Shadow Places: Patterns of Spatial Concentration and Incorporation of Irregular Immigrants in the Netherlands

Summary: In Western countries, irregular immigrants constitute a sizeable segment of the population. By combining quantitative and qualitative research methods, this article describes and explains irregular immigrants’ patterns of spatial concentration and incorporation in the Netherlands. So far these spatial patterns have not been described and explained systematically, neither in the Netherlands nor elsewhere. The article shows that illegal residence is selectively embedded in the (urban) social structure in various ways. The authors argue that irregular immigrants are likely to be spatially concentrated and incorporated in similar ways in other Western countries; now and in the foreseeable future

A inclusão dos migrantes internacionais nas políticas do sistema de saúde brasileiro: o caso dos haitianos no Amazonas

Resumo A partir do enfoque etnográfico sobre as redes sociais articuladas em torno da questão do imigrante no Amazonas, o artigo reflete sobre como o Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) respondeu às demandas colocadas por um contingente inesperado de novos usuários, tendo em vista os princípios doutrinários que lhe dão sustentação, especialmente o da equidade. O foco é a onda de imigração haitiana rumo ao Brasil, iniciada em fevereiro de 2010 pelos estados fronteiriços da região Norte: Acre, Rondônia e Amazonas, concentrando-se neste último, descrevendo alguns aspectos do período mais crítico da imigração (entre março de 2010 e março de 2012) e sua recepção pelo SUS

Reconceptualizing informal work practices: Some observations from an ethnic minority community in urban UK

Whilst paid informal work has been conceptualized as a form of paid employment imbued with solely economic motivations, this article critically argues that such a market‐­oriented reading fails to take into account alternative explanations for the existence of informal work practices. Using evidence from 50 interviews conducted within a Pakistani urban community in a northern UK city, this article, uses a mixed‐embeddedness perspective to highlight the importance of predominantly socially and culturally driven motives in the decision to engage in informal work. The findings highlight that participation in informal work, whilst a product of marginalization due to certain institutional and structural factors, is also driven by a range of non‐monetary motives—a result of certain socially embedded work relations between ethnic minority workers and their employers. It is this social embeddedness of the employer–employee relationship in the Pakistani ethnic minority community that explains the continuation of informal work practices in the face of prevailing laws and regulations. The findings add weight to the understanding of informal work as being about more than just economics and constraints, offering these ethnic minority workers opportunities, even status, and giving them agency in an otherwise disempowered situation

does participating in national and ethnic associations promote migrant integration a study with young first and second generation migrants

On arrival to a new country, migrants usually face language barriers, cultural barriers, discrimination, and other sources of unjust contextual conditions that lower their chances of a successful life (Handy and Greenspan, Nonprofit Volunt Sect Q 38:956–982, 2009). This scenario compromises their levels of well-being and supports a tendency toward social fragmentation in places of settlement (Garcia-Ramirez et al., Am J Community Psychol 47(1–2), 86–97, 2011). In response to this situation, migrants' engagement in civic life has been identified as an important element for developing both individual well-being and cohesive communities (Gilster, J Community Psychol 40(7), 769–784, 2012) (Stoll and Wong, Int Migr Rev 41(4), 880–908, 2007). Using a qualitative study, the present work explores the effects of activism on youth of sub-Saharan African origin, of the first and second generations, who are active in national and ethnic associations. The work aims to explore (1) through narratives the meaning that integration has for young migrants; (2) how integrated they feel; and (3) the role of the association, both national and ethnic, in the perception of integration of these young people

Immigrant Faiths: Transforming Religious Life in America

Recent immigrants are creating their own unique religious communities within existing denominations or developing hybrid identities that combine strands of several faiths or traditions. These changes call for new thinking among both scholars of religion and scholars of migration. Immigrant Faiths responds to these changes with fresh thinking from new and established scholars from a wide range of disciplines. Covering groups from across the U.S. and a range of religious traditions, Immigrant Faiths provides a needed overview to this expanding subfield

Acculturation and Substance Use

As a result of the large and increasing flow of international migrants, scholarly interest in acculturation, and its links with positive and negative indicators of psychosocial functioning, has substantially increased over the last few decades. This entry reviews contemporary models of acculturation, the role of acculturation in substance use among adolescents from immigrant families, and methodological and conceptual limitations that have characterized the field of acculturation and health disparities. In doing so, the present entry is intended to stimulate innovative and informative work that further illuminates the relationship between acculturation and substance use

Altitude, Ethnic and Sex Difference in Birth Weight and Length in Bolivia

Birth weight and crown-heel length has been reported by many researchers to be reduced at high altitude. However, many of these studies lacked adequate control of maternal nutritional status which may be confounding the altitude differences. In addition, few studies have examined the sources of variation in birth weight at high altitude that may be related to differential maternal adaptation to the stresses of this hypoxic environment. In this report we test the hypotheses that altitude differences in fetal growth exist independent of maternal nutritional status, and that indigenous Amerindian (Quechua and Aymara) women deliver larger infants at high altitude than non-Indian women who were born and raised and completed a full-term pregnancy in the same altitude environment. Samples of 105 healthy mothers and infants from La Paz, Bolivia (3600m) and 77 from Santa Cruz, Bolivia (400m) are analyzed for altitude and ethnic variation after covariance in maternal stature, mid-arm soft tissue composition, parity and gestational age are controlled. Analysis of variance and covariance indicate significantly smaller infants born at high altitude and born to non-Indian women; also male infants are more affected by high altitude than female infants. It is concluded that ethnic group difference in pregnancy outcome reflects a better state of adaptation to high altitude in this healthy indigenous population, and that long-term genetic selection may be the most plausable explanation for these ethnic differences