesteading legislation, which allowed Nebraska to be settled and the nation to expand westward. It first considers opportunities and challenges afforded by homesteading, and then discusses Cather's use of immigrant settlement and the cycles of storytelling it produces to revise monolithic interpretations of the national narrative.

Sticky places for regional immigrant settlement: A literature review

AbstractSince 1996, migration‐related schemes have directed new immigrants, refugees and humanitarian entrants to regional Australia to mitigate the need for skills and declining population growth in these locations. However, a key concern of these schemes is the uncertainty of long‐term immigrant retention in regional locations beyond the stipulated visa category period. We draw on the metaphor of stickiness: the ability of geographic clusters to attract and retain to examine Australian regional settlement literature and identify factors and processes associated with immigrant settlement and retention. Through a systematic and rigorous review process, we identify seven interconnected factors and processes nestled amongst three core themes of sticky factors and processes that attract, enable and impede settlement and retention contributing to the growing knowledge regarding regional immigrant settlement and retention.

Stay strong, stay healthy: exploring a predictive model of psychological adaptation among Macau students studying in Mainland China within the postcolonial context.

The prevailing research on adaptation primarily centers around the settlement of international students and immigrants in different cultural environments. However, there is a notable gap in understanding the intra-cultural adaptation process for individuals from postcolonial areas when relocating to their home country. The primary focus of the current study lies in constructing a predictive model that delineates the psychological adaptation experienced by Macau students studying in Mainland China. In total, two hundred and fifty-five Macau students completed a questionnaire which assessed variables falling into two categories: identity-related variables, such as language proficiency and identity, and intergroup-related variables, including intergroup contact and the quality of contact, and psychological adaptation. The findings from the present study revealed that identity and quality of contact continued to make significant contributions to psychological adaptation in intra-cultural environments as in inter-cultural environments, whereas language proficiency and intergroup contact were unrelated to psychological adaptation in intra-cultural adaptation. The present study extended the adaptation research by transporting hypotheses and findings from inter-cultural adaptation and testing their validity and applicability in postcolonial contexts. The findings also provided practical implications for Chinese education institutions and policy-makers.

“They act like we are going to heaven”: pre-arrival information experiences, information crafting and settlement of immigrants in Canada

PurposeAlthough there is a growing body of work on immigrants' information behavior, little is known about the pre-arrival information experiences of immigrants who consult formal information sources such as immigration agents. Drawn from a larger study on the information behavior of immigrants, this paper mainly reports the semi-structured interview findings on the pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants who used formal information sources with discussion on how that affected their post-arrival settlement into Canada.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a mixed method approach with semi-structured interviews (n = 60) and surveys (n = 205) with participants who arrived in Canada between the years of 1971 and 2017. Data were collected from May 2017 to February 2018.FindingsAlthough the overall scope of the original study is much larger, this paper features findings on the pre-arrival information experiences derived mainly from an analysis of interview data. This study provides insights into the pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants consulting formal information sources such as immigration firms, individual immigration consultants and more formal government agencies. The author introduces a new concept of “information crafting” by exploring the negative consequences of selective information sharing by immigration consultants/agents in newcomers' settlements in Canada, primarily positive information about life in Canada, sometimes with exaggeration and falsification. The interview participants shared story after the story of the settlement challenges they faced after arriving in Canada and how the expectations they built through the information received from immigration consultants and government agencies did not match after arrival. This study emphasizes the importance of providing comprehensive information about life in Canada to potential newcomers so that they can make informed decisions even before they apply.Originality/valueThe findings of this study have theoretical and practical implications for policy and research. This study provides insights into the complicated culturally situated pre-arrival information experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants. Moreover, the study findings encourage researchers in various disciplines, including psychology, migration studies and geography, to delve more deeply into newcomers' information experiences using an informational lens to examine the information newcomers receive from diverse sources and their effects on their post-arrival settlement in a new country. The study challenges the general assumptions that formal information sources are always reputable, useful, and comprehensive, and it provides some future directions for research that seeks to understand the culturally situated information behavior of diverse immigrant groups.

African single mothers and their children in Canada: transnational experiences and sources of support

ABSTRACT African immigrants comprise an increasing proportion of Canada’s immigrant population and face myriad challenges upon arrival. There are few studies that examine the experiences of African single-parents and their struggles as they try to integrate into Canadian society with their children. This qualitative study sought to highlight the experiences of single mothers and their children. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 15 participants comprising eight children and seven mothers. Demographic questionnaires were used to gather background information about each participant. Some of the challenges the mothers experienced included lack of recognition of their foreign educational credentials and work experience, under-employment, financial insecurity, and lack of mental health support networks in Canada. The participants’ sources of support included immigrant settlement agencies, schools, government subsidies, faith communities, and their extended family members outside of Canada. The data demonstrate a need to ensure expeditious assessment, and where warranted, recognition of immigrants’ foreign educational and work experience to facilitate access to their professional careers. There is also a need to establish culturally responsive supports to foster the wellbeing of immigrants.

Mobile Vaccination Teams for Improving Vaccination Coverage in the Kyrgyz Republic: Results of a National Health System-Strengthening Project during the First Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

(1) Background: This implementation study reports on the results of the mobile vaccination teams' (MVTs) activities during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kyrgyzstan, when other vaccination services were disrupted. (2) Methods: Through a national health system-strengthening project under an order of the Ministry of Health, in 2020, the number of MVTs was increased, focusing on internal immigrant settlements around the cities of Bishkek and Osh and geographically remote areas. MVTs provided free vaccination services. (3) Results: MVTs vaccinated a total of 125,289 and 158,047 children in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The higher contribution of MVTs to vaccination coverage was in children under 5 years of age, with the three top vaccines being IPV (8.9%), MMR (7%), and PCV (6.6%). In 2021, 13,000 children who had not received an IPV vaccination and 8692 children who had not received the Pentavalent vaccine (DPT-HBV-Hib) were reached. The number of cases of vaccine-preventable disease reported in official statistics has reduced over time. (4) Conclusions: MVTs increased vaccination coverage in Kyrgyzstan, in particular in remote regions and migrant settlements, where it accounted for a considerable proportion of the vaccinated. This study adds to previous evidence in the literature of the role of MVTs as a strategy to improve immunization in hard-to-reach populations, particularly children.

수산업을 통한 지역사회의 연대활동과 글로벌 수산식품 유통 네트워크

This paper examines the historical background and characteristics of the Guryongpo fishery industry, and analyzes the local community’s solidarity activities through the fishery industry, focusing on the big catch festival hosted by the Guryongpo Fisheries Cooperative and the Guamegi Festival hosted by the Pohang Guryongpo Guryongpo Catfish Business Cooperative. In addition, the global distribution network of Guryongpo’s representative seafood was first examined through newspaper articles, and the Gupaegi distribution network was analyzed through interviews with Gupyongpo overseas exporters to further understand the local situation.
 The Guryong Po Fisheries Industry can be traced back to the Bronze Age with the excavation of fishing nets (net weights) in the Bronze Age remains. After the opening of the port, many Japanese people migrated to the Korean Peninsula, and Guryongpo changed rapidly as the Japanese immigrants formed fishing villages and the settlement of immigrants began. In the residential complex of immigrants, which extended along the main road along the coast, important facilities were equipped, and various facilities such as common workshops, fish markets, fishery transport shops, shipyards, canneries, pioneer shops, fishing gear stores, and warehouses took their place. Guryongpo’s representative fish species were mackerel, herring, and sardines in the early days when the Japanese spoke the language. However, herring has not been caught since the 1950s, and in the middle of the year, Gwamegi was already being made with saury instead of herring. From the early 1960s to the 1980s, saury was caught so much that it was considered a representative fish species of the East Coast. However, fishermen always felt uneasy about human casualties and natural disasters caused by storms during fishing. In response, the Shipowners’ Association held the Guryongpo Big Fishing Festival in hopes of fulfilling the wishes of fishermen who wish for safe fishing and a large catch of fish and for income increase. However, as time passed, the shipowners’association ran into a difficult situation due to the cost of the festival and asked the Fisheries Cooperative, and the Guryongpo Fisheries Cooperative held the festival every four years from 2005. Even though the festival is being held under the sponsorship of the Fisheries Cooperatives, looking at the progress so far, it can be seen that there are various solidarity activities between the citizens as well as between the Fisheries Cooperatives and the citizens. Also, through the Guryongpo Gwamegi Festival, it was confirmed that solidarity activities with the Gwamegi business cooperative, merchants, and citizens were continuously conducted. Lastly, as for the analysis of the distribution network of global seafood, first, the characteristics of newspaper articles and press materials were reviewed, and interviews were conducted with Guppong overseas exporters to better understand the current situation. As a result, the current reality is that overseas exports are experiencing more difficulties than domestic sales in many aspects, such as procedures, tastings and promotion methods overseas, distribution network expansion to various countries, customer management, economic costs, and passive government support. was Therefore, Guryongpo, including Pohang City, should strive to expand the global seafood distribution network so that continuous research and improvement can be made inconsideration of the sustainability of seafood distribution to contribute to the revitalization of the local economy.

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.

Immigrant Settlement and Integration in Canada: Trends in Public Funding

This article is the first study to document trends in state funding for the settlement sector in Canada. It is based on an innovative new dataset that was secured through several years of using freedom of information legislation to collect federal and provincial funding data on settlement and integration programs. This study demonstrates, among other things, that there are significant disparities in funding for settlement and integration services among regions within Canada. Funding for immigrant-serving organizations (ISAs) is also concentrated among a small number of organizations. These trends have potential implications for the access and quality of settlement services available to newcomers based on where they land in Canada.

Rumänische Suffixnamen auf -ean(u) in Deutschland

This study aims to document Romanian surnames in Germany derived with the suffix -ean(u), starting from the telephone database of Deutsche Telekom from 2005. The morphological contrast between the variants that take an article and the ones that do not shows their similar distribution on the map, specifically in southern and western Germany, in the states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hessen and North Rhine-Westphalia, in the areas of important industrial and university centres such as Munich, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Ingolstadt, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Mannheim and Frankfurt. This picture of the spread of Romanian surnames derived with the suffix -ean(u) is similar to that of the surnames ending in -escu, as well as to that of other foreign surnames, such as the Turkish, Italian, Portuguese or Greek ones, which proves the settlement of immigrants in the same highly industrialized areas of Germany. The most frequent surnames ending in -ean(u) in Germany are Muntean(u) (88+80), Ardelean(u) (65+14), Mărginean (23), Ungurean(u) (21+31), C(î|â)mpean(u) (18+11), Oltean(u) (12+22). Historically, the Romanian names derived with the suffix -ean(u) appear in the 15th century (e.g. Coman Făgărășanul 1437–1446), are derived from toponyms and indicate the place of origin of the first named. The onomastic suffix -ean(u), of Slavic origin, is present in all historical Romanian provinces, theform -ean, with no article, being much more frequent in Transylvania.

Afghan immigrants in the world city of Yazd (Iran): Strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities

The present study aimed to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Afghan immigrants for the Iranian community in general and Yazd province in particular. To this end, the methods of qualitative sociological research and SWOT analysis were used, and the research data was collected through in-depth interviews with 21 informants. Working as a substitute for Iranian labor in less popular jobs, functioning as cultural ambassadors of Iran, and integration with the host society were detected to comprise the opportunities of Afghan immigrants. Hardworking spirit of immigrants and increased competition between the local labor force and the Afghan labor force were recognized as the strengths of Afghan immigrants. Weaknesses were found to be inadequate supervision of Afghan migrants, the experience of social discrimination, legal loopholes regarding the organization of Afghan migrants, and lack of a proper job placement system. Finally, threats were found to be the settlement of immigrants in the historical part of Yazd province, the high number of children of Afghans, and the increased possibility of committing crimes.

Constructing workplace subjectivity: exploring workplace learning of immigrant settlement workers in Canada

ABSTRACT This article explores the workplace learning of immigrant settlement workers (ISWs) at immigrant service agencies (ISAs) in Canada. Adopting a combination of governmentality and workplace subjectivity as its theoretical framework and institutional ethnography as its methodology, the study examines three forms of workplace subjectivity. First, constructive subjectivity is formed by incorporating racialized immigrants’ prior professional and linguistic skills into service delivery. However, the initial hiring intention is grounded in institutional governance, which deliberately prepares these workers for the knowledge of outcome measurement evaluation. Second, organisational training naturalises ISWs’ professional subjectivity to fulfil their apparatus role for the institutional regime. Lastly, cultural subjectivity manifests itself in two modes of paradoxes. The promotion of Eurocentric workplace knowledge assimilates ISWs’ behaviour, communication, and bodily comportment to the practices of neoliberal workplace value. Outcome measurement adopts culture-blind criteria, emphasising programme quantification while ignoring ISWs’ cultural identities in service delivery. In light of these findings, we argue that ISWs’ workplace subjectivities are purposefully coordinated by translocal governance ruling power that upholds funders’ requests for outcome measurement. The findings are significant in developing ways of understanding and exploring ISWs’ learning agency in ISA workplaces by capturing and emphasising their voices.