Matching Items (24)
Description
In an environment in which public values are often surrendered for market ones, the administration of public housing has increasingly devolved construction, management, and even ownership responsibilities to the private sector to cut costs. There is little known about private management practices at public housing sites and how they shape the lives of its residents - half of whom are growing numbers of seniors and people with disabilities who are aging in place. This multi-site comparative case study involves three public housing sites that serve seniors and people with disabilities: one is privately-managed, one is publicly-managed, and one is privately-managed with public case management through the HOPE VI program. The intent of this comparison is to determine if there is a difference in management response by sector and whether differences pose a challenge to social equity.
Results indicate that there were social equity failures across all three sites with the private sites experiencing the most barriers for residents. The power-knowledge structure and perceptions of the residents shaped the institutions or staffing, services, policies, and amenities that either empowered the residents by helping them build a cohesive community; or it subjugated them by not offering space for community-building. In response, many residents' actions and beliefs were shaped by these institutions; however, in the face of resistance to management practices, they often exercised power through self-governing to achieve the satisfaction they desired. Recognizing that residents can exercise their own power, community resiliency to support aging in place may be achieved by supporting resident needs and drawing upon their expertise, assistance, and influential power to build stronger housing communities - an option with low costs but great gains. But in order to do so, the power-knowledge structure must be influenced to support this goal. This research describes the governance of public housing and the responses and relationships of both management and residents in these newly created public spaces. It then presents a model that can foster change in resident engagement and network building to support aging in place, and advance social and community resiliency, regardless of sector.
Results indicate that there were social equity failures across all three sites with the private sites experiencing the most barriers for residents. The power-knowledge structure and perceptions of the residents shaped the institutions or staffing, services, policies, and amenities that either empowered the residents by helping them build a cohesive community; or it subjugated them by not offering space for community-building. In response, many residents' actions and beliefs were shaped by these institutions; however, in the face of resistance to management practices, they often exercised power through self-governing to achieve the satisfaction they desired. Recognizing that residents can exercise their own power, community resiliency to support aging in place may be achieved by supporting resident needs and drawing upon their expertise, assistance, and influential power to build stronger housing communities - an option with low costs but great gains. But in order to do so, the power-knowledge structure must be influenced to support this goal. This research describes the governance of public housing and the responses and relationships of both management and residents in these newly created public spaces. It then presents a model that can foster change in resident engagement and network building to support aging in place, and advance social and community resiliency, regardless of sector.
ContributorsMcFadden, Erica S (Author) / Lucio, Joanna (Thesis advisor) / Catlaw, Thomas (Committee member) / Klein, Jay (Committee member) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Since the 1990s, the United States has been increasingly hosting large numbers of foreign students in its higher education sector and continues to accommodate these skilled college graduates in its job market. When international students graduate, they can transition from an international student to a skilled migrant. Yet their decision-making process to stay in the receiving country (the United States), to return to sending countries, or to move on to another country, at different stages of such transition period, is not presently understood. This dissertation examines the experiences of these “migrants in transition period” when they face the “to return or to stay” choices under structural and institutional forces from the sending and receiving countries. This research adopts the conceptual framework of human capital, social capital, and cultural capital, to investigate how social capital and cultural capital impact the economic outcomes of migrants’ human capital under different societal contexts, and how migrants in the transition period cope with such situations and develop their stay or return plans accordingly. It further analyzes their decision-making process for return during this transition period. The empirical study of this dissertation investigates contemporary Chinese student migrants and skilled migrants from People’s Republic of China to the United States, as well as Chinese returnees who returned to China after graduation with a US educational degree. Findings reveal the impact of social and cultural capitals in shaping career experiences of skilled Chinese migrants, and also explore their mobility and the decision-makings of such movement of talent.
ContributorsYu, Wan (Author) / Li, Wei (Thesis advisor) / Arreola, Daniel (Committee member) / Menjivar, Cecilia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The purpose of this research was to understand the migration process as experienced by unaccompanied immigrant minors (UIMs). That is, to form a better understanding of why they seek migration, what motivates their migration, what happens to them on their migration journey, and how they adapt to their new communities in the United States. Using qualitative research methods, 60 semi-structured in-depth interviews were collected, along with 12 ethnographic interviews, and participant observations. The immigrants’ narratives were rich with data, and capture the plight that UIMs undertake as they leave their home countries. This study analyzes the dynamic of age in all facets of the migration process, by taking into account that children are participants of the migration process just as much as adults.
The dissertation generated several findings; the first was to provide a profile of an Unaccompanied Minor, and for the sake of the study, only participants from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were interviewed. From those interviewed, we learned that UIMs are a heterogeneous group. They come from diverse backgrounds in terms of household structures; (nuclear family structures, single-parent structures, extended-family structures, and migrant-family structures). Also, education levels varied; (some finished elementary or even secondary school, but for those living in rural areas it was harder to attend school due to the distance and availability of educational facilities). Many also worked in the labor force from an early age. One salient theme that UIMs talked about in relation to their home life was how the increase in violence in many Latin American countries was threatening their safety, especially for UIMs from El Salvador and Honduras. The next major finding was the ability to see the multiple stages UIMs experience, including: initiation/decisions to migrate, journey, arrival/adaptation and what takes place in each of these stages.
The dissertation generated several findings; the first was to provide a profile of an Unaccompanied Minor, and for the sake of the study, only participants from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala were interviewed. From those interviewed, we learned that UIMs are a heterogeneous group. They come from diverse backgrounds in terms of household structures; (nuclear family structures, single-parent structures, extended-family structures, and migrant-family structures). Also, education levels varied; (some finished elementary or even secondary school, but for those living in rural areas it was harder to attend school due to the distance and availability of educational facilities). Many also worked in the labor force from an early age. One salient theme that UIMs talked about in relation to their home life was how the increase in violence in many Latin American countries was threatening their safety, especially for UIMs from El Salvador and Honduras. The next major finding was the ability to see the multiple stages UIMs experience, including: initiation/decisions to migrate, journey, arrival/adaptation and what takes place in each of these stages.
ContributorsChavez, Lilian (Author) / Menjivar, Cecilia (Thesis advisor) / Lopez, Vera (Thesis advisor) / Santos, Carlos (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
In 2001, a refugee group of unaccompanied minors known as the Lost Boys of Sudan began arriving in the United States. Their early years were met with extensive media coverage and scores of well-meaning volunteers in scattered resettlement locations across the country. Their story was told in television news reports, documentary films, and published memoirs. Updates regularly appeared in newsprint media. Scholars have criticized public depictions of refugees as frequently de-politicized, devoid of historical context, and often depicting voiceless masses of humanity rather than individuals with skills and histories (Malkki 1996, Harrell-Bond and Voutira 2007). These representations matter because they are both shaped by and shape what is possible in public discourse and everyday relations. This dissertation research creates an intersection where public representation and everyday practices meet. Through participant observation as a volunteer at a refugee community center in Phoenix, Arizona, this research explores the emotions, social roles and relations that underpin community formation, and investigates the narratives, representations, and performances that local Lost Boys and their publics engage in. I take the assertion that "refugee issues are one privileged site for the study of humanitarian interventions through which 'the international community' constitutes itself " (Malkki 1996: 378) and consider formation of local 'communities of feeling' (Riches and Dawson 1996) in order to offer a critique of humanitarianism as mobilized and enacted around the Lost Boys.
ContributorsAlexander, Melinda (Author) / McHugh, Kevin (Thesis advisor) / Catlaw, Thomas (Committee member) / Lukinbeal, Christopher (Committee member) / Menjivar, Cecilia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014