Reaching an Underserved Wine Customer: Connecting with the African American Wine Consumer

Marketing strategies addressing underserved African American wine customers’ needs that also positively impact producers’ and retailers’ clientele was the impetus for this exploratory, qualitative paper. African Americans demonstrate a thirst to elevate their education about and be more involved in the wine industry as evidenced by the proliferation of African American wine-tasting groups designed to help educate and expose their membership to a variety of wines. Moreover, compared to the average adult, African-American wine drinkers are 241% more likely to have spent $20 or more on a bottle of store bought wine (Arbitron, 2005). Despite African Americans’ representation as one of the fastest growing ethnic minority segments in the U.S., wine industry strategies don't appear to connect with this market segment. Like Alice in Wonderland, we characterize this phenomenon by suggesting this market segment is ‘peering through the looking glass’. Three focus groups were conducted to specify possible targeted media strategies as well as to identify attitudes and opinions that influence this segment's wine purchasing and consumption behaviors. Industry strategies were suggested that would appear to benefit producers, retailers, and this customer segment. The results of the research will be used to inform a quantitative instrument in order to generalize findings beyond the context of the exploratory setting.

Can minority language proficiency pay: a study on the return on English-Spanish fluent bilingualism in South Florida

This thesis studies the economic return for fluent-bilingualism in South Florida among native-born whites using IPUMS (Integrated Public Use Microdata Series) data for Miami-Dade County (1990). Previous mainstream-oriented theories focus on the benefit in English acquisition for immigrants and their descendants, either denying or ignoring the possible benefit of minority language retention in addition to English acquisition. An alternative literature, on the other hand, suggests that minority language retention can be beneficial in at least three areas: 1) enhancing cognitive ability; 2) accessing community-level social capital; and 3) serving as human capital. This study assesses economic returns in employment and earnings, using logistic and OLS (Ordinary Least Square) regression respectively. The results, countering the mainstream-oriented theories, suggest that fluent bilingualism does have economic consequences. Rather than fully supporting the positive effects thesis, the patterns shown are much more complicated, contingent on an individual's ethnic membership and educational level. Theoretical and substantive implications are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.

Religion & ethnic identity among Mexican youths in Homestead, Florida

Immigrant youth are the fastest growing component of the U.S. population and Mexicans are the largest immigrant group in the U.S. The manner in which they integrate into U.S. society and the ways that they become civically engaged, will greatly determine the nature of civil society in the United States over the next few decades. Moreover, religion is increasingly recognized as an important factor in immigrant adaptation. Based upon fieldwork of participant observation and interviews in Homestead, Florida, this thesis examined the relationship among Mexican youths' identity, religion and civic engagement. I found that if these youths are active in religious practices they will be more likely to identify themselves as part of the dominant group, in this case American society. Religious groups are powerful tools that can help these youth reach the greater community.

The Political Economy of Ethnic Empowerment in India

This dissertation consists of three papers, which together examine whether policies meant to address inequality, succeed in mitigating the impact of traditional institutions such as caste and enable ethnic minorities to claim their rights. Using experimental and quasi-experimental methods with data from a variety of primary and secondary sources, this dissertation analyzes whether policies meant to empower vulnerable groups in India have succeeded in doing so. The findings suggest that while legislations in the form of mandated political representation or freedom of information laws are necessary in terms of increasing the accountability of government towards citizens, they may not be sufficient in ensuring adequate and uniform delivery of public services, especially to citizens belonging to marginalized groups. Further, empowering citizens – especially those belonging to groups that have faced historic discrimination – to actively participate in civic and political life may require more active and intensive policy and programmatic interventions.

Understanding Suicidal Behavior Among Latin Adolescent Girls Living in the United States

Suicide in adolescents between the age of 10 and 24 years old is the second cause of death in the United States. This rate differentiates by ethnic and racial groups within the same country; Latino/Hispanic adolescent girls have the highest rate of suicide behavior. Considering that Latino/Hispanic is the fastest growing minority group in the nation, with an expected population of 30% by 2060, this issue should be a public health priority. This paper answers the following question: what are the conditions operating among Latin adolescent girls living in the United States that cause significantly higher suicidal behavior rates in the U.S. and compared with their peers in Latin American countries? And, how adequate are treatments such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and prevention programs in tackling the specific risk factors affecting this population? The paper is divided into five chapters; the first four are based on a comprehensive literature review of statistics of suicide, risk and protective factors, treatment, and prevention programs. The last chapter offers an analysis of the sociological phenomenon of suicidal behavior in this population and three brief narratives of attempters and non-attempters. Studies show that subjective distress, familism and immigration issues are the key risk factors of suicidal behavior in Latina adolescent girls. Understanding the risk factors is key in order to design promotion and prevention programs that are culturally relevant and that can have a positive impact in the reduction of this alarming phenomenon.

Minorities, Measured Cognitive Skills and the Earnings of Canadians (Working Paper 26)

This paper uses the Statistics Canada Survey of Literacy Skills in Daily Use (LSUDA) to investigate minority-“white”(i.e., non-minority) income differences and the role education and English/French literacy and numeracy skills play in those patterns. There are three principal sets of findings. First, among males, some visible minority groups have substantially lower levels of the measured language and number skills than whites and other more economically successful minorities, and in some cases these differences play a significant role in explaining the observed income patterns. The minority-white income gaps are, however, much smaller for women, and the literacy and numeracy variables do not have much of a role to play in explaining those differences. Second, for men, the minority-white income gaps are largely confined to immigrants, and there are no significant differences amongst the native-born once various factors which affect incomes (including education and the literacy and numeracy measures) are taken into account. For women, though, minority-white income differences only emerge for certain Canadian-born groups when they are differentiated from immigrants, for whom different gaps become apparent. Finally, the measured returns to literacy and numeracy differ significantly by ethnic group and sex. Various implications of the findings are discussed.

Expecting Too Much: European Union’s Minority Protection Hide-and-Seek

EU’s deference to the Member State approaches in minority protection can intensify the oppression of
the vulnerable groups, its insistence on non-discrimination on the basis of nationality in the minority regions with special rights in place can equally produce injustice. Its inability to protect EU-wide minorities, like the Roma, is equally problematic. Although a ‘value’, minority protection functions incoherently, if at all. It is time to approach the EU as a highly specific minority protection arena not to be confused with its component parts – the Member States. The reform of the Member State-centred thinking should start at the level of approaching the core issues. It should include the assessment of such questions as what is a minority in the EU’s context of a missing majority, what is the appropriate depth of EU’s intervention in the area of minority protection, i.e. how much room for manœuvre should reasonably be left with the Member States without disrupting the effectiveness of EU’s regulation, as well as the approach to defining what a success in minority protection should be, in the
EU context. The latter should be done, in particular, with due regard to the division of competences between the EU and the Member States in this and other relevant fields. This paper briefly explores a series of diverse casestudies – from migrant EU citizens, Baltic Russians, and sexual minorities to, most importantly, Roma rights to make the first attempt to test the proposed synergetic approach.

Dealing with the Legacy of Ethnic Conflict: Confronting ‘Othering’ through Transformative Adult Education—A Northern Ireland Case Study

Despite its peace process, Northern Ireland remains a deeply divided society. The legacy of a 30-year conflict has ensured that the state continues to be prone to outbreaks of violence over contentious issues such as Orange Order parading and the flying of national flags. This paper argues that in order to address this legacy, there is a need to confront the Othering processes that have helped to generate and sustain division. It will argue that programmes of adult education can play an important role in helping the conflicting groups to reimagine their ‘exclusive’ notions of the nation to one capable of incorporating the Other.

Minority Question in the Nigerian Governmental Process

Given the monumental friction, tension and acrimony occasioned by minority question in Nigeria’s governmental process, the paper is aimed at encapsulating the dynamics of minority question as it affects/impact the governmental process of Nigeria. It argues that minority question in Nigeria, just like other parts of the developed world, including Australia for example, reinforces itself in the culture and pervasive nature of ethnicity, defined in terms of group interest, sectional polarization, self-esteem and identification. Findings revealed that, Ethnicity is therefore considered as the epicenter of minority agitations as each of these groups struggle not in the nation’s interest, but in the interest of identifiable groups and regional hegemony for recognition and control oil resources. The paper concludes that the minority question cannot be divorce from governmental processes, because it has become a part of socio-political fabric of the Nigerian state, hence, the need for a virile federal structure that recognizes and responds positively to the interest of the minor groups is essential. The paper is a survey of literatures from existing works of scholars, generated to enhance the understanding of the subject matter under review; as such the methodology is strictly based on content secondary data.

Standardizing Minzu: A Content Analysis of the Depiction of Shaoshu Minzu in Three Chinese Elementary Curriculum Standards and Textbooks

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Equality versus Fraternity? Rethinking France and its Minorities

The relationship between France and its minorities is complex. Recent events including the 2015 terrorist attacks, the prohibition on wearing religious symbols in public, or the 2005 riots, have been perceived as symbols of great tension in French society when its comes to its minorities.2 Indeed the ten-year anniversary of the riots prompted reporting that nothing had changed in the intervening period in the structures of inequality that caused them,3 while in January 2015, the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared that the country was facing a “territorial, ethnic and social apartheid”.4 This statement from the Prime Minister seems to be at odds with the overall policy of rejecting any targeted policies or laws to protect minorities in France. As a tradition France is against minority rights. French authorities have consistently rejected the use of the term ‘minorities’, and have banned any form of special measures for national, racial, ethnic, religious or linguistic groups.5

Minority-related activities in the United Nations System in 2013

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of a chapter accepted for publication in the European Centre for Minority Issues and The European Academy Bozen/Bolzano (eds), European Yearbook of Minority Issues, Volume 12, 2013 (Brill, 2015). The version of record is available at: http://www.brill.com/publications/european-yearbook-minority-issues In reviewing the activities of relevant UN human rights institutions, bodies and mechanisms this chapter identifies and examines some of the main issues that have emerged regarding minority rights during the year 2013. It notably analyses how the UN has focused particular attention on the situation and the rights of religious minorities, as well as on the elaboration of the post-2015 development agenda. The chapter also reviews activities in other issue areas important for minorities such as language, education, combatting racism, hatred and intolerance, and the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. It highlights developments with regard to specific groups such as Roma, people living with Albinism and Dalits. It also examines some of the urgent situations that have arisen from conflicts which have targeted minorities across the globe.

Disentangling Discrimination: The Impact of Political and Societal Discrimination on Democratic (Dis)Engagement

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Comunicación para la inclusión social de minorías. La Clase Mágica, un modelo de intervención para el cambio social

Las minorías culturales y étnicas son con frecuencia los grupos más desfavorecidos en términos sociales y económicos debido a su falta de representación institucional. El objetivo de este artículo es proponer un modelo de intervención capaz de aumentar el poder de participación de una minoría a través de la comunicación horizontal con otras identidades mayoritarias. Los resultados del estudio de caso del programa socioeducativo La Clase Mágica, para el que se utiliza una metodología eminentemente cuantitativa a partir de cuestionario, demuestran que estos aspectos contribuyen a que los mexicanos de primera y segunda generación en el sur de California desarrollen capacidades clave para el empoderamiento y la inclusión social. Además, el programa impactó en un factor determinante para que una comunidad consiga ganar poder de acción y voz suficiente para influir en las instituciones sociales: los apoyos externos.

Actitudes hacia el mapudungun : Un estudio sociolingüístico entre jóvenes chilenos en la región de LosLagos, Chile.

Our aim in this study is to investigate what attitudes exist among young Chilean peopletowards Mapudungun. Our other objectives are to establish the interest of learningMapudungun and to investigate if any of the informants identify themselves as mapuche. Thisstudy has been conducted among a small sample of informants in the region Los Lagos inChile. The sample consists of 21 informants between the ages 20 to 30.They answered a questionnaire consisting of two parts. In the first part we establish the ethnicidentity of the informants, and their desire to learn the language. Based on this they weredivided into three groups (mapuche, not mapuche and unsure) to investigate if the attitudesdiffer depending on their ethnicity. The second part of the questionnaire consists of the items.The informants have expressed their agreement or disagreement towards 20 positive ornegative items toward Mapudungun.The results of the analysis indicate that the attitudes towards Mapudungun are positive.However, the results show that the attitudes differ between the groups. We found a morepositive attitude in the mapuche group. We have also established an interest in learningMapudungun among the informants, even those that are not mapuche.