Immigration and Settler-Colonies Post-UNDRIP: Research and Policy Implications

It is now common to identify a policy convergence around migration which is eroding the longstanding distinction made in the migration literature between “traditional” countries of immigration (like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States) and other Western states. Taking the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as instructive, this article focusses on the case of Canada, arguing that its settler-colonial foundation has impacted and continues to impact three areas relevant to the comparative study of migration: 1) national discourse; 2) land and forms of social power; and 3) politics and forms of solidarity. The implications of settler-colonialism for the study of international migration are broader than the case of Canada and suggest the need to link considerations of Indigeneity systematically in migration studies, and to address the particularities of settler-colonial states in relation to other Northern states by being attuned to “divergence within convergence.”     

Older sibling contribution to younger children's working memory and cognitive flexibility

We used structural equation modeling in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (N = 17,020) to explore the influence of having an older sibling on kindergarten‐age focal children's cognitive self‐regulation. In model 1, we tested how having a sibling who is generally older than the focal child contributes to the focal child's working memory (WM) and cognitive flexibility (CF) upon entering kindergarten. In model 2, we assessed the contribution to the focal child's kindergarten WM and CF of having an older sibling in a non‐proximal age range (age 12–18) or not having siblings relative to having an older sibling in a proximal age range to the focal child (up to age 11). In model 3, we considered the contribution of having an older sister, an older brother, or both an older sister and an older brother of any age. Having an older sibling in general was associated with increased kindergarten WM, whereas having an older sister was related to increased WM and CF. Compared to having a proximal older sibling, having no siblings and having a non‐proximal older sibling were related to decreased WM and CF. Findings have implications for involving siblings in family interventions in early childhood.     

Understanding labour processes in global production networks: a case study of the football industry in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Over the last few decades, the changing nature of global production and distribution processes has raised a number of critical questions regarding work and employment relations. Presenting a qualitative case study of the football industry in Pakistan as an example of the general mechanism of the social relations of re/production in a global system of industrial organization, this research highlights how and under what conditions informal workers are embedded in extended global production networks. By drawing on the integrated conceptual framework of the global production network (GPN) and labour process theory (LPT), this research sheds light on the working conditions and living realities of informal workers. A potential contribution of this paper is to extend the horizon of production network theory by analysing the work and employment conditions of informal workers, which are absent in existing discussions of these conceptual frameworks.     

Islamisation and activism of a Muslim NGO in Pakistan: Jama'at‐ud‐Da'wa as a case study

This paper locates the study of Jamat‐ud‐Da'wa (JUD) within the context of global political developments. Premised on the nexus between the local and the global developments, it discusses how changes in the domestic or international arena shaped the policies of JUD after 9/11. It argues that, as a successor to the Lashker‐e‐Toiba in Pakistan, the JUD has been active in the social welfare space. It has moved into roles that reside in the domain of the state's responsibility but have passed to the private sector due to the state's failure to meet the needs of its citizens, including the provision of education and relief and rescue efforts after natural disasters. Though not categorically identified as being part of the jihadi agenda, this activism increases the appeal of the JUD among Pakistani citizens, with a possibility of increasing their declared and/or active support for JUD's views on Pakistan's foreign policy.     

Community and individual acceptance: family planning services in the Sudan

The Sudan Community-Based Health Project, initiated by the University of Khartoum in cooperation with the Ministry of Health in 1980, sought to test the proposition that government-trained village midwives could provide maternal-child health and birth spacing services in addition to their ongoing obstetrical duties. The project area encompassed 92,000 people in 93 villages. The 120 midwives serving the project area received training in 4 interventions -- oral rehydration therapy, maternal and child nutrition, immunization, and birth spacing -- and introduced these services by means of 3 rounds of household visits over a 5-month period. Comparison of pre- and post-intervention survey data indicates that village midwives can indeed be used successfully to promote not only contraceptive use, but also health attitudes and practices that are positively associated with fertility regulation. Between the 2 surveys, the percentage of women who ever used contraception increased from 22% to 28%, while the percentage of current users rose from 10% to 13%. Parity was significantly related to current use; each child born multiplied the likelihood of contraceptive acceptance (by a factor of 0.76 in the post-intervention sample). Maternal education was the socioeconomic variable that most enhanced receptivity to contraceptive acceptance after the project's interventions. In terms of community-level variables, village location along the Nile and proximity to a paved road were significant correlates of contraceptive use. When variables related to the project itself were analyzed, women with vaccinated children were found to be twice as likely to contracept as those with nonvaccinated children and women who believed breast feeding should be continued during diarrhea episodes were 1.5 times more likely to use birth spacing than those who did not. Although midwives did not specifically emphasize contraceptive use, it appears women who were encouraged by midwives to take positive steps in the area of child health were also likely to become more innovative in terms of fertility regulation.     

On the Dirichlet distributions on symmetric matrices

In this paper, we introduce a generalization of the Dirichlet distribution on symmetric matrices which represents the multivariate version of the Connor and Mosimann generalized real Dirichlet distribution. We establish some properties concerning this generalized distribution. We also extend to the matrix Dirichlet distribution a remarkable characterization established in the real case by Darroch and Ratcliff.     

Coherent Mortality Forecasting: The Product-Ratio Method With Functional Time Series Models

When independence is assumed, forecasts of mortality for subpopulations are almost always divergent in the long term. We propose a method for coherent forecasting of mortality rates for two or more subpopulations, based on functional principal components models of simple and interpretable functions of rates. The product-ratio functional forecasting method models and forecasts the geometric mean of subpopulation rates and the ratio of subpopulation rates to product rates. Coherence is imposed by constraining the forecast ratio function through stationary time series models. The method is applied to sex-specific data for Sweden and state-specific data for Australia. Based on out-of-sample forecasts, the coherent forecasts are at least as accurate in overall terms as comparable independent forecasts, and forecast accuracy is homogenized across subpopulations.     

International students' experiences of living temporarily abroad: Sense of belonging toward community well-being

This article unveils the voices of the international students of the Universiti Sains Malaysia by exploring their belongingness and community well-being in Malaysia. This study was conducted with 14 international students (seven males and seven females) studying at the Universiti Sains Malaysia for at least a year. A qualitative approach was employed using in-depth case interviews to examine the socio-cultural challenges they experienced while studying abroad. The specific challenges reported among the international students are their well-being in distinct aspects such as physical, mental, and emotional. This study seeks to explore the international students' reliability on conational communities for social support. When achieving belongingness with their conational friends, international students can flourish well in their current community in Malaysia, thus achieving social community well-being although they are far away. Besides maintaining established close friendships, the international students develop a sense of comfort and familiarity by forming new friendships with conational and other international students. Sharing similar backgrounds and nationalities, as well as experiences and struggles, are significant for international students in maintaining close friendships and situational harmony. This study highlighted the meaning behind physical and emotional distance, as well as the situation of “being temporarily abroad” and its relations to intimacy practices and belongingness in close friendships. The results presented in this article contribute to an increasing understanding of international students' challenges and the future of social harmony and community well-being while temporarily living in Malaysia. Correspondingly, as a result of this study, students will be more deferential of cultural differences and cross-cultural sensitivity, which will also help to decrease prejudice and discrimination.