Disability and migration in urban Australia: The case of Liverpool

This article presents and analyses population data on the Liverpool area of Greater Western Sydney, identifying trends with significant policy implications. Liverpool city is home to one of the highest concentrations of Australia's recent arrivals, many of whom have refugee backgrounds. From those who arrived under Australia's post-Second World War resettlement programme to new arrivals, it is also home to a rich diversity of sociocultural and linguistic communities at different stages of settlement. Demographic data show significant relationships between age, country of origin, year of arrival and need for assistance variables, many of which are either qualitatively distinct or quantitatively different from other regions in Sydney, New South Wales and Australia. Building on this analysis, the article further identifies significant policy issues in relation to disability, care and support. While Western Sydney has figured prominently in national and state public-policy directives, particularly in relation to economic growth, public infrastructure and transport mobility corridors, the analysis presented here illustrates that national policy directives for socioeconomic imperatives, such as the appropriate uptake of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, are critical to facilitate social sustainability, cohesion and equity within the region.     

Labour market participation among young refugees in Sweden and the potential of education: a national cohort study

This register-based study examined the importance of education on labour market participation among young refugees in Sweden. The study population consisted of unaccompanied (n?=?1606) and accompanied refuges (n?=?4142), aged 23–26 years in 2006–2010, after 7 years of residence in Sweden. Native Swedish, aged 24 years (n?=?347,255) constituted the comparison population, with intercountry adoptees (n?=?6689) as an alternative reference group. Gender-stratified multinomial regression models indicated that unaccompanied and accompanied male and female young refugees had higher risks of being in insecure work force and NEET compared to native Swedes with comparable levels of education. However, young refugees and intercountry adoptees with primary education had similar risks of poor labour market outcomes. The educational differences within each group concerning the risk of being in insecure work force were comparable. With the exception of unaccompanied females, secondary education seemed to be less protective against being in NEET among young refugees compared to native Swedes and intercountry adoptees. We conclude that while young refugees face employment disadvantages, education has the potential of mitigating poor labour market outcomes in this group.     

Local identity and the reception of refugees: the example of Riace

ABSTRACT

A strong local community identity often goes together with the rejection of refugees and other migrants. However, there is also the possibility that such a local identity actually stimulates the reception of refugees. Based on the social identity perspective and our ethnographic fieldwork we examine this possibility in the context of the small town of Riace in Southern Italy. The analysis demonstrates that there is a local identity of hospitality that is construed as a continuation of the town’s past. This identity of local hospitality is enacted and maintained in various ways in the life of the town in which the mayor as an entrepreneur of the local identity plays a critical role. However, there are also some challenges to the future of the local identity of hospitality that relates to available financial resources and competition over local opportunities.     

Reviving agency: taking time and making space for rethinking diversity and inclusion

The path of social inclusion has proven difficult for minority groups in the European context. In this article, we focus on the inclusion of refugees, particularly in the labor market, and show how the difficulties they faced were related to dominant discourses on migration. Uncovering the hegemonic assumptions within these discourses is crucial in order to enable a rethinking of diversity issues and inclusion. We addressed this through an intervention research, which was part of an empowerment project for refugees. The research included and connected refugees engaged in searching for work to Dutch professionals engaged with diversity issues. Through social intervention, this research aimed to create empowerment through critical reflection on the ways that the power of dominant discourses works in the practice of everyday life. By contrasting the discursive positioning of participants with different backgrounds, the research created alternative spaces for reflection. This, in turn, led to the production of alternative narratives and allowed participants to claim agency in the face of the dominant discourses.     

世界人口移民新态势

20世纪中叶以来 ,世界人口移民逐渐发生变化。发展中国家移民人数明显增加 ,其中越境难民和非法入境者占主流 ,知识型移民逐年提高。而经济发达国家的澳大利亚和德国人口外迁移民也令人关注。典型的移民国家以色列仍在吸引世界各地的犹太人回到自己的祖国     

Conceptualizing discourses on environmental refugees at the United Nations

This paper conceptualizes the absence of multilateral protection for environmental refugees. It does this by critically scrutinizing interviews conducted with United Nations ambassadors and senior diplomats in 2004 (n = 45) in a number of key policy-making locations. These interviews reveal that an absence of policy on environmental refugees has been reproduced by discursive politics at the United Nations. The reasons for which are explored here in this paper, and include shifting attitudes towards the role of multilateralism and environmental issues generally.     

初探抗战时期陕甘宁边区移难民的源流

本文主要对抗战时期陕甘宁边区移难民的源流问题进行探讨,分析陕甘宁边区移难民产生的原因。边区大量移民难民的出现主要是由于战争、灾荒和人民身上所担负沉重的苛捐杂税和抽抓壮丁所造成的。无论是沦陷区、国统区,还是边区人民,与和平时期相比,都或多或少的存在着负担加重的问题,这些都成为边区移难民产生的一个重要因素。     

I know there is no justice: Palestinian perceptions of higher education in Jordan

This qualitative study utilizes critical ethnography methods to illustrate Palestinian refugee perceptions of higher education in Jordan. Participants addressed their assimilation to the Jordanian national identity as a means of obtaining education. Content and access to education were more important than assimilation, maintenance of ethnic identity, and a homogeneous national identity. The more immediate need for academic access and social or professional capital thwarted their desire to infuse their ethnic identity in academia.     

Labour market integration and transnational lived citizenship: Aspirations and belonging among refugees in Germany

Transnational lived citizenship has gained prominence as a means to analyse mobility and foreground activist notions of citizenship over legal status. I argue that lived citizenship and transnational movements are strongly intertwined with aspirations and belonging. I use the material example of labour market integration as the space of enactments of citizenship and analyse the patterns of belonging those create and contest. I develop my argument through the empirical example of labour market integration of refugees in Germany. I demonstrate how such integration transforms social, and more importantly, economic location and in turn creates complex and often contradictory forms of transnational allegiances. I ultimately argue that lived citizenship can in important ways advance aspirations of refugees and migrants. At the same time, transnational lives and multiple allegiances are often hindered by state-based citizenship and the rights this confers. Legal status thus remains an important marker of citizenship.