Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Using 1990 5 percent- PUMS data, this paper examines fertility differentials between US-born married women and foreign-born married women from China, Japan and Korea.

Publication Type: Individual Presentation
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: What is cultural identity? Who is an African American? Who defines it and for whom? How do we do this? If you were asked “who is an African American?” what would be your answer? Perhaps some people may think it is easy, but is it? In today’s multicultural America, where immigration patterns and immigration and naturalization services have changed the demography, how do you define people who are foreign-born Africans but American citizens? How would you define a Caribbean-born individual who is also an American? Who can name who? What experiences, culture, community, beliefs, values, and history define an African American identity? Increasingly the issue or question of who is an African American has dominated conversations and academic discourses especially in seminars, blogs, conferences and the media. This paper will explore these questions/issues, and the cultural identity divide between foreign-born African Americans and native-born African Americans. Specifically, the paper will examine the issues and questions about who is an African American, the African American-ness, the African American identity, the myths and misconceptions about the relationship between foreign-born African Americans and native-born African Americans and who can and should be defined as African American. This paper hopes to advance conversations on issues of the African American identity and the relationships between foreign-born and native-born African Americans.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The proposed paper examines the gender gap in voting turnout among the foreign-born and native-born populations in NYC. It is informed by the literatures on the gender gap, immigrant political incorporation, and migration and settlement.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Social and cultural adaptation may be issues of importance to students of Chinese origin in Canada, where both Canadian-born and foreign-born Chinese students often experience many problems of adjustment, including the challenge of cultural difference to a new social context. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to provide an in-depth description of the key factors that contribute to differences in the social experiences of Canadian-born and foreign-born Chinese students, and to disseminate results that could be used by policy makers to enable them to better understand and address the needs, interests, and aspirations of students of Chinese origin in Canada. This study employed a qualitative methodology to uncover and describe the internal meaning of the participants’ lived experiences. This study occurred in a North-western Ontario urban community with a Chinese Canadian population of approximately 300. Three Canadian-born and three foreign-born Chinese students were interviewed in this study. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were adopted in this study to allow the participants to express their views on their lives in Northern Ontario, Canada. Four themes emerged: (a) perceptions of ethnic identity; (b) cultural integration; (c) perceptions of academic performance and (d) the effect of Canadian education on career options. The findings of this study indicated that Canadian-born Chinese students differed from their foreign-born counterparts in the following areas: their viewpoints on ethnic identity; their perceptions concerning acculturation; and academic performance. However, both groups of students also shared similarities in their views about Canadian and Chinese educational systems, teaching styles, as well as their career expectations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Malawi's rapid transition from a longstanding brutal dictatorship to a multiparty democracy and its remarkably peaceful transfer of power to an opposition party (1992-94) were heralded as a model for the rest of Africa. Drawing in large part on some 65 interviews conducted in Malawi in between 1997 and 2003, this paper revisits the Malawian model from a longer-term perspective. It argues that foreign aid donors played a crucial role in the timing and relative smoothness of the transition, but that their centrality at that key moment has undermined the subsequent ability of domestic actors to defend the gains made, let alone press for further democratization. Opposition parties are deeply divided internally and unable to form stable alliances (in large part due to government machinations), while civil society organizations remain generally ineffective and very much on the defensive. The weakness of domestic forces, combined with donors' post-transition focus on economic reform and their reluctance to apply any further political conditionality, allowed the post-transition government of Bakili Muluzi (1994-2004) to adopt with relative impunity to a number of practices reminiscent of the single-party era. Without credible checks and balances and political alternatives, not to mention economic growth and poverty alleviation, prospects for democracy in Malawi remain bleak, regardless of who wins the general elections due in mid-2004. This longer-term failure of democratization, despite an initially successful transition, suggests that donors should have either kept democracy promotion a priority or let Malawians take the lead from the beginning.