»The German likes quarrelling.« Conflict and belonging in German diasporic communities around 1900

Discourses of inclusion and exclusion were an integral part of German nation building after 1871. The paper shows that they were not confined to the metropole but were, in fact, reciprocated abroad. Selected instances of conflict within German migrant communities around the world are taken as a springboard to analyze public contestations of (trans-)national belonging. The sources abound with gossip, aggressive bickering, and official complaints to authorities. Contentious issues cover the areas of politics, religion, class, and language. The case studies engage critically with a number of wider issues. First, they question contemporaneous interpretations of an Imperial diaspora as a unified and Heimat-oriented block. Second, on a theoretical level the article argues that internal ruptures are constitutive elements of diaspora construction and should be considered in concomitant theorizations. Third, the case studies highlight the close connection between diaspora and nation building. Fourth, the discourses studied did not only take place within communities, but also between them, as well as with the metropole, all in multi-directional ways. Questions of belonging were discussed around the world with strikingly similar arguments and terminology. Globalization was at work at the discourse level.

We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for: Pan-African Consciousness Raising and Organizing in the United States and Venezuela

We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for: Pan-African Consciousness Raising and Organizing in the United States and Venezuela, draws on fifteen months of field research accompanying organizers, participating in protests, planning/strategy meetings, state-run programs, academic conferences and everyday life in these two countries. Through comparative examination of the processes by which African Diaspora youth become radically politicized, this work deconstructs tendencies to deify political s/heroes of eras past by historicizing their ascent to political acclaim and centering the narratives of present youth leading movements for Black/African liberation across the Diaspora. I employ Manuel Callahan’s description of “encuentros”, “the disruption of despotic democracy and related white middle-class hegemony through the reconstruction of the collective subject”; “dialogue, insurgent learning, and convivial research that allows for a collective analysis and vision to emerge while affirming local struggles” to theorize the moments of encounter, specifically, the moments (in which) Black/African youth find themselves becoming politically radicalized and by what. I examine the ways in which Black/African youth organizing differs when responding to their perpetual victimization by neoliberal, genocidal state-politics in the US, and a Venezuelan state that has charged itself with the responsibility of radically improving the quality of life of all its citizens. Through comparative analysis, I suggest the vertical structures of “representative democracy” dominating the U.S. political climate remain unyielding to critical analyses of social stratification based on race, gender, and class as articulated by Black youth. Conversely, I contend that present Venezuelan attempts to construct and fortify more horizontal structures of “popular democracy” under what Hugo Chavez termed 21st Century Socialism, have resulted in social fissures, allowing for a more dynamic and hopeful negation between Afro-Venezuelan youth and the state.

Pitit se rìches malere [Children are the wealth of the poor]: The Influence of Gender and Power on Choice and Uptake of Long Acting Contraceptives

Background: Haiti has the highest maternal mortality rate in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Despite the fact that Haiti has received twice as much family planning assistance as any other country in the western hemisphere, the unmet need for contraception remains particularly high. Our hypothesis is that unsuccessful efforts of family planning programs may be related to a misconstrued understanding of the complex role of gender in relationships and community in Haiti. This manuscript is one of four parts of a study that intends to examine some of these issues with a particular focus on the influence of uptake and adherence to long acting contraceptive (LAC) methods.

Methods: We conducted a three-month community-based qualitative assessment through 20 in-depth interviews in Fondwa, Haiti. Participants were divided into 4 groups of five: female users, female non-users, men and key community stakeholders.

Results: Based on the qualitative interviews, we found that main barriers included lack of access to family planning education and services and concerns regarding side effects and health risks, especially related to menstrual disruption and fears of infertility. Women have a constant pressure to remain fertile and bear children, due not only to social but also economic needs. As relationships are conceived as means for economic provision, the likelihood of uptake of irreversible methods (vasectomy and tubal ligation) was restricted by loss of fertility. Consequently, the discourse of family planning, though self-recognized in their favor, assumes women can afford not to bear children. This assumption should be questioned given the complexities of the other social determinants at play, all which affect the reproductive decisions made by Haitians.

Conclusions: Overall, our study indicated awareness surrounding contraception in the Haitian Fondwa community. Combining the substantial impact of birth spacing with the elevated yet unmet need for contraceptives in the area, it is necessary to address the intricacies of gender issues in order to implement successful programing. In Haiti not being able to bear a child poses a threat to economic and social survival, possibly explaining a dimension of the low uptake of LACs in the region, even when made available. For this reason, we believe IUDs (Intrauterine Devices) provide a suitable alternative, allowing the couple to comprehend all of the factors involved in decision making, thus decreasing the imbalances of power and knowledge prior to considering an irreversible alternative.

The multiple voices of indenture history : the South Asian diasporic novel in English

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ Coactivator 1-α (PPARGC1A) Genetic Associations with Type 2 Diabetes in Three Ethnicities

Genetic heterogeneity, lifestyle factors, gene-gene or gene-environment interactions are the determinants of T2D which puts Hispanics and populations with African ancestry at higher risk of developing T2D. In this dissertation, the genetic associations of PPARGC1A polymorphisms with T2D and its related phenotypes (metabolic markers) in Haitian Americans (cases=110, controls=116), African Americans (cases=120, controls=124) and Cuban Americans (cases=160, controls=181) of South Florida were explored. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms of gene PPARGC1A were evaluated in each ethnicity for their disease association. In Haitian Americans, rs7656250 (OR= 0.22, pp=0.03) had significant protective association with T2D but had risk association in African Americans for rs7656250 (OR=1.02, p=0.96) and rs4235308 (OR=2.53, p=0.03). We found that in Haitian American females, both rs7656250 (OR=0.23, pp=0.03) had protective association with T2D. In African American females, rs7656250 (OR=1.14, p=0.78) had risk association whereas in males, it had significant protective effect (OR=0.37, p=0.04). However, the risk association exhibited by rs4235308 was stronger in African American females (OR=2.69, p=0.03) than males (OR=1.16, p=0.72). In Cuban Americans, only rs7656250 showed significant risk association with T2D (OR=6.87, p=0.02) which was stronger in females alone (OR=7.67, p=0.01). We also observed significant differences among correlations of PPARGC1A SNPs and T2D phenotypes. Positive correlation was observed for log Hs-CRP with rs3774907 (pp=0.03) in Cuban Americans respectively. Correlation of log A1C with rs7656250 (p=0.02) was positive in Cuban Americans while it was negative for rs3774907 in Haitian Americans (ppPPARGC1A correlations with T2D and its phenotypes among the three ethnicities studied (ii) the associations of PPARGC1A SNPs showed significant effect modification by sex. The findings suggest that variations in effects of PPARGC1A gene polymorphisms among three ethnicities and between sexes may have biomedical implications for the development of T2D as well as the phenotypes related to T2D.

The relationship among serum levels of manganese superoxide dismutase and mtDNA 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine, and dietary antioxidants intake in Type 2 Diabetes

Oxidative stress plays a key role in the development of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). This cross-sectional study examined the relationship among serum levels of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (8OHdG), dietary antioxidant intakes and glycemic control in African Americans (n=209) and Haitian Americans (n=234) with and without T2D. African Americans had higher BMI (32.8 vs. 29.3 kg/m2), higher energy intake (2148 vs. 1770 kcal), and were more educated as compared to Haitian Americans; all variables were significant at p < .001. Serum levels of 8OHdG and MnSOD for African Americans (1691.0 ± 225.1 pg/ml, 2538.0 ± 1091.8 pg/ml; respectively) were significantly higher than for Haitian Americans (1626.2 ± 222.9, 2015.8 ± 656.3 pg/ml; respectively). 8OHdG was negatively correlated with MnSOD (r = -.167, p < .001) in T2D. Having T2D was negatively correlated with MnSOD (r = -.337; p < .01) and positively correlated with 8OHdG (r = .500; p < .01). African Americans and Haitian Americans with T2D had fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels of 143.0 ± 61.0 mg/dl and 157.6 ± 65.5 mg/dl, and A1C of 7.5 ± 1.8 % and 8.4 ± 2.4 %, respectively. African Americans and Haitian Americans without T2D had FPG levels of 95.8 ± 13.2 mg/dl and 98.7 ± 16.9 mg/dl, and A1C of 5.9 ± 0.4% and 6.0 ± 0.5%, respectively. Dietary intakes of vitamin C and vitamin D were negatively correlated with FPG (r = -.21; r = -.19, p < .05) respectively. Carotenoids negatively correlated with A1C (r = -.19, p < .05). Lower levels of MnSOD were associated with lower levels of zinc, r = .10, p < .05, and higher levels of carotenoids r = -.10, p < .05. Higher levels of 8OHdG were associated with lower levels of Vitamin D, r = -.14, p < .01, and carotenoids, r = -.09, p < .05. The results demonstrate greater oxidative mtDNA damage in persons with T2D compared to those without T2D and in African Americans compared with Haitian Americans. The inverse relationship between dietary intake of antioxidants and oxidative stress implies a potential to reduce oxidative stress with diet. African Americans were significantly younger (53.3 vs. 55.6 years), had higher BMI (32.8 vs. 29.3 kg/m2), higher energy intake (2148 vs. 1770 kcal), and were more educated as compared to Haitian Americans; all variables were significant at p < .001. Serum levels of 8OHdG and MnSOD for African Americans (1691.0 ± 225.1 pg/ml, 2538.0 ± 1091.8 pg/ml; respectively) were significantly higher than for Haitian Americans (1626.2 ± 222.9, 2015.8 ± 656.3 pg/ml; respectively). 8OHdG was negatively correlated with MnSOD (r = -.167, p < .001) in T2D. Having T2D was negatively correlated with MnSOD (r = -.337; p < .01) and positively correlated with 8OHdG (r = .500; p < .01). African Americans and Haitian Americans with T2D had fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels of 143.0 ± 61.0 mg/dl and 157.6 ± 65.5 mg/dl, and A1C of 7.5 ± 1.8 % and 8.4 ± 2.4 %, respectively. African Americans and Haitian Americans without T2D had FPG levels of 95.8 ± 13.2 mg/dl and 98.7 ± 16.9 mg/dl, and A1C of 5.9 ± 0.4% and 6.0 ± 0.5%, respectively. Dietary intakes of vitamin C and vitamin D were negatively correlated with FPG (r = -.21; r = -.19, p < .05) respectively. Carotenoids negatively correlated with A1C (r = -.19, p < .05). Lower levels of MnSOD were associated with lower levels of zinc, r = .10, p < .05, and higher levels of carotenoids r = -.10, p < .05. Higher levels of 8OHdG were associated with lower levels of Vitamin D, r = -.14, p < .01, and carotenoids, r = -.09, p < .05. The results demonstrate greater oxidative mtDNA damage in persons with T2D compared to those without T2D and in African Americans compared with Haitian Americans. The inverse relationship between dietary intake of antioxidants and oxidative stress implies a potential to reduce oxidative stress with diet.

What are the effects of the 6 +1 Writing Traits on the Attitudes and Writing Skills of Fifth Grade ELLs?

In the Bahamas, ELLs consist mainly of Haitian descent students. Unfortunately, this demographic of students continuously score below their Bahamian counterparts in Creative Writing. This research examined the affects the 6 + 1 Writing Traits assessment had on the attitudes and writing abilities of fifteen, fifth grade, Haitian descent students.

Dionne Brand, Austin Clarke, and Tessa McWatt: Blackening Canada

This project analyzes contemporary black diasporic writing in Canada, arguing that Dionne Brand, Austin Clarke and Tessa McWatt evince a unique form of double-consciousness in their writings. Their work transforms African-American double-consciousness by locating it simultaneously within both the black diaspora and the practice of Canadian multiculturalism. The objective of this project is to offer a critical framework for situating these writers within the legacy of both Black Atlantic and Canadian cultural production. These writers do not aim to resolve their double-consciousness but rather dwell within that contradictory doubleness and hyphenation, forcing nation and diaspora to contend with one another in a discomfiting and unsettling dialogue. These authors employ the absences of the black diaspora to imagine new forms of black cultural production, multicultural citizenship and national identity. Their works produce a grammar of diasporic double-consciousness that locates the absented origins of diaspora within Canada. Brand’s depiction of temporality and Clarke’s tracing of movement explore the continuities between nation and diaspora while re-membering neglected aspects of the history of black Canada, such as the life and death of Albert Johnson. McWatt extends this blackening of nation by depicting coalitions between diasporic, indigenous, raced and sexed subjects. These authors transform hegemonic Canadian narratives of nation by dwelling in the hyphen, while their evocation of memory, absence, trauma, and desire gives blackness new meaning and legitimacy.

‘EXISTENCE AS RESISTANCE’: UNDERSTANDINGS OF IDENTITY, PLACE & BELONGING FOR YOUNG PALESTINIANS

In this thesis, I offer an exploration of what it means to be Palestinian, and constructions of identity, belonging and community, through drawing on the experiences of younger generations of Palestinians who have not lived in Palestine. This project seeks to investigate how understanding of our own individual, familial and community’s history plays in shaping our own understandings of identity, place, belonging and indigeneity, as a younger generation of Palestinians now living and studying in the diaspora. In particular, this project examined how the process of remembering and sharing memories in community act as a form of resistance to 68 years of settler colonial violence and erasure of Palestinian land and peoples, asking what our responsibilities this therefore entails from each and every one of us.

Transplanting diglossia: attitudes towards Standard and Cypriot Greek among London’s Greek Cypriot community

The linguistic situation in Greek-speaking Cyprus has been traditionally described as a textbook case of diglossia à la Ferguson (1959) with Standard Modern Greek (SModGr) being labelled as the High variety and Cypriot Greek (CypGr), the regional ModGr variety of Cyprus, being labelled the Low variety (Arvaniti, 2011; Moschonas, 1996). More recently, however, it has been proposed that the linguistic repertoire available to speakers features an array of forms of CypGr, which is best described as a continuum ranging from basilectal to acrolectal varieties (Katsoyannou et al., 2006; Tsiplakou et al., 2006). The basilectal end encompasses low prestige varieties predominantly spoken in rural areas. The acrolectal end is occupied by the version of SModGr used in the public domain in Cyprus (Arvaniti, 2006/2010). SModGr is known to carry high prestige in Cyprus. Speakers of CypGr describe speakers of the standard as more attractive, more intelligent, more interesting and more educated than speakers of the Cypriot dialect (Papapavlou, 1998). In this paper, I explore the relation between SModGr and CypGr in a diasporic setting, namely, the Greek Cypriot community of London. The United Kingdom is home to a sizeable Greek Cypriot community, whose population is presently estimated to fall between 200,000 and 300,000 individuals (Christodoulou-Pipis, 1991; National Federation of Cypriots in the UK). Similarly to the Cyprus homeland, the members of the Greek Cypriot parikia (‘community’) share a rich linguistic repertoire, which, in addition to varieties of Greek, crucially includes English. As is often the case with diasporas, the parikia does not form a homogeneous speech community in that not all of its members have an equally good command of Greek or even English. Rather, different types of monolingual and bilingual speakers are found including a large number of heritage speakers in the sense of Benmamoun et al. (2013), Montrul (2008, 2015) and Polinsky & Kagan (2007). Twenty British-born heritage speakers of CypGr were interviewed on their attitudes towards the different varieties of Greek. Results indicate that the prestige relation between SModGr and CypGr that holds in Cyprus has been transplanted to the parikia. SModGr is widely perceived as the prestigious variety and is described in positive terms (‘correct’, ‘proper’). The use of CypGr, on the other hand, enjoys covert prestige: it is perceived as an index of solidarity and in-group membership but at the same time is also viewed by heritage speakers as reminiscent of the hardship and lack of education of the generation that brought CypGr to the UK. In certain cases, the use of CypGr by heritage speakers is actively discouraged by the first generation not only in the public domain but also in private domains such as the home. Active discouragement targets both lexical and grammatical variants that are traditionally associated with basilectal varieties of CypGr, and heritage language features, especially the adoption of morphologically adapted loanwords from English. References Arvaniti, Amalia. 2006/2010. Linguistic practices in Cyprus and the emergence of Cypriot Standard Greek. Mediterranean Language Review 17, 15–45. Benmamoun, Elabbas, Silvina Montrul & Maria Polinsky. 2013. Heritage languages and their speakers: opportunities and challenges for linguists. Theoretical Linguistics 39(3/4), 129–181. Christodoulou-Pipis, Irina. 1991. Greek Outside Greece: Language Use by Greek-Cypriots in Britain. Nicosia: Diaspora Books. Ferguson, Charles A. 1959. Diglossia. Word 15(2), 325–340. Katsoyannou, Marianna, Andreas Papapavlou, Pavlos Pavlou & Stavroula Tsiplakou. 2006. Didialektikes koinotites kai glossiko syneches: i periptosi tis kypriakis [Bidialectal communities and linguistic continuum: the case of Cypriot Greek]. In Mark Janse, Brian D. Joseph & Angela Ralli (eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory, Mytilene, Greece, 30 September – 3 October 2004, 156–171. Patras: University of Patras. Montrul, Silvina A. 2008. Incomplete Acquisition in Bilingualism: Re-examining the Age Factor. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Montrul, Silvina. 2015. The Acquisition of Heritage Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Moschonas, Spiros. 1996. I glossiki dimorfia stin Kypro [Diglossia in Cyprus]. In “Ischyres” – “Astheneis” Glosses stin Evropaiki Enosi: Opseis tou glossikou igemonismou [“Strong” – “Weak” Languages in the European Union: Aspects of Linguistic Imperialism], 121–128. Thessaloniki: Kentro Ellinikis Glossas. Polinsky, Maria & Olga Kagan. 2007. Heritage languages: in the ‘wild’ and in the classroom. Languages and Linguistics Compass 1(5), 368–395. Tsiplakou, Stavroula, Andreas Papapavlou, Pavlos Pavlou & Marianna Katsoyannou. 2006. Levelling, koineization and their implications for bidialectism. In Frans L. Hinskens (Eds.), Language Variation – European Perspectives: Selected Papers from the Third International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 3), Amsterdam, June 2005, 265–279. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Return Migration in the Ecuadorian and Bolivian population: motivations, strategies and discourses

This article analyses the motivations for return migration among the Ecuadorians and Bolivians who, after living in Spain, returned to their countries of origin during the economic crisis that started in 2008. From the analysis of 22 interviews in-depth which took place in Ecuador and 38 in Bolivia to women, men and young people from migrant families, this decision-making process is shown to be embedded into a gendered dynamics of relationships. Particular detail is given to affective and economic elements that had an influence on the decision to return, as well as to the strategies deployed to project their readjustment back in origin. Males and females occupy differential positions within the family, work and social circle, their expectations being built in a gendered manner. Despite the fact migration has brought women greater economic power within the family group, their reintegration upon return redefines their role as main managers in the household and the dynamics that allow their social reproduction. Men, for their part, aspire to refresh their role as providers in spite of their frail labour position upon return. Social mobility for females is passed on through generations by a strong investment on education for their daughters and sons, while for males this mobility revolves around setting up family businesses and around their demonstrative abilities.

Ecuadorian migration and family strategies of social mobility: dialectic relation between emotional and financial capital

This text deals with transnational strategies of social mobility in Ecuadorian migrant households in Spain. We apply the capital accumulation model (Moser, 2009) for this purpose. The main target of this article is, beyond thinking in terms of capital stock and accumulation, the analysis in depth of the dynamics of the different types of capital, that is to say, how they interact with each other in the framework of the social mobility strategies of the migrants and their families. We are bringing into light the way some households adopt investing decisions in capitals that don't translate into any addition or earnings in all cases, on the contrary, concentrating all their efforts on the accumulation of a certain asset they may, in some cases, lead to a loss of another. We will concentrate our analysis primarily on the dynamics between the physical and financial capital and the social and emotional capital, showing the tensions produced between these two types of assets. At the same time, we will highlight how migrants negotiate their family strategies of social mobility in the transnational area. Our study is based in empirical material obtained from qualitative fieldwork (in-depth interviews) with families of migrants in the urban district of Turubamba Bajo -(south of Quito) and in Madrid. A series of households were selected where interviews were carried out in the country of origin as well as in the context of immigration, with different family members, analysing the transnational social and economic strategies of families of migrant members. Family members of migrants established in Spain were interviewed in Quito, as well as key informants in the district (school teachers, nursery members of the staff, etc.). The research was framed within the projects "Impact of migration on the development: gender and transnationalism", Ministry of Science and Innovation (SEJ2007/63179) (Laura Oso, dir. 2007-2010),"Gender, transnationalism and intergenerational strategies of social mobility", Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FEM2011/26210) (Laura Oso, dir. 201-1-2015) and “Gender, Crossed Mobilities and Transnational Dynamics”, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FEM2015-67164).

Late-career international migration and reproductive work. A comparison between Peruvian and Ukrainian women in the Southern Europe

Research on the relationship between reproductive work and women´s life trajectories including the experience of labour migration has mainly focused on the case of relatively young mothers who leave behind, or later re-join, their children. While it is true that most women migrate at a younger age, there are a significant number of cases of men and women who move abroad for labour purposes at a more advanced stage, undertaking a late-career migration. This is still an under-estimated and under-researched sub-field that uncovers a varied range of issues, including the global organization of reproductive work and the employment of migrant women as domestic workers late in their lives. By pooling the findings of two qualitative studies, this article focuses on Peruvian and Ukrainian women who seek employment in Spain and Italy when they are well into their forties, or older. A commonality the two groups of women share is that, independently of their level of education and professional experience, more often than not they end up as domestic and care workers. The article initially discusses the reasons for late-career female migration, taking into consideration the structural and personal determinants that have affected Peruvian and Ukrainian women’s careers in their countries of origin and settlement. After this, the focus is set on the characteristics of domestic employment at later life, on the impact on their current lives, including the transnational family organization, and on future labour and retirement prospects. Apart from an evaluation of objective working and living conditions, we discuss women’s personal impressions of being domestic workers in the context of their occupational experiences and family commitments. In this regard, women report varying levels of personal and professional satisfaction, as well as different patterns of continuity-discontinuity in their work and family lives, and of optimism towards the future. Divergences could be, to some extent, explained by the effect of migrants´ transnational social practices and policies of states.

Understandings of transnational families in debates on Migration and development

International migration sets in motion a range of significant transnational processes that connect countries and people. How migration interacts with development and how policies might promote and enhance such interactions have, since the turn of the millennium, gained attention on the international agenda. The recognition that transnational practices connect migrants and their families across sending and receiving societies forms part of this debate. The ways in which policy debate employs and understands transnational family ties nevertheless remain underexplored. This article sets out to discern the understandings of the family in two (often intermingled) debates concerned with transnational interactions: The largely state and policydriven discourse on the potential benefits of migration on economic development, and the largely academic transnational family literature focusing on issues of care and the micro-politics of gender and generation. Emphasizing the relation between diverse migration-development dynamics and specific family positions, we ask whether an analytical point of departure in respective transnational motherhood, fatherhood or childhood is linked to emphasizing certain outcomes. We conclude by sketching important strands of inclusions and exclusions of family matters in policy discourse and suggest ways to better integrate a transnational family perspective in global migration-development policy.

Perspectives on gender, migration and transnational work: joint work of social reproduction and care in Southern Europe

This paper presents the "state of the art" and some of the main issues discussed in relation to the topic of transnational migration and reproductive work in southern Europe. We start doing a genealogy of the complex theoretical development leading to the consolidation of the research program, linking consideration of gender with transnational migration and transformation of work and ways of survival, thus making the production aspects as reproductive, in a context of globalization. The analysis of the process of multiscale reconfiguration of social reproduction and care, with particular attention to its present global dimension is presented, pointing to the turning point of this line of research that would have taken place with the beginning of this century, with the rise notions such as "global care chains" (Hochschild, 2001), or "care drain" (Ehrenreich and Hochschild, 2013). Also, the role of this new agency, now composed in many cases women who migrate to other countries or continents, precisely to address these reproductive activities, is recognized. Finally, reference is made to some of the new conceptual and theoretical developments in this area.