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Assessing the Experiences of Migrants in Need of Protection in Latin America

This week’s CSDE Seminar will feature Dr. Abigail Weitzman, Department of Sociology, University of Texas. Abigail will be presenting her research “Assessing the Experiences of Migrants in Need of Protection in Latin America”. The global population of refugees and other international migrants in need of protection (MNP) has more than doubled in the last decade. Nevertheless, longitudinal and representative data among MNP remain rare, especially in the global South. In this talk, I describe new efforts to collect qualitative and quantitative data among a diverse sample of Latin American MNP in Costa Rica, including focus groups, in-depth interviews, a weekly panel survey, and respondent driven sampling. Drawing on four-years of fieldwork, I highlight the insights, feasibility, and challenges of understanding dynamic individual- and population-level changes in the push factors and social, economic, legal, and health circumstances of MNP originating from a multitude of countries.

Dr. Weitzman’s research explores interconnections between demographic and social psychological processes. In particular, she asks how expectations, desires, and uncertainty influence the nature of important events in people’s lives, cumulatively shaping demographic patterns in the aggregate; and, reciprocally, how shifting demographic circumstances influence desires, expectations, and behaviors in ways that determine individuals’ social and health trajectories. She holds a PhD in Sociology from New York University and completed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. Prior to becoming an academic, she served in the Peace Corps twice and interned at the United Nations.

 

National Science Foundation Offers Funding Through Analytics for Equity Initiative

The Analytics for Equity Initiative builds on the Evidence-Based Policymaking Act and E.O.13985 by piloting a new way to support social, economic, and behavioral sciences research that leverages federal data assets (ensuring privacy is protected and data are secure) and scientific advances in researching equity-related topics for greater public benefit. You can find more information on this funding opportunity here!

Led by the National Science Foundation and in partnership with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and other federal agencies, the Initiative links interested researchers directly with federal agencies seeking to answer research questions captured in their Learning Agendas in five equity-related research themes.

The goal of this effort is to fund researchers to produce rigorous empirical evidence and research in equity-related topics aligned to agency Learning Agendas, that federal agencies and other organizations can use to increase the impact of equity-focused evidence-based strategies.

National Science Foundation Offers Funding Through Analytics for Equity Initiative

The Analytics for Equity Initiative builds on the Evidence-Based Policymaking Act and E.O.13985 by piloting a new way to support social, economic, and behavioral sciences research that leverages federal data assets (ensuring privacy is protected and data are secure) and scientific advances in researching equity-related topics for greater public benefit. You can find more information on this funding opportunity here!

Led by the National Science Foundation and in partnership with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and other federal agencies, the Initiative links interested researchers directly with federal agencies seeking to answer research questions captured in their Learning Agendas in five equity-related research themes.

The goal of this effort is to fund researchers to produce rigorous empirical evidence and research in equity-related topics aligned to agency Learning Agendas, that federal agencies and other organizations can use to increase the impact of equity-focused evidence-based strategies.

Would You Like a Guest Lecture on Gender Equality and Climate Change?

Hannah Evans, Senior Analyst at Population Connection, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to population education and advocacy, has reached out to offer guest lectures on gender equality and climate change. If you are interested contact Hannah Evans at hannah@popconnect.org.

Large Collaborations Yield Great Research for Turner, Freitag, and Berridge

CSDE Trainees Natalie R. Turner and Callie Frietag collaborate with CSDE Affiliate Clara Berridge to publish “The Role of Trust in Older Adult Service Provision at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic” in the Journal of Gerontological Social Work. Using in-depth interviews with 45  senior leaders of social services and healthcare organizations serving older adults in Washington State, the authors elucidate the role of trust in service provision at the onset of the pandemic.

Beardall Investigates Citizen Review Boards as Bureaucratic Agents for Police Misconduct in New Article!

CSDE Affiliate Theresa Rocha Beardall had a new article published in Criminology, “Police Legitimacy regimes and the suppression of citizen oversight in response to police violence“. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and archival sources about the Syracuse Citizen Review Board in New York State, Theresa shows how Citizen Review Boards (CRB) operate as bureaucratic agencies that ostensibly address police misconduct, yet are managed by municipal power relations that neutralize the agency’s ability to actualize change.

Louie Examines Discrimination, Resources, and Mental Health Among Black Americans

In a recent article in Social Psychology Quarterly, “Vicarious Discrimination, Psychosocial Resources, and Mental Health among Black Americans“, CSDE Affiliate Patricia Louie uses data from the Nashville Stress and Health Study to answer the question “Does hearing about or witnessing someone else experience discrimination harm individuals mental health? Louie and colleagues examine how vicarious discrimination impacts depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and anger among black americans and also whether mastery and self-esteem moderate the association between discrimination and each mental health outcome.

Ince’s Research on Race, Organizational Space, and Interactions Published in Social Psychology Quarterly

CSDE Affiliate Jelani Ince recently published an article in Social Psychology Quarterly entitled, “‘‘Saved’’ by Interaction, Living by Race: The Diversity Demeanor in an Organizational Space”. Jelani uses ehtnographic data gathered from parishioners of an interracial religious organization to look beyond “happy talk” and toward the tangible effort that is required to accomplish racial diversity on the ground. Advancing  the concept of diversity demeanor and revealing how the burden of making diversity happen falls on the shoulders of racial minorities who must “save” interactions and develop White actors’ understandings when they “mess up”. You’ve made a great contribution to this literature and we look forward to more!

New Paper by Catron On Social Distance and Economic Returns to Naturalization

CSDE Affiliate Peter Catron recent in Social Problems entitled, “The Alien Citizen: Social Distance and the Economic Returns to Naturalization in the Southwest” argues that social distance from the native-born is an important factor that influences who does and does not benefit from citizenship acquisition. Catron creates a new continuous measure of social distance for immigrants during the age of mass migration and shows a relationship between social distance and economic returns to citizenship.