Matching Items (13)
Description
This study was done in collaboration with the Kino Border Initiative. The Kino Border Initiative is a Catholic, bi-national organization run by Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist, Jesuit priests and lay people. The organization is dedicated to providing services to recently deported migrants and migrants-in-transit through their soup kitchen, women's shelter and first aid station in Nogales, Sonora. Based on their experiences in the women's shelter, the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist and researcher sought out to further understand migrant women's experiences of gender-based violence prior to migration. Using data collected by the Sisters, it was decided to use an analysis rooted in testimonio, and, in this way, use the women's words as a foundational basis for understanding the migration of women. The analysis is based on 62 testimonies related to women's histories of violence and their migration experiences, and the information from 74 intake questionnaires that were all analyzed retroactively. The analysis of data and testimonios has led to the realization that violence suffered by migrant women is not limited to the journey itself, and that 71% of women report having suffered some sort of violence either prior to or during migration. Often times, the first experiences of violence originated in their homes when they were children and continue to repeat itself throughout their lifetimes in varied forms. Their stories reveal how the decision to migrate is a consequence to the transnational and structural violence that pushes women to seek out ways to survive and provide for their families.
ContributorsConrad, Marla (Author) / Elenes, C. Alejandra (Thesis advisor) / Simmons, William P. (Committee member) / Téllez, Michelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The &ldquoMormon; Colonies” in Chihuahua, northern Mexico, boast a sizable population of women originally from the United States who have immigrated to these small Mexican towns. This ethnographic study of the immigrant women in the area focuses on questions of citizenship and belonging, and bolsters the scholarship on U.S. American immigrants in Mexico. Using data from 15 unstructured interviews, the women&rsquos; experiences of migration provide a portrait of U.S. American immigrants in a Mexican religious community. Analysis of this data using grounded theory has revealed that these U.S. American women have created a third social space for themselves, to a large degree retaining their original culture, language, and political loyalty. Their stories contribute to the literature on transnational migration, providing an account of the way migrants of privilege interact with their society of settlement.
ContributorsNielsen, Vanessa (Author) / Mean, Lindsey (Thesis advisor) / Téllez, Michelle (Committee member) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The immigration process changes personal narratives and professional trajectories and challenges identities and individual beliefs. Yet there is currently limited research on European women immigrants' transitions in the United States. This study examines personal and professional trajectories, in the United States, of Eastern European immigrant (EEI) women with prior educational attainment in their country of origin. This study examines the following issues: personal/social learning, developmental and professional experiences prior to and post migration, and social lives after the women's arrival in the United States. The study discusses the results of in-depth interviews with eight EEI women living in Arizona and California and recounts these women's life stories, gathered through open-ended questions that focused on areas of their personal and professional lives, such as childhood, marriage, immigration, education, family relations, socio-economic status, employment, child- rearing, and other significant life events. These areas impacted the women's creation of personal beliefs and their ability to develop new identities in the United States. The study examines EEI women's identity constructions within their life trajectory narratives.
ContributorsEllis, Kateryna A (Author) / Arzubiaga, Angela (Thesis advisor) / Nakagawa, Kathryn (Committee member) / Kozleski, Elizabeth B. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Ascribed elements of one's self-identity such as sex, race, and the place of birth are deeply related to one's national identity among Japanese immigrant women. Spouses, offspring, friends, networks in the U.S., or even information about their local area also represent the nation they feel they belong to. The feelings of belonging and comfort are the basis for their achieved sphere of identification with the U.S. This study found that few elderly immigrants would identify only with the host county. Likewise, very few elderly immigrants would identify only with the homeland. Therefore, most of them identify with both countries (transnational), or they identify with neither country (liminal) to an extent. Developing transnational or liminal identity is a result of how Japanese elderly immigrant women have been experiencing mundane events in the host country and how they think the power relations of the sending and receiving countries have changed over the years. Japanese elderly immigrant women with transnational identity expressed their confidence and little anxiety for their aging. Their confidence comes from strong connection with the local community in the host country or/and homeland. Contrarily, those with liminal identity indicated stronger anxiety toward their aging. Their anxiety comes from disassociation from the local community in the U.S. and Japan. With regard to the decisiveness of future plan such as where to live and how to cope with aging, indecisiveness seems to create more options for elderly Japanese immigrant women with the transnational identity, while it exacerbates the anxiety among those who have liminal identity.
ContributorsKawakami, Atsuko (Author) / Tsuda, Takeyuki (Thesis advisor) / John, Johnson (Committee member) / Menjivar, Cecilia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
By drawing from six oral histories of Mexican immigrant women living in Phoenix, Arizona, this thesis builds on the current literature on Mexican immigrant women living in the United States. Through an analysis of U.S. policies that spur Mexican migration to the U.S. and its simultaneous policies that dissuade and criminalize immigrant presence in the U.S., I highlight the increased level of migration through Arizona and the ensuing anti-immigrant politics in the state. By centering women in this context, I demonstrate the obstacle Mexican immigrant women face in the crossing and upon arrival in Phoenix, Arizona. In sharing the stories of Mexican immigrant women who overcome these obstacles, I challenge the portrayal of Mexican immigrant women as victims of violence and use the work of Chicana feminist theorists and oral history methodology to highlight the experiences of Mexican immigrant women adapting to life in the U.S. in order to expand literature of their unique lived experiences and to also contribute the stories of resiliency of Mexican immigrant women in the contentious anti-immigrant city of Phoenix, Arizona.
ContributorsDel Hierro, Mariana (Author) / Téllez, Michelle (Thesis advisor) / Elenes, Alejandra C. (Committee member) / Cuadraz, Gloria H. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This research examines the experiences and perceptions of immigrant and refugee women social entrepreneurs located within a context of economic instability, as well as the strategies that they develop to cope with such crises and volatility. To conduct this research I used a mixed-method, qualitative approach to data collection, including semi-structured, open-ended interviews and a focus group. I used feminist theory and a grounded theory approach to inform the design of my study; as such I acknowledge the participants as knowledge producers and allow for them to add in questions to the interviews and focus group and to comment on drafts of the written portion of the dissertation. The findings have indicated that these women are surviving the economic crisis by combining different income streams, including social entrepreneurship, traditional jobs and state and non-profit-aid. Moreover, the participants have found that besides monetary value, social entrepreneurship also provides alternative benefits such as personal sovereignty in their work environment, work-life balance and well-being. Also, personal history, and family and community embeddedness contribute to women's decisions to pursue social entrepreneurship. This research contributes to the growing body of research on gender and work and fills the gaps in literature currently existing in social entrepreneurship.
ContributorsBauer, Carrie (Author) / Jurik, Nancy (Thesis advisor) / Leong, Karen (Committee member) / Kerlin, Janelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Unmanned aerial vehicles have received increased attention in the last decade due to their versatility, as well as the availability of inexpensive sensors (e.g. GPS, IMU) for their navigation and control. Multirotor vehicles, specifically quadrotors, have formed a fast growing field in robotics, with the range of applications spanning from surveil- lance and reconnaissance to agriculture and large area mapping. Although in most applications single quadrotors are used, there is an increasing interest in architectures controlling multiple quadrotors executing a collaborative task. This thesis introduces a new concept of control involving more than one quadrotors, according to which two quadrotors can be physically coupled in mid-flight. This concept equips the quadro- tors with new capabilities, e.g. increased payload or pursuit and capturing of other quadrotors. A comprehensive simulation of the approach is built to simulate coupled quadrotors. The dynamics and modeling of the coupled system is presented together with a discussion regarding the coupling mechanism, impact modeling and additional considerations that have been investigated. Simulation results are presented for cases of static coupling as well as enemy quadrotor pursuit and capture, together with an analysis of control methodology and gain tuning. Practical implementations are introduced as results show the feasibility of this design.
ContributorsLarsson, Daniel (Author) / Artemiadis, Panagiotis (Thesis advisor) / Marvi, Hamidreza (Committee member) / Berman, Spring (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The thesis I have written aims to investigate the underlying reasons why France has considered Islam as unassimilable and why it has targeted Muslim women’s bodies to force assimilation. In the first section of the thesis, I examine the colonial relationship between France and Algeria. I conclude that Algeria’s independence from France significantly influenced the negative treatment towards immigrants in postcolonial France. I then study the racist discourse that dominated French politics in the 1980s; and clarify how this has laid the foundation for the first attempt to ban the headscarves in public schools during the 1980s. The final section explores the 2004 ban on conspicuous religious symbols, a ban that significantly targeted the headscarf. I conclude that the prohibition of the headscarf undermined the rights of Muslim women and symbolized France’s inability to accept Islam, since France feared Islam’s visibility weakened a dominant French identity.
ContributorsAhmed, Noura (Author) / Keahey, Jennifer (Thesis advisor) / Toth, Stephen (Committee member) / Behl, Natasha (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Scientific evidence strongly indicates that there are significant health benefits of breastfeeding. Lower breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity rates are found in vulnerable populations particularly among women of low socioeconomic status, and racial minorities such as immigrant, racial, and minority cultural groups. Breastfeeding disparities can contribute to negative health outcomes for the mothers, and their infants, and families.
Muslim Arab immigrants are a fast-growing, under-studied, and underserved minority population in the United States. Little is known about breastfeeding practices and challenges facing this vulnerable population. Immigrant Muslim Arab mothers encounter breastfeeding challenges related to religion, language, different cultural beliefs, levels of acculturation, difficulties understanding health care information, and navigating the health care system.
A cross-sectional descriptive study was used to describe infant feeding practices, and identify contributors and barriers to adequate breastfeeding using the social ecological model of health promotion. A convenience sample of 116 immigrant Muslim Arab women with at least one child, 5 years or younger was recruited from a large metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States. The results indicated that immigrant Muslim Arab mothers demonstrate high breastfeeding initiation rates (99.2%), and lengthy breastfeeding duration (M=11.86), but low rates of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months (21.6%). Facilitators to breastfeeding within the sample were high intentions to breastfeed, positive breastfeeding knowledge and beliefs related to the benefits of breastfeeding, religious teachings promoting breastfeeding, and encouragement to breastfeed from the mothers’ social support system. Several barriers to successful breastfeeding were related to lacking the specific knowledge of the benefits of breastfeeding, and discomfort with breastfeeding in public, and in front of strangers. High income and religious teachings encouraging breastfeeding were significantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding at six months. Greater maternal age and comfort with breastfeeding in public were associated with longer breastfeeding durations.
The socio-cultural context for support of breastfeeding is an important consideration by healthcare providers caring for Muslim Arab women. An ecological perspective needs to be applied to interventions targeting breastfeeding promotion to facilitate effectiveness in this population. Culturally tailored intervention to the specific breastfeeding concerns and needs of Muslim immigrant women could promote optimal breastfeeding in this population.
Muslim Arab immigrants are a fast-growing, under-studied, and underserved minority population in the United States. Little is known about breastfeeding practices and challenges facing this vulnerable population. Immigrant Muslim Arab mothers encounter breastfeeding challenges related to religion, language, different cultural beliefs, levels of acculturation, difficulties understanding health care information, and navigating the health care system.
A cross-sectional descriptive study was used to describe infant feeding practices, and identify contributors and barriers to adequate breastfeeding using the social ecological model of health promotion. A convenience sample of 116 immigrant Muslim Arab women with at least one child, 5 years or younger was recruited from a large metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States. The results indicated that immigrant Muslim Arab mothers demonstrate high breastfeeding initiation rates (99.2%), and lengthy breastfeeding duration (M=11.86), but low rates of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months (21.6%). Facilitators to breastfeeding within the sample were high intentions to breastfeed, positive breastfeeding knowledge and beliefs related to the benefits of breastfeeding, religious teachings promoting breastfeeding, and encouragement to breastfeed from the mothers’ social support system. Several barriers to successful breastfeeding were related to lacking the specific knowledge of the benefits of breastfeeding, and discomfort with breastfeeding in public, and in front of strangers. High income and religious teachings encouraging breastfeeding were significantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding at six months. Greater maternal age and comfort with breastfeeding in public were associated with longer breastfeeding durations.
The socio-cultural context for support of breastfeeding is an important consideration by healthcare providers caring for Muslim Arab women. An ecological perspective needs to be applied to interventions targeting breastfeeding promotion to facilitate effectiveness in this population. Culturally tailored intervention to the specific breastfeeding concerns and needs of Muslim immigrant women could promote optimal breastfeeding in this population.
ContributorsKhasawneh, Wafa (Author) / Komnenich, Pauline (Thesis advisor) / Petrov, Megan (Committee member) / Reifsnider, Elizabeth G. (Committee member) / Ahmed, Azza (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
In the past two decades, the population of so-called "foreign brides" in Taiwan has increased significantly. "Foreign brides" are female immigrants from Southeast Asian countries who have married Taiwanese men through marriage brokers. The term "new immigrant women" is used in this study to describe this particular group of women because it is a self-identified, less derogatory term. New immigrant women's families are at significant disadvantages with their low social class, the commodified nature of marriage, and societal discrimination against them. Guided by a feminist epistemology and grounded in family studies and eco-cultural theories, this study explores this particular group of immigrant women's educational beliefs, practices, and agency manifested through their motherhood. The following research questions guide this study: 1) How do new immigrant women experience their motherhood? 2) How do new immigrant women conceptualize and contextualize their mothering experiences? 3) How is agency developed and displayed in new immigrant women's mothering practices? How does agency influence new immigrant women's mothering practices? 4) What are new immigrant women's mothering beliefs and practices? 5) What are the specific practices related to children's schoolwork in which new immigrant women are engaged? 6) What are the implications of new immigrant women's perspectives on motherhood for their education, including adult education and parenting education? Twenty-five immigrant women originally from various Southeast Asian countries who had at least one child participated in the study. They were interviewed at least two times and the interview duration ranged from one hour to four hours. All interviews were audio recorded and conducted in Mandarin Chinese, Holo Taiwanese, and English by the researcher. Constructionist grounded theory was utilized to analyze data. The findings suggest that new immigrant women's educational beliefs, practices, and agency are strongly influenced by interaction between their original cultural background, social class, family-in-law, and the ecology of the community in which they are situated. New immigrant women demonstrated dynamic mothering practices and developed agency from their mother role. The results can help policy makers to refine a framework to develop educational programs for these parents that are effective and more supportive of their children's development.
ContributorsChen, Tzu-Hui (Author) / Moore, Elsie (Thesis advisor) / Fonow, Mary Margaret (Committee member) / Kochenderfer-Ladd, Becky (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010