New Journal Articles on Refugee Issues (weekly)

• Polish Contemporary Migration: From Co-migrants to Project ME – Isański – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “International migration mirrors contemporary society in all its complexity. What has not changed for centuries is the principal motif: people leave their country of origin hoping for a better life. Poland has a long history of emigration: Poles have been migrating for more than 200 years for political, economic and social reasons. In recent decades, Polish migration patterns have undergone dramatic changes. Using online survey data, this article explores new trends in Polish migration since the country’s accession to the European Union in 2004. The survey was focused on Polish migrants who stayed abroad for some time, those who stayed abroad before the accession, those who returned to Poland or those who experienced multiple travels and have an ongoing migration project.

  We conclude that new trends have emerged among Polish migrants. Contemporary migrants are aware of the benefits related to migration and are capable of implementing their migration project quite skilfully. Their high susceptibility to the economic setting proves their flexibility. Polish migrants highly value their new lifestyle abroad and consider friends their most important source of support.”

  tags: newjournalarticles

• A Needs-centred Educational Support Model for the Career Transitions of North Korean Defectors: Implications for South Korea’s Support Policy – Roh – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “North Korean defectors have faced significant challenges in finding and keeping jobs in the South Korean labour market due to their many differences from South Korean workers. As the number of defectors has increased, South Korea has experienced an increased need for employment support to assist defectors in overcoming challenges in their employment and leading them to stable economic status. This study aims to develop a needs-centred educational support model for defectors’ career transitions, compare the content of suggested support programmes with the content of currently provided support programmes, and suggest relevant policy implications. Based on this study’s findings, the authors argue that defectors’ employment needs differ from those of other groups of job seekers in Korea; thus, this population should be served differently with consistent educational support. Each stage of the developed model provides appropriate support programmes that reflect the unique employment needs of defectors.”

  tags: newjournalarticles

• Migration and Family Happiness in Bolivia: Does Social Disintegration Negate Economic Well-being? – Jones – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “Various authors have begun to address the social impacts of international migration on families left behind. Family disintegration results from two separate factors: family separation and the loss of traditional values. Findings from this research (based on a random survey of over 400 households in three municipios of the central part of the state of Cochabamba, Bolivia, in the autumn of 2007) indicate that economic well-being made possible by migration increases levels of professed family happiness. However, family disintegration resulting from migration decreases family happiness even more, with the net result that migrant households are considerably less happy than non-migrant households. It is suggested that this result can be traced to the dynamic conflict between the traditional, group-focused image of change prior to migration (engendering feelings of togetherness and security) and the modern, ego-focused image of change that is a major social remittance of migration (generating competition and role insecurity).”

  tags: newjournalarticles

• Promoting ‘Healthy Childhoods’ and Keeping Children ‘At Home’: Beninese Anti-Trafficking Policy in Times of Neoliberalism – Howard – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “This article offers the first examination of its kind of the content and nature of anti-trafficking policy as it is pursued in Benin. The article draws on data gathered from policy and project documents and from interviews and participant observation with actors integral to the constitution of policy in (and with influence over) the Beninese anti-trafficking community. It attempts to bridge the oft-lamented gap between page and practice by conducting analysis not only of the representation of policy in text, but also of its lived manifestations in processes, interactions and structures. It argues that the various different actors that comprise Benin’s anti-trafficking pantheon seek to accomplish one fundamental goal – to protect children from trafficking – through two overarching strategies – the promotion of ‘healthy’ childhoods and the pre-emptive prevention of child movement. The article examines each of the main strands of policy and concludes by offering a Foucauldian analysis of their operation. It thus fills a major gap in the academic understanding of anti-trafficking policy in the Beninese context.”

  tags: newjournalarticles

• Day Labourers’ Work Related Injuries: An Assessment of Risks, Choices, and Policies – Meléndez – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “Literature and theory surrounding the informal economy in international contexts suggest that informal work arrangements may entail assuming various levels of risk, and that the higher the level of risk in an employment arrangement, the higher the premium paid to the worker. This study is designed to assess if a wage compensation for risk exists within the United States’ day labour job market – the most visible sector of the United States’ informal economy. Using data from the 2005 National Day Labour Survey we find a statistically significant wage premium indicating that a risk-wage tradeoff within the day labour informal economy exists. Ultimately, we argue that current policy interventions facilitated through day labour centres into the day labour market appear to be effective in mitigating the risks associated with this type of employment.

  Evidence of a risk-wage premium in the day labour market suggests there is an incentive to assume higher levels of risk in work arrangements which presents significant concerns for worker safety.
  Higher levels of work related risks assumed by day labourers, may be minimized if they receive proper safety training through a formal venue such as a worker centre.
  Worker centres only serve 20 per cent of all day labourers in the United States, suggesting a need for the establishment of additional worker centres in other connected or industry based work sites, to help mitigate potential work related risks and injuries in the day labour market.”

  tags: newjournalarticles

• Whither and Whence Hong Kong Migration Studies? – Bailey – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “On 1 July 2012, Hong Kong (HK) celebrated the 15th Anniversary of its change of sovereignty to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). During this period, migration has diversified greatly. Various new visa categories have been created. People from Mainland China and the rest of the world come to HK for work and settlement and HK people have gone to Mainland and overseas to study and work. To appreciate and better plan the growing diversity of migration to, from, and through HK, this article benchmarks the current legal categorizations of migration and calls for the development of a coherent theoretical approach that can better harmonize research and policy. We believe a transdisciplinary view can help generate the range of evidence needed to plan for diversity, and that this is best coordinated through a new HK Migration Observatory.”

  tags: newjournalarticles

• God Bless Our Children? The Role of Generation, Discrimination and Religious Context for Migrants in Europe – Bracht – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “This article deals with individual and contextual effects on the religiosity of first and second generation migrants in Europe. Noticing that little attention has been directed towards intergenerational transmission of religion in processes of integration, we argue for an intergenerational perspective on immigrant religiosity. Social integration theory is used to derive the hypothesis that second generation immigrants are less religious than the first generation. Perceived discrimination is introduced in the immigrant-religion research to account for the stress buffering capacities of religion. On the contextual level we expect a positive effect of native religiosity and religious diversity. Three aspects of religiosity are examined: (1) religious affiliation, (2) inner religiosity and (3) praying. We use four waves (2002–2008) of the European Social Survey (ESS) in a 3-level random intercept multilevel model with 19,567 individuals, 235 regions and 26 countries. Among others, the most interesting results are that (1) second generation immigrants are less religious than their first generation counterparts, (2) perceived discrimination has a positive effect on immigrant religiosity and the effect is greater for the second generation, (3) native religiosity has a positive effect on immigrant religiosity with a greater effect on the second generation as well and (4) the influence on migrant religiosity is more salient at the regional than at the national level.”

  tags: newjournalarticles

• Religious Dimensions of Contexts of Reception: Comparing Two New England Cities – Cadge – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “We compare how religion is present in Portland, Maine and Danbury, Connecticut and how it influences the ways organizations provide social services to recently arrived immigrants. We find that a range of municipal, civic, and religious organizations shape contexts of reception in each city. In Portland, municipal organizations provide most of the services for the large refugee population. Religious organizations are more central in Danbury, and providers speak more often about religion in their work with the city’s economic migrants. Collaboration among organizations is common, although religion sometimes acts as a barrier to collaboration in Portland. We argue that the religious dimensions of cities as contexts of reception are not homogenous and that variation between them is best explained by local factors including history, demographics and organizational ecology.”

  tags: newjournalarticles

• Religion as A Context of Reception: The Case of Haitian Immigrants in Miami, Montreal and Paris – Mooney – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “In this article, I use cross-national comparative and ethnographic methods to explore how religion influences the incorporation of Haitian immigrants into the US, Quebec and France. First, I explore the ideological, legal and institutional forces that shape religion-state differentiation in the US, Quebec and France. Using census and immigration data from each site as well as interviews with Haitian leaders and government officials in Miami, Montreal and Paris, I show that the general pattern of consensual differentiation between religion and state in the US favours the more successful symbolic and socio-economic incorporation of Haitians in Miami, whereas secular nationalism in Quebec and assertive secularism in France weaken the incorporation of Haitian immigrants in Montreal and Paris, respectively.”

  tags: newjournalarticles

• Explaining Urban Migration from Mexico City to the USA: Social Networks and Territorial Attachments – Mendoza – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “Using a representative survey on a municipality in Mexico City, the article explores the relevance of both social networks and place attachments for US migration. By comparing households with and without migrants, the logistic regression models show that social networks make emigration more selective with respect “education”, but less selective regarding “sex” and “marital status”. These results shed new light on the mechanism through which social networks operate in urban settings. Even if a municipality that is very homogeneous in terms of poverty and employment opportunities, variations on the socio-demographic profile of the would-be emigrants to the USA are found depending on the household′s social networks. As for territorial variables, the general impression is one of placelessness, apart from attachment to the municipality, but here again social networks act as an intervening variable.”

  tags: newjournalarticles

• “Infiltrators” or Refugees? An Analysis of Israel’s Policy Towards African Asylum-Seekers – Yaron – 2013 – International Migration – Wiley Online Library

  “This article adopts a genealogical approach in examining Israeli immigration policy by focusing on the situation confronting African asylum seekers who have been forced back into Egypt, detained and deported but who have not had their asylum claims properly assessed. Based on immigration policies formulated at the time of Israeli independence, whose principle objective was to secure a Jewish majority state, we argue that Israel’s treatment of African asylum seekers as ‘infiltrators’/economic migrants stems from an insistence on maintaining immigration as a sovereign issue formally isolated from other policy domains. Such an approach is not only in violation of Israel’s commitment to the Refugee Convention, it directly contributes to policies which are ineffective and unduly harsh.”

  tags: newjournalarticles

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