Matching Items (8)
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- All Subjects: Refugees
- Creators: Klimek, Barbara
- Creators: Larson, Elizabeth
- Status: Published
Description
This research examined the perceptions of refugees towards social entrepreneurship in Arizona through focus group discussions with 77 members of the refugee communities that have been organized under nine groups. Business experience, problem solving experience, conception of social entrepreneurship, examples, opportunities, support, and needs emerged as the themes of the study. Available opportunities as well as barriers for refugee social entrepreneurship based on the views of refugees in Arizona were explained. The difference between commercial entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship was highlighted and some examples of refugee social entrepreneurship described. Qualitative data analysis revealed that refugees in Arizona have entrepreneurial characteristics such as risk taking, hardworking, problem solving, and determination. They also have a good understanding of commercial entrepreneurship but very little understanding of social entrepreneurship. The findings underlined that social entrepreneurship can be used as a helpful strategy for self-sufficiency of refugees residing in Arizona. Given their life trajectories, refugees in Arizona have high potential to be social entrepreneurs with the right exposure and training. If supported adequately and planned appropriately, the refugee social entrepreneurship project can lead to self-sufficiency and faster integration of participating individuals to the mainstream society. The findings may spark interest among practitioners, policy makers, and scholars. It may redefine refugee social work practices as the passion of enterprising empowers refugees and helps them to discover self-confidence and rebrand their image. Policy makers may consider incorporating refugee social entrepreneurship in to the current self-sufficiency plan for refugee resettlement. Future research needs to investigate how refugee social entrepreneurs can be successful and focus on the measurement of their success.
ContributorsMerie, Kassaw (Author) / Androff, David (Thesis advisor) / Klimek, Barbara (Committee member) / Krysik, Judy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The United States resettles more refugees each year than any country, yet little is known about the influence that the Refugee Resettlement Program has on our communities. Program evaluation in the United States is primarily concerned with outcomes and efficiency; while there has been an absence of collecting data to measure the impact that social programs have on communities. This study explores the impact of refugee resettlement on a metropolitan area by surveying professionals with experience working or volunteering with refugee populations. These professionals rate the extent to which they believe refugee resettlement influences social, economic, and environmental variables in the community, and explain the nature of the influence they believe the program has on the community. The data collected from these surveys will introduce the perceived impact of refugee resettlement from the perspective of those with professional experience in the area. By exploring the effects that the Refugee Resettlement Program has on Phoenix, this data can assist in the creation of community assessments for refugee resettlement and comparable social programs.
ContributorsMody, Elizabeth Hatch (Author) / Klimek, Barbara (Thesis advisor) / Morales, Joanne (Committee member) / Brown, Mary-Ellen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Resettled refugees face numerous challenges including unsafe living conditions, loss of permanent shelter, adjustment to a new culture, loneliness, and separation from family, friends, and community. Of particular importance is the lack of a feeling of sense of community (SOC) within their new surroundings. SOC is not only worthwhile as an outcome of its own, but may also predict additional positive outcomes such as resilience and cultural adjustment. Literature has shown participation in sport can develop youth positively and build social skills, while studies in other regions of the world have also found a sport team setting to be a place for immigrants to experience SOC. In this study, I use a congruent mixed methods approach to both explore the experience of SOC for youth refugees in a soccer club, and examine the relation of SOC to resilience and cultural adjustment. Using photo-elicitation and semi-structured interviews with 11 youth participants, the qualitative portion of the study explored SOC among youth participants. Findings note the presence of SOC as matched to theoretical frameworks both specific to sport, and to a more general theory of SOC. Further data were collected through questionnaires distributed to club members. Results from the quantitative analysis indicate a significant positive relation between SOC and resilience, and SOC and perceived acculturation. This study’s contribution is to illustrate how refugee youth in a sport club in the United States experience SOC, and the impact of that SOC. Results suggest practical implications for sport managers who wish to provide positive sport experiences for youth refugees.
ContributorsFader, Nina (Author) / Legg, Eric (Thesis advisor) / Larsen, Dale (Committee member) / Klimek, Barbara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Looking into the school community cohesion and how refugee youth integrate into schools is important when addressing refugee resettlement issues at large. It is important that school community identity (SCI) formation for refugee high school youth is understood in order to develop school programs that can better assist integration process of refugee families. Looking at high school refugee youth from Arizona a model was created that better displays the specifics this study found when dealing with this population. Unlike non-refugee high school youth, refugee youth do not develop school community cohesion through voice, resonance, or empowerment like other studies have shown. This study shows that they must first develop a SCI before they can have a strong school community presence. School community identity is an important first step that facilitates sense of school community. Two focus groups were down at the Somali American United Council, and from these two groups four common themes surfaced: faculty support, emotional security, cultural understanding, and partnership/collaboration. Using these themes a refugee school identity model was created to represent the data collected. The participants in the focus group often told stories and used phrases that indicated a lack of identity in their school, and no claims to a need of a voice within their school community was mentioned. This indicates that refugee students need an identity within their school community before they will express a need for voice or influence.
ContributorsReiswig, Clinton Gene (Author) / Klimek, Barbara (Thesis director) / Zayas, Luis (Committee member) / Sambe, Pape (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Letters and Sciences (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / School of Social Work (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants, and undocumented immigrants have been a prominent part of American culture and have been woven into the history of the United States. Both group's presence in the United States has elicited rhetoric from U.S citizens and U.S public officials. One may infer that the narrative of Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants overlaps the narrative of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Both Muslim refugees and immigrants as well as unauthorized immigrants, are criminalized in the United States, or are associated to crime by default of their faith and or their legal status. The association that Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants, and undocumented immigrants have with crime, based on their rhetoric, has elicited a policy from the United States government as well. The United States government has responded to a presumed threat that both groups pose to U.S. citizens and the nation by means of aggressive legislation, both local and federal. In this research paper, past and present discourse on Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants and undocumented immigrants was analyzed to determine each of the group's narrative; the mainstream media, newspapers and photographic images, was also considered to determine the narrative of both groups. Based on the discourse on Muslim refugees and Muslim immigrants and on undocumented immigrants, the media portrayal of both groups, and on the change of public policy one may assert that the narratives of both groups overlaps; as both Muslim refugees and immigrants and unauthorized immigrants are seen as a possible threat to the American people.
ContributorsGalvan, Brigitte Magdalena (Author) / Doty, Roxanne (Thesis director) / Magaña, Lisa (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
"Phoenix as Refuge: A Photographic Exploration of Refugees Within the City" was a creative thesis project that aimed to bridge the gap between divided communities by creating awareness of refugees within the city of Phoenix. Through an IRB approved research study, multiple refugee families were interviewed and photographed. The project documented refugees and their stories and then made those interviews accessible to the greater Phoenix community. The purpose was to make the Phoenix community more aware of refugees in the hopes that this awareness would increase community activism and advocacy for this resilient yet vulnerable minority group. This paper explains the refugee resettlement process and addresses the social and economic implications of refugee resettlement and advocacy within an urban area. Many inhabitants of Phoenix are unaware the refugees that live in their city because of the geographic divide between social classes and ethnic groups. In highly urbanized communities, the geographic layout of the city leads to a more individualistic and segregated society. This notion leads to a discussion of Robert Putnam's theory of social capital, which argued that by improving and fostering social connections, one could increase social well-being and even make the economy more efficient. This paper then applies Putnam's ideas to the interaction between refugees and non-refugees, using space as a determining factor in measuring the social capital of the Phoenix community. As evident in the study of Phoenix's geographic divide between social and economic classes, Phoenix, like many urban cities, is not designed in a way that fosters social capital. Therefore, advocacy must go beyond people and into advocacy for a different kind of city and place that sets up refugees, and non-refugees alike, to succeed. In this way, rethinking the city through urban planning becomes integral to making new social networks possible, building social capital, and increasing social welfare in urban spaces.
ContributorsRutledge, Chloe Grace (Author) / Sivak, Henry (Thesis director) / Larson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Economics Program in CLAS (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
The purpose of this thesis was to answer the research question of how do states and international agencies, respectively, differ in application of efforts towards implementation of refugee rights, status, and protection and/or resettlement and why these differences occur. The respective refugee crises that arose following the Bosnian war in the 1990s and the Syrian civil war happening in the present day were used as case studies to further examine and answer this question. These case studies were chosen due to their relatively large refugee populations and differing causes for said refugee populations. To properly measure efficacy of refugee policies on a state and international level, the dispute of state sovereignty versus the right to international intervention was focused on and assessed exhaustively throughout this paper. It was determined that sovereignty could only be deemed legitimate and free of international intervention if certain basic functions (keeping the peace, upholding human rights, etc.) were being upheld within a territory's borders. In the cases of both Bosnia and Syria, the lack of protection and rights provided for refugees warranted international intervention, yet that intervention was not always carried out in the most efficient manner. This paper sought to elaborate on why international intervention occurred when it did and whether it was more powerful than state sovereignty. In the end, international agencies would be most effective in implementing refugee policies if individual states complied with those set policies. Until then, the battle between international policies and the proper implementation of those policies by individual states will remain an intricate one.
ContributorsAouad, Dina Ghassan (Author) / Sivak, Henry (Thesis director) / Larson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Through interviews and observations, this thesis provides an overview of refugee resettlement and explores the way one community is providing English language instruction to recently resettled refugees. It also describes the research process of this thesis so other researchers will be aware of the challenges such research contexts provide. In the southwestern state studied here, one of the refugee resettlement agencies holds the contract to provide English Language instruction to refugees. Other agencies provide supplemental English instruction and tutoring. The U.S. federal statute Immigration and Nationality Act, title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations part 400--Refugee Resettlement Program, and the local contract between the state and the agency were examined to understand the laws, regulations, and contracted agreement governing the provision of English language instruction for refugees being resettled in the United States. English language faculty and staff, staff at refugee resettlement agencies, and a state official were interviewed to understand their goals and the challenges they face as they address the language needs of refugees. English language instruction classes were observed to note the consistencies as well as some discrepancies between interviews and what could actually be accomplished in the classroom. As the classes are unable to provide intensive language instruction, most students struggle with becoming proficient in English. A list of recommendations is included regarding ways the local community can better address linguistic needs of refugees. Yet as Fass (1985) argues, it is unknown whether changing refugee resettlement efforts will actually produce different results. Though there are problems, the way the linguistic needs are being addressed in this community is sufficient given the numerous other expectations put on the refugees and the refugee resettlement agencies.
ContributorsKielczewski, Sarah-Anne Laster (Author) / Adams, Karen L (Thesis advisor) / Gelderen, Elly van (Committee member) / Klimek, Barbara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010