Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Asylum and Community'

1.1 Background: Despite growing recognition of the negative impact of ever stringent asylum employed by western governments, psychological conceptualisations of distress in these populations remains dominated by traumamodels. 1.2 Literature Review: A systematic literature review was conducted to collate and critique findings from studies relating postmigratory stress to asylum seeker distress. The 44 reviewed studies suggested asylum seekers endure a range of postmigratory stressors relating to acculturative challenges, social isolation, material deprivation and restrictive asylum legislation. Difficulties associated with conducting research with these populations are acknowledged. It is concluded that restrictive asylum policies greatly inhibit asylum seekers’ abilities to negotiate challenges resulting from displacement. Smail’s (2005) social materialist perspective is suggested as a framework for findings. 1.3 Research Report: No known British empirical research has focused on exploring relationships between postmigratory-stress and asylum seeker mental health. Based on established methodologies (e.g. Silove et al.,1997) a cross-sectional study was undertaken to explore the relative relationship with distress of postmigratory-stressors and premigratory-trauma exposure. An opportunity sample of 98 asylum seekers completed measures of postmigratory-stress (the PLDC: Silove et al., 1997); premigratory-trauma exposure (HTQ-TE; Mollica et al.,1992) and distress (HTQ-PTSD: Mollica et al.,1992; HSCL-25: Hesbacher et al.,1980; Winokur et al.,1984). High levels of exposure to premigratory-traumatic events, postmigratory stress, and distress were reported. Regression analyses revealed ‘Feeling a burden to others’ and being denied asylum to be the strongest predictors of distress. It is concluded that a range of postmigratory stressors impact negatively on asylum seeker wellbeing. Those denied asylum experience more restrictions and poorer mental health. Limitations are acknowledged. 1.4 Implications: The literature review and research report conclude that present asylum determination processes are damaging to those seeking refuge. Psychotherapeutic interventions directed at the intra-psychic level may be of limited effectiveness given the more primary social and material needs of these clients. 1.5 Critical Appraisal: Reflections on the research process are presented alongside key learning points.

This study explores how the immigration status of the 'asylum seeker' impacts upon notions of 'identity', 'community' and 'belonging' whilst claiming asylum in the UK. By taking a narrativedialogical approach this research explores the stories that have been constructed around 'asylum' by policy, those working with 'asylum seekers' and 'asylum seekers' themselves. This research looks at how the 'official' narratives of asylum are operationalised and delivered by workers contracted to implement government policy. The study also explores how those making a claim for asylum narrate their lives whilst living in dispersal sites in one region of the UK with particular focus paid to exploring how asylum and dispersal impacts upon 'identity' and 'belonging'. The data for this project was generated in three phases. In the first phase of data generation ten asylum support managers participated in semi-structured interviews. These managers worked for local authorities in the Region planning the strategy and delivery of the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) policies to 'asylum seekers' accommodated locally. The second phase of the research also included workers involved in delivering NASS support but in a service delivery role. Twenty-two people from across the Region were invited to attend three separate focus groups. The third and final phase of the research involved the participation of ten 'asylum seekers', living in dispersal sites across the Region, in lengthy narrative interviews. The data was analysed using narrative analytical techniques informed by the work of Clandinin and Connelly (2000) and Riessman (2004) around thematic narrative analysis and guided by the theory of 'dialogism' (Bakhtin, 1981). The research revealed that integrating a narrative-dialogical approach to understanding the casylum' experience has allowed space for a piece of research that appears to 'fit' into the fife worlds of the 'asylum seeker'. Moving toward a theoretical stance of dialogism has made it possible to explore an alternative way in which the production of narratives relate to both the personal and the social world of the individual. Rather than discounting the possibility that conflict and contradiction can exist in personal narratives simultaneously this research has shown that by taking a narrative-dialogical approach embraces the schizophrenic quality that appears to punctuate the narratives of exiles and 'asylum seekers'. The research has also shown that those contracted to operationalise and deliver NASS support to asylum seekers are not reduced to simple ventriloquists in the support process. Instead what has emerged are support service workers that take a creative and active role in interpreting their 'roles' to be conducive with the perceived needs of their organisation, the 'community' and the 'asylum seeker'. Narrating their work as a 'quest' support service workers can be seen as active and often 'heroic' in the way in which they act as a 'buffer' between the policies designed by NASS and the asylum seekers they support. By using Bakhtin's notion of authoritative and internally persuasive discourse (Bakhtin, 1981), support service workers can be seen to be adhering to components of the 'official' or authoritative discourse whilst at the same time transforming other components that are not seen as internally persuasive. From the narrative accounts generated with 'asylum seekers' it emerged that conflict and contradiction appeared to confound their attempts to produce narrative coherence. This conflict and contradiction appeared to suggest a good deal of psychological tension as 'asylum seekers' attempted to narrate; feelings of belonging, the balance between security and uncertainty and their feelings of 'home' and identity. What appeared was a dialogical quality to their narrative accounts which emphasised simultaneity but due to their restricted inunigration status did not have the 'privilege' of being both/and. Rather what emerged was a dialogical structure that can be seent o be characterisedb y the tension of being 'in between' but being 'neither/nor'. Such a position restricts the ability to 'move and mix' (Hermans and Kempen, 1998) in their new milieu as they are held in stasis and limbo by the multiple voices spoken by the 'asylum system'.

Media & Communication
Ph.D.
Public memory of "the Asylum" in contemporary American culture is communicated through a host of popular forms, including horror-themed entertainment such as haunted attractions. Such representations have drawn criticism from disability advocates on the basis that they perpetuate stereotypes and inaccurately represent the history of deinstitutionalization in the United States. In 2010, when Pennhurst State School and Hospital, a closed Pennsylvania institution that housed people understood as developmentally/intellectually disabled, was reused as a haunted attraction called "Pennhurst Asylum," it sparked a public debate and became an occasion for storytelling about what Pennhurst meant to the surrounding community. I apply theoretical perspectives from memory studies and disability studies to the case of "Pennhurst Asylum" in order to understand what is at stake when we remember institutional spaces such as Pennhurst. More specifically, this case study uses narrative analysis of news stories and reader letters, ethnographic observation at the haunted attraction, interviews with key storymakers, and historical/cultural contextualization to examine why this memory matters to disability advocates, former institutional residents and employees, journalists, and other community members. The narrative patterns I identify have ramifications for contemporary disability politics, the role of public communication in the formation of community memory, and scholarly debates over how to approach popular representations of historical trauma. I find that Pennhurst memory fits within contemporary patterns in the narrative, visual, and physical reuse of institutional spaces in the United States, which include redevelopment, memorialization, digital and crowd-sourced memory, amateur photography, Hollywood films, paranormal cable television shows, and tourism. Further, this reuse of institutional spaces has been an occasion for local journalists to take on the role of public historian in the absence of other available authorities. In this case study, the local newspaper (The Mercury) became a space where processes of commemoration could unfold through narrative--and, it created a record of this process that could inform future public history projects on institutionalization in the United States. In the terms of cultural geographer Kenneth Foote (1997), disability advocates attempted to achieve "sanctification" of the Pennhurst property by telling the story of its closure as a symbol of social progress that led to the community-based living movement. Paradoxically, since this version of the Pennhurst story relied on a narrow characterization of Pennhurst as a site of horrific abuse and neglect, it had this in common with the legend perpetuated by the haunted attraction. In contrast, other community members shared memories that showed Pennhurst had long been a symbol of the community's goodwill, service, and genuine caring. In short, public memory of Pennhurst in 2010 was controversial, in part, because the institution's closing in 1987 had itself been controversial. Many still believed it should never have been closed and were thus resistant to the idea of sanctifying its story as an example for future change. When the State abandoned the Pennhurst campus, it left an authority vacuum at a site about which there was still as much public curiosity as there had been when it first opened in 1908. Indeed, this easily claimed authority is part of what "Pennhurst Asylum" is selling. Its mix of fact and fiction offers visitors the pleasure of uncertainty and active detective work--something usually missing at traditional historic sites. Visitors get to touch a mostly unspecified, but nonetheless "real" past mediated by an abundance of historical and contemporary public communication that all attach an aura to Pennhurst as a place where horrific events happened. Rather than suggesting historical amnesia, the strategic fictionalizations made to create the Pennhurst legend show exactly what is remembered about "the Asylum." The legend distances the story away from American history and sets it in a deeper past beyond most living memory. From my observation at the haunted attraction, it appears that the problem isn't that the American public has forgotten "the Asylum"; it may be that we remember too well. Overall, the relationship between institutions and their communities is one of intractable complicity, ensuring that the public memory of "the Asylum" will continue to be deeply fraught. News archives show that for decades local newspapers reported on adverse events at Pennhurst including fire, disease outbreak, accidental death, violence, criminal activity, and a series of State and Federal probes into mismanagement and abuse. This is especially significant because the power structures that allowed the institution to function remain mostly intact. Indeed, the "Pennhurst Asylum" relies not only on our previous knowledge of Pennhurst and the mythic figure of "the Asylum;" it also relies on our fear of medical authority, bodily difference, and most of all, our collective vulnerability to the social mechanisms that continue to define and separate the "normal" and the "abnormal." Even among disability advocates, the act of remembering threatens to recreate the hierarchy of the institution. Some of the same people who had authority at Pennhurst continue to have the authority to tell its story today. Finally, the usefulness of the ghost story as a memory genre reflects both rapid change and surprising stagnation in the role of institutionalization in the United States.
Temple University--Theses

This research aims to identify whether artist-led projects with asylum seekers can strengthen community cohesion. It concentrates on New Labour Government policy and the current debate relating to the intrinsic and instrumental worth of the arts. These are considered alongside debates on measurement. The research is focused on projects within Tyne and Wear. The methodology used is three-fold involving, attending the arts projects, participant observations and individual semi-structured interviews with each participant. Data is gathered from participants, artists and funders to ensure a holistic picture of each projects is built up. In doing this, social capital and identity construction are identified as effective areas where the arts projects can be seen to be having a positive impact on participant’s personal community cohesion. This research establishes a two-strand framework for community cohesion from which arts projects effectiveness can be studied; examining both collective community cohesion and personal community cohesion. The arts projects are seen to have a more direct impact on the personal community cohesion of asylum seekers, tackling issues such as isolation, mental health needs, language barriers, negative stereotypes, cultural isolation, lack of self esteem, lack of social contact and issues around identity which are specific barriers to community cohesion. The funding of different projects is discussed, as is the influence of New Labour Government policy (1997-2010) on locally funded projects. 75% of the projects within this study would not now be granted funding if starting in 2011. It can be concluded from this research that artist-led projects with asylum seekers can be used as a means of strengthening community cohesion. this appears to be most effective when there is clear and close communication between the funding organisation and arts project, when long-term project funding is available and when participants are treated as individuals whose needs are considered. Ways in which the arts projects can reform themselves within the current economic climate are suggested both by working in partnership with other services and through focusing on solidifying the evidence base for the arts so that they may be in a stronger position once funding is available again.

Discourses surrounding the debate on asylum-seekers and refugees continue to be a polemical and topical issue in the UK and other Western democracies. This thesis investigates the meaning of home and belonging from the perspective of members of the refugee community in Belfast. Individuals who seek asylum in a place of safety leave their homes and homelands for a variety of reasons. I focus on the experiential challenges faced by members of the local refugee community following their arrival in a new and unfamiliar environment. An asylum-seeker is required to register his or her intentions with the relevant authorities within a specified time limit. Following an initial screening interview, an individual seeking asylum is provided with emergency accommodation, and shortly afterward attends a substantive interview with UK Border Agency immigration specialists. My research follows the lives of a number of asylumseekers as they progress through the asylum system. Some of them receive their 'papers' and are accepted as refugees with an initial five year Limited Leave to Remain status. Becoming a refugee comes as a great relief but concurrently brings a whole new set of challenges. On the other hand, for the many asylum-seekers who are refused refugee status, there is the uncertainty of the appeals process, fresh claims, further meetings with solicitors and other advisors, and occasionally a descent into destitution with no recourse to funds. I look at some of the coping strategies employed by this heterogeneous group of displaced individuals. There exists a lack of well-established diasporic communities in Northern Ireland. What is it that makes a person 'feel at home?' My thesis explores the meaning of displacement and emplacement by focussing on asylum-seekers and refugees as they negotiate and perform the long process of belonging to something tangible in local society.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)
South Africa is a regional hub for international immigration and the main destination for many African descent, a home of high number of refugees ad asylum seekers across African continent. The refugees and asylum seekers communities in South Africa are settled and melting into the city life with the host communities.

My thesis on asylum dispersal is written within an emotionally charged atmosphere concerning immigration, asylum, multiculturalism and Islamic extremism. In this climate of unreasoned attitudes towards asylum seeking generally, my main aim was to qualitatively uivestigate, via one case study area - Romantown - the persistent policy and political problem of where to place asylum seekers.

The aim of this study was to investigate the principles and factors underlying the culturally competent nursing care of asylum applicants. Asylum applicants are a highly vulnerable group, whose health is often severely compromised prior to arrival in the UK due to exposure to torture, violence and rape. Although they are entitled to primary health care services whilst their asylum claim is under consideration, their level of welfare support has been significantly eroded over the last decade. An analysis of the nursing literature revealed mainly US notions of cultural competence, which were based on a private health care insurance system rather than a universal health care system of equitable, accessible and non-discriminatory service provision, such as the NHS. A Five Steps Model of cultural competence (Quickfall 2004) was later revised to provide a theoretical framework for this research study. Data for this ethnographic study were collected during 2005-2007 with asylum applicants and community nurses within one Health Board in Scotland, using participant observation, individual, narrative and group interview methods. The data were analysed for their categorical content. The findings are presented as vignettes to highlight cultural competence issues. Three major themes emerge from the study findings, which highlight the intermediary function of community nursing. The provision of equitable, accessible and non-discriminatory services remains pertinent in the 21st century. Secondly, the cross-cultural promotion of health involves a partnership process to ensure effective communication and the negotiation of person centred care. Thirdly, the delivery of socially inclusive services requires the aiding of asylum applicant adaptation to a new host environment. This study contributes to community nursing knowledge in explaining, through synthesis of the literature and study data, a model of cultural competence for the care of asylum applicants. It also provides a set of best practice statements, which require further investigation.

Background A psychiatric disorder influences one’s affect, mind and behaviors and psychiatric symptoms, such as disorganized speech, bizarre behaviors, delusion that influence one’s motivation, social interest, independence and self-care. Therefore, society stereotypically labels the mentally ill patients as “weak” and “dangerous”, a special group to be taken care of, treated and controlled. As a result, asylums and institutions become necessary for the mentally ill patients. Reviewing the asylums and institution period, it was shown that the care and treatment was inhuman and very limited. Starting 1950s’, there was a voice criticizing that it violated the patients’ human right to keep them in hospital after they had recovered from the acute stage. Consequently, deinstitutionalization and the community care were developed in this period. These policies also led to the consumer movement in 1970s’. Over time, the mental health policy has changed continuously. However, the stigma from society and the consumer movement were still apparent as shown by various patterns. Aims This study explores the core factors of the mental health services through systematic historical review of the recovery movement and mental health policy, and intends to find out the important insight to improve the mental health services in Hong Kong. Methodology This study chooses England as an example since the earliest recovery movement started from England. Before 1997, Hong Kong was a Crown colony, so its mental health policy was influenced by England. This study sets out to review related records and documents, including the literature, journals, government documents, reports, newspapers, yearbooks, files and textbooks. After collecting the information and analyzing the contents, the themes will be integrated to find out the core influence factors of the mental health services. Results After reviewing the overall history of rehabilitation movement in mental health in England and Hong Kong, it is concluded that the development pathway should focus on “Treatment and Care” and “De-stigmatization”. Conclusions “Treatment and Care” and “De-stigmatization” are the key influence factors, judging from history of the recovery movement and mental health policy development. Thus, a good mental health service should solve these two problems.
published_or_final_version
Psychological Medicine
Master
Master of Psychological Medicine

Using a qualitative approach, this study looks into the experiences of refugees during settlement in Britain, their perceptions and expectations of community associations and refugee agencies and the services these provide. Focused on the Colombian and the Somali refugee communities in London, the research is based on eight in depth interviews with personnel from refugee organisations and 31 with refugees themselves: 16 with Colombians and 15 Somalis. One mixed-sex group discussion with Colombian refugees and two, one male and one female, with Somalis were also conducted. This was complemented with direct observation and an extensive review of the existing literature. The research shows that English language skills, transferability of previous skills and employment experience, circumstances of flight, racism and discrimination, cultural differences between the country of origin and the UK, and availability of adequate health-care services and accommodation are key factors affecting refugee settlement. The findings also show that word of mouth was the most common medium of gaining awareness of refugee organisations for both the Colombian and the Somali refugees, followed by printed material. Whilst the Somali refugees were generally satisfied with the organisations they had approached, the Colombians expressed a high level of dissatisfaction. The findings lead to the conclusion that refugees' socio-cultural background and the reasons behind their flight are likely to shape both their settlement and their attitudes towards refugee organisations in the country of exile. Whilst the research suggests that there is a long way to go before refugee organisations can satisfactorily meet the needs of refugees in Britain, it also shows a pervasive lack of feed-back systems in those organisations. The study concludes with a number of recommendations to facilitate settlement, arguing that unless the available resources are used more efficiently, the effects of current legislation will be disastrous for the refugee population.

An emphasis in political debates and much print media in the United Kingdom (UK) on perceived issues with ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity has contributed to a narrative of worry and fear. Despite such hostile discourse, people find ways of living together with diversity every day.  The encounters which I am concerned with in the following degree project are taking place through community theatre with Mafwa Theatre in Leeds where women from asylum seeker, refugee, and wider communities are socialising and cooperating over fun and simple drama activities. The purpose of this thesis is to better understand the different participants’ lived experiences of the theatre space, how they view their role in the group, and how they perceive diversity in the group. The research questions are explored with qualitative research methods of individual interviews with Mafwa members, the facilitators, and a volunteer, participant observation during the weekly drama sessions, and document analysis of printed, online, and audio materials. With this degree project, I aim to contribute to the discussion about everyday multiculturalism and living with diversity in the UK. The theoretical framework consists of the concept of hospitality which helps me explore how hospitable spaces are shaped and negotiated by different contributors, and conviviality which embraces the complexity of social relations without romanticising them and can help us reach a better understanding of how to live together without a fear for each other’s differences.  The findings show that the different participants view the drama group as a hospitable community of acceptance and respect within a hostile environment for asylum seekers and refugees at the national level. The space offers a well-needed opportunity for the women to have fun, develop their creative skills, and escape day-to-day concerns. Moreover, the study shows that besides being proud co-producers of artistic practice, all participants are also active co-creators of shaping the hospitable space and a ‘convivial culture’. Finally, despite misunderstandings and disagreements in the group, the participants express having bonded over similarities and learned from differences rather than describing diversity as something to fear.

The European Union (EU) policy of gender mainstreaming has been discussed at length in the context of embedding gender equality into the EU's internal market. The effectiveness of gender mainstreaming has been less analysed in other areas of EU competence. This PhD draws on feminist theory to explain the EU's gendered treatment of vulnerable women within the asylum system. Using a range of theories of gender equality, notably separate spheres, radical feminism, and intersectional feminism, the thesis analyses the relevant asylum legislation, judgements and guidelines in international law, EU law and the national legal systems of two EU member states: the United Kingdom and Ireland. These feminist theories provided a perspective which allowed this research to explain how the EU has failed to address significantly and meaningfully the gendered aspects of the asylum system in member states. Despite the EU's stated attempts to ensure through gender mainstreaming that the member states rely on a theory of gender equality which provides protection to women in the asylum system, this PhD found both that the EU has not sufficiently embodied an intersectional approach to gender and asylum and that member states are still more influenced by their national political culture and treatment of gender equality than that of the EU. This thesis uses that research to make recommendations at both an EU and national level to help the EU and its member states better incorporate gender mainstreaming in order to ensure human rights protection for vulnerable women. As the EU manages increasing refugee applications and increasing nationalist sentiment, this presents an opportunity to embed more thoroughly intersectional gender mainstreaming in both EU asylum policy and the EU's political culture.

The new Government of India did not introduce legislation for `native' lunacy in colonial India as a measure of social control after the uprisings of 1857-8; discussions about Indian insanes had already occurred in 1856, following asylum and pauper reform in Victorian England. With the 1858 Lunacy Acts, native lunatic asylums occupied an unsteady position between judicial and medical branches of this government. British officers were too constrained by their inexperience of asylums and of India to be effective superintendents and impose a coherent psychiatry within. They relied on their subordinate staff who were recruited from the communities that surrounded each asylum. Alongside staff and patients, the asylums were populated by tea sellers, local visitors, janitors, cooks and holy men, all of whom presented alternate and complementary ideas about the treatment and care of Indian insanes. By 1912, these asylums had been transformed into archetypal colonial institutions, strict with psychiatric doctrine and filled with Western-trained Indian doctors who entertained no alternate belief systems in these colonial spaces. How did these fluid and heterogeneous spaces become the archetypes of colonial power?
History of Science

In the face of globalisation, one of the challenges for Christians ministering to asylum seekers and refugees in the United Kingdom is the question of integrating Christian asylum seekers and refugees into the Christian community. British churches and para-church organisations that are involved in refugee ministry have to decide whether they want to support the formation of independent refugee churches or the integration of refugees and asylum seekers into local indigenous churches. This thesis examines these options from a missiological perspective. Two social research projects form the heart of this study. One compares the life and ministry of two mature minority ethnic churches, the other investigates the integration process at a British church that has been involved in refugee ministry for almost a decade. Contrary to the widespread view that the establishment of homogeneous churches is crucial for the mission of the church in postmodern British society, the findings of this research suggest that the integration of asylum seekers and refugees into indigenous British churches is the better option. They further demonstrate that it is not the mono-ethnic refugee church but the multi-ethnic church which makes the greater contribution to the integration of Christian asylum seekers and refugees and to the missio Dei in Britain. In a multi-ethnic church, asylum seekers and refugees serve as role models to British Christians and especially as effective agents of mission. These research findings also show that the integration of asylum seekers and refugees is promoted through the congregation within the congregation model and an incarnational approach to mission. However, they equally indicate that various stumbling blocks can hinder the integration process. These include a low ecclesiology, a conversionist approach to mission, a lack of awareness of globalisation, and a reactive leadership style and church culture.
Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology
D. Th ((Missiology)Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology)

Dissertação de mestrado em Direitos Humanos
Esta dissertação no âmbito do direito dos refugiados surge da ausência notada de um estudo cabal da figura jurídica da proteção subsidiária. A proteção subsidiária constitui um mecanismo de proteção dirigido às pessoas que não podem ser tecnicamente consideradas refugiadas e enfrentam uma ameaça de segurança ou de liberdade devido a pena de morte, tortura ou tratamentos degradantes, violência indiscriminada resultante de situações de conflito armado, bem como violações sistemáticas ou generalizadas e indiscriminadas dos seus direitos humanos. Esta figura brotou no seio da União Europeia como parte integrante do Sistema Europeu Comum de Asilo. Num contexto em que a noção de refugiado, vertida na Convenção Relativa ao Estatuto dos Refugiados de 1951 e acolhida na ordem jurídica comunitária, era incapaz de responder às efetivas necessidades de proteção, era premente uma evolução dos mecanismos de proteção dos requerentes de asilo chegados à Europa. Entre nós, as vítimas de conflitos armados e de violações sistemáticas de direitos humanos encontram proteção desde a primeira Lei do Asilo, o que lhe confere desde já uma particular relevância. A proteção subsidiária hoje consagrada no nosso ordenamento jurídico é desenhada pelos contornos da disposição comunitária que a consagra. Como tal, impõe-se um estudo do seu sentido e alcance que demonstre a sua elasticidade na conciliação da nossa tradição protecionista com a construção do Sistema Europeu Comum de Asilo.
This dissertation about refugee law arises from the noted absence of a thorough study about the legal concept of subsidiary protection. The subsidiary protection is a protection mechanism aimed at people that may not be technically considered refugees and facing a threat of safety or freedom due to death penalty, torture or degrading treatment, indiscriminate violence resulting from armed conflict, as well as systematic or generalized and indiscriminate violations of their human rights. The sprouted figure within the European Union as part of the Common European Asylum System. In a context where the concept of refugee, contained in the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 and received in the Community legal order, was unable to respond to effective protection needs, an evolution of mechanisms of protection of asylum seekers arriving in the Europe was pressing. As far as our legal order is concerned, the victims of armed conflict and systematic violations of human rights are protected since the first Asylum Law, which gives it relevance. The subsidiary protection today enshrined in our legal system is drawn by the contours of the Community legislation, which enshrines. As such, we need a study of its meaning and scope to demonstrate its elasticity in reconciling our protectionist tradition with the construction of the Common European Asylum System.

abstract: This research examines the experiences and perceptions of immigrant and refugee women social entrepreneurs located within a context of economic instability, as well as the strategies that they develop to cope with such crises and volatility. To conduct this research I used a mixed-method, qualitative approach to data collection, including semi-structured, open-ended interviews and a focus group. I used feminist theory and a grounded theory approach to inform the design of my study; as such I acknowledge the participants as knowledge producers and allow for them to add in questions to the interviews and focus group and to comment on drafts of the written portion of the dissertation. The findings have indicated that these women are surviving the economic crisis by combining different income streams, including social entrepreneurship, traditional jobs and state and non-profit-aid. Moreover, the participants have found that besides monetary value, social entrepreneurship also provides alternative benefits such as personal sovereignty in their work environment, work-life balance and well-being. Also, personal history, and family and community embeddedness contribute to women's decisions to pursue social entrepreneurship. This research contributes to the growing body of research on gender and work and fills the gaps in literature currently existing in social entrepreneurship.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2015

The dissertation deals with the historical activities of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo in České Budějovice between the years 1850 - 1956. The thesis is especially based on the study of archival materials. Each chapter comprehensively describes the history of the three branches where the religious Sisters performed their activities. The branches are listed in chronological order of when they were established in the city. A public hospital is mentioned first, followed by an institutional complex of orphanages and schools at the former Vienna gate, and the group is concluded with an asylum for elderly people in need established in 1888. Particular attention is paid to the circumstances concerning the establishment of each branch, its background, ordinary and extraordinary days that were mostly mentioned in local chronicles; and two local superiors who had a major impact on the development and character of the community are also mentioned in the dissertation. Besides the observation of the beginnings and subsequent unprecedented development of community activities within the city frame, the text also includes an independent final chapter focused on events associated with the definitive end after the year 1948. Orientation in the topic and logical sequence of...