Civic engagement and self-empowerment of second-generation Vietnamese in Czechia

The first cohort of Czech second-generation Vietnamese has only recently reached adulthood. Raised by Czech nannies, they received early socialization into Czech society, while Vietnamese culture remained unfamiliar. With this childhood experience, the generation grew into young adulthood questioning their identity/identities. Caught between social and normative pressures from both the Vietnamese community and Czech society, the formation of associations by second-generation Vietnamese can be a means to respond to their disadvantaged position. Based on in-depth interviews with leaders of these associations and participant observation of their activities, the article examines the goals and activities of second-generation associations (SGAs) and compares them with first-generation immigrant organizations. SGAs are shown to fill the gap of parents as key role models of socialization in Czech society and as platforms to enhance the self-confidence and sense of social responsibility of second-generation Vietnamese in Czechia.

Integration, cultural preservation and transnationalism through state supported immigrant organizations: a study of Sweden’s national ethnic associations

This paper explores the activities of Swedish state supported ethnic associations (most of which are immigrant organizations), thus shedding empirical light on how immigrants organize with the help of state support, both nationally and transnationally, in a welfare state context. The paper is based on a study of annual reports of 52 state supported national associations, representing more than a thousand (1046) local immigrant organizations, as well as 17 interviews with representatives of the said organizations. The findings indicate that the welfare state did not crowd out civil societal integration-promoting initiatives, but the state supported immigrant organizations came to occupy a niche in which they primarily offered complementary services with the aim of helping members to navigate the public welfare system. Neither did state support directly shape the content and direction of the political activities of the said organizations. However, the state support seems to have generated welfare channeling effects, in that more immigrant organizations came into existence than would have been the case in the absence of grants. The paper comes down in favor of the thesis that state support in some circumstances can promote political incorporation through immigrant organizations (with a few caveats). Finally, the paper proposes a hypothetical mechanism, homeland-oriented integration, for political incorporation through immigrant organization.

“Parallel Societies” and a Turn Towards Soft Assimilation

The article presents an overview of theoretical discussions about the content and formats for the use of the term “parallel societies” in social and humanitarian discourses and political debates on immigration. Based on the previous immigration studies (of the Chicago sociological school, T. Meyer in Germany, etc.), a number of authors point out negative connotations associated with this term due to phobias of Islamic radicalism. Other researchers propose to abandon the term "parallel society". They insist on the hollowness of this concept, which just reflects the fears of a certain part of European society. However, the majority of specialists pay attention to the ambiguous nature of segregation as the basis for the development of “parallel societies”, acting for immigrants as a protection mechanism against discrimination and facilitates their integration. Furthermore, the researchers provide empirical evidence of a link between the deterioration of social and economic conditions and the growth of anti-immigrant sentiment. The study highlights the paradoxical conclusion that immigrant communities with a strong influence of religion lack public “parallel” structures that represented their interests in the majority society. Meanwhile the states do not have the appropriate tools to establish a dialogue with religious immigrant organizations and to oppose the promotion of their life style. In conclusion, the article emphasizes the growing tendency to abandon the strategy of multiculturalism and return to a soft variant of assimilation and integration.

Health Care in US Detention Centers

The US has built the most extensive immigration detention system globally. Over the last three administrations, several organizations have noted a systemic failure in the provision of health care in detention centers, leading to the torture and death of immigrants. This essay develops the principle of the preferential option for the poor to examine the causes of deficient access to health care and solutions to overcome them. It analyzes the substandard health care in detention centers from the notion of structural violence and systematizes solutions of grassroots immigrant organizations from the idea of solidarity, understood here as a form of friendship with the poor that moves toward relational justice. Its goal is to build bridges between people so that the political will is generated to create policies to improve and enforce health care standards in detention centers and address the unjust foundations of immigration detention.

VASYLVASYLIOVYCH ANDRIYEVSKY DURING THE PERIOD OFTHE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTION IN 1917-1921 IN CHERNIHIV REGION (based on the materials of Vasyl Andriyevsky’s archive-investigation file)

The lack of the scientific literature concerning Vasyl Vasyliovych Andriyevsky’s participation in the Ukrainian revolution in 1917-1921 in Chernihiv region is stated. His surname (as the leader of such immigrant organizations as Ukrainian Society Prosvita, Ukrainian Community, the Union of Ukrainian Organizations in Yogoslavia) is mentioned in solitary publications about the Ukrainian political immigration in the period between two world wars. The documents and materials of Vasyl Andriyevsky’s archiveinvestigation file used by the authors are kept in the Sectoral State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine. They are representational and fill the gap in the issue concerning his participation in the revolutionary events in Chernihiv region in 1917-1921. The main directions of Vasyl Andriyevsky’s activities while holding the positions of the commissar in Borzna county and the instructor-organizer of the Ukrainian National Rada in Sosnytsia county are covered. The attention to Vasyl Andriyevsky’s participation in the Ukrainian province (Chernihiv) and county congresses (Borzna, Novgorod-Siversky, Sosnytsia), in relevant Ukrainian committees, in founding the detachments of “Ukrainian free Cossacks” is updated. His work in the institutions that ensured functioning of the Labour Congress in Kyiv is emphasized. Vasyl Andriyevsky’s achievements in the field of creative writing and journalism are characterized. The information concerning his publications on the pages of such periodical issues as “Ohni”, “Mayak”, “Muraveinik” (Kyiv) and “Chernihivska Zemska Hazeta” is mentioned. In the author’s opinion the studies of Vasyl Andriyevsky’s immigration period, participation in the immigrant unifying movement and literature efforts are promising.

Labor Unions and Undocumented Immigrants: Local Perspectives on Transversal Solidarity During DACA and DAPA

National labor unions in the United States have formally supported undocumented immigrants since 2000. However, drawing on 69 interviews conducted between 2012 and 2016 with union and immigrant rights leaders, this article offers a locally grounded account of how union solidarity with undocumented immigrants has varied notably across the country. We explore how unions in San Francisco and Houston have engaged with Obama-era immigration initiatives that provided historic relief to some undocumented immigrants. We find that San Francisco’s progressive political context and dense infrastructure of immigrant organizations have enabled the city’s historically powerful unions to build deep institutional solidarity with immigrant communities during the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA [2012]) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA [2014]) programs. Meanwhile, Houston’s politically divided context and much sparser infrastructure of immigrant organizations made it necessary for the city’s historically weaker unions to build solidarity with immigrant communities through more disparate channels.

Empowering a Fragmented Diaspora: Turkish Immigrant Organizations’ Perceptions of and Responses to Turkey’s Diaspora Engagement Policy (Forthcoming)

The existing literature on state-diaspora relations, primarily in the MENA, has mostly focused on how and why home states engage their diasporas, rather than with what consequences. This article investigates how different groups within the diaspora community are affected by the homeland’s multi-tiered diaspora engagement policy. I argue that sending states influence select immigrant organizations’ mobilization by empowering them in two key ways: They instill self-confidence and collective identity in organization leaders and provide them with capacity-development and know-how support. Yet such differential treatment may become a source of suspicion in host states and cause resentment among the disregarded diaspora groups. The findings draw from extensive fieldwork conducted in France, Germany, and Turkey between 2013 and 2019 and original data derived from interviews, official documents, and news sources.

Empowering a Fragmented Diaspora: Turkish Immigrant Organizations’ Perceptions of and Responses to Turkey’s Diaspora Engagement Policy (Forthcoming)

The existing literature on state-diaspora relations, primarily in the MENA, has mostly focused on how and why home states engage their diasporas, rather than with what consequences. This article investigates how different groups within the diaspora community are affected by the homeland’s multi-tiered diaspora engagement policy. I argue that sending states influence select immigrant organizations’ mobilization by empowering them in two key ways: They instill self-confidence and collective identity in organization leaders and provide them with capacity-development and know-how support. Yet such differential treatment may become a source of suspicion in host states and cause resentment among the disregarded diaspora groups. The findings draw from extensive fieldwork conducted in France, Germany, and Turkey between 2013 and 2019 and original data derived from interviews, official documents, and news sources.