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This paper examines the contradiction at the heart of Italian and Spanish immigration policies between the calls for integration on the one hand, and the marginalization associated with temporary and contingent immigration status on the other. I argue that this tension is structural and reflects an underlying contradiction in the political economy of these post-Fordist societies. In the second half of this paper, I examine this same tension in U.S. immigration policy, and explore the ways the current proposals for reform would bring U.S. immigration policy closer to that of Spain and Italy. I note that while the tension between immigrant marginalization and integration has always characterized U.S. policy, the contradiction has intensified as immigrants are an increasingly visible component of the U.S. workforce, complicating attempts at meaningful reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents some statistical data on the Hispanic population in the United States and its growth, caused by a sustained immigrant influx. The paper develops the following points: 1) the importance and relevance of the Hispanic population in the United States; 2) the role of Mexican and Central American migration as the main sources of manual labor for the American economy; 3) the importance of migrants in the regional and national development in the countries of origin; 4) the situation and perspectives of the second generation; 5) the long-term integration of the Latin American immigrant population in the United States. The supporting arguments of recent essays criticizing the presence of the Hispanic population in the United States are examined as being a threat to English dominance and a factor for cultural disintegration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents research findings that focus on analyzing the conditions that enable and/or complicate the development of the critical intercultural approach in Pre-schools and Primary schools. To this end, three case studies were conducted in schools in the Spanish Autonomous Region of Andalusia. The main data production techniques used were: participatory observation, interviews and documentary analysis. The results are organized around three dimensions of analysis: the concept of inequality and/or diversity as a driving force for change in schools and the opening-up of the school setting as a challenge/ reproduction of cultural homogeneity and hegemony. The findings show how the dynamics and interactions that exist within these schools provide opportunities but also create limitations when it comes to shaping new intercultural realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing measures to control and regulate migration flows, irregular migration has grown in the last few years in Spain, Malaysia and the United States. This increase in irregular immigration has mainly been explained in relation to socio-economic factors. However, while these factors explain the presence of migration flows towards these countries, they do not succeed in explaining why an important part of these flows takes place on a non-regular basis. This can only be considered by taking into account the State and its immigration policies. Starting out from this statement, this research paper analyses to what extent, how and why the immigration policies of Spain, Malaysia and the United States produce «illegals«. This means not only analysing how and why immigration policies contribute to the increase in the number of irregular immigrants, but also how and why, by denying their rights and often their existence, they create the figure of the «illegal immigrant». As this research note demonstrates for the Malaysian case, irregular immigration is not despite immigration policies but because of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this analysis we make an approach to the impact and importance of a transnational perspective when studying current international migrations. More specifically, the objective of this paper is to reflect on the impact of the monetary and «social» remittances of Peruvian and Ecuadorian immigrants living in Spain, considering their households as transnational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union is undergoing important transformations on both the normative and the identity level. The «Others» in Europe are no longer merely those who do not hold citizenship of one of the member states of the Union. In the new European immigration context, «Otherness» as defined on a legal basis —the foreigner— has been complemented by a culturally and an ethnically coloured definition. This paper analyses the construction of categories and identity classifications underlying new forms of inclusion and exclusion that are to be found in the context of the emergence of Europe as a legal, political and cultural entity. It will focus more specifically on the formation of particular collective identities which are targets of stigmatization and derogation as a result of the process of «Europeanization» and the establishing of an «imagined European identity». In a context characterized by the increasing stress placed on the juridical dimension of social relations together with a rise in affirmative identities, this project attempts to analyse the processes of categorization and derogation of individuals and groups on the basis of «culture» or «ethnicity», and their consequences for both minority groups (mobilization, submission, retreat, etc.) and majority groups (the fight against discrimination, normative and cultural impositions, intercultural practices, etc.). An examination of the hypothesis according to which the definition of collective derogated identities —the «European outsiders»— is undergoing a transition from legal criteria (nationality) towards «cultural/ethnic» criteria («Blacks», «Roms», etc.) or even religious criteria («Muslims») is particularly important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]