Luann Good Gingrich

Migration as Preservation and Loss: The Paradox of Transnational Living for Low German Mennonite Women

Throughout history, conservative groups of Low German-speaking Mennonites have collectively migrated to preserve their religious integrity. However, their contemporary migrations to North America are not collective or church-sanctioned, but primarily economically motivated. This paper explores the intertwined processes of gender and religion in transnational social spaces through the destination experiences of Mennonite women in Canada. The paradoxes of the transnational social field—each simultaneous gain and loss—constitute a double-bind wherein choice is elusive. Caught in the contest between physical and cultural survival, women find themselves in the ‘nothing’ of in-between, as conflicting social fields and systems of capital—secular and sacred—collide.

Mediating Communities and Cultures: A Case Study of Informal Helpers in an Old Order Mennonite Community

This paper reports on a qualitative case study exploring the significance of informal helpers in a closed, traditional ethno-religious Old Order Mennonite community in rural Ontario. Three key points are discussed. First, respondents expressed that a persons ability, wisdom, and usefulness to the community must be earned rather than assumed on the basis of credentials or professional status. Second, the role of informal helpers is honored by community members, regardless of whether it is recognized by the world around them. And finally, the function of informal helpers as cultural brokers is vital to the preservation of the community. When outside professional intervention is considered necessary, respect for established traditions requires primary engagement and negotiation with informal helpers.

Cultivating cultures of inclusion in social service organizations: An international collaboration

Questions of social exclusion and inclusion in increasingly diverse societies (Vertovec, 2007) are especially thorny in North American and European societies that are undergoing dramatic transformation by over 50 years of large-scale migration, primarily and increasingly from countries in the Global South. In Canada, for example, it is projected that by 2031 almost one-third of the nation’s total population will be a member of a “visible minority” group, and over one-quarter of Canadians will be first-generation immigrants (Caron Malenfant, Lebel, & Martel, 2010). Recent predictions place Canada among the world’s top seven countries to receive international migrants (more than 100,000 annually) between 2015 and 2050 (UNDESA (United Nations Department of Economic & Social Affairs – Population Division), 2015). In Germany, a growing proportion of the population is firstor second-generation migrants (persons with “migration background”1): 17.1 million residents of Germany live in a family that has a migration background, and 11.5 million of them have experienced migration themselves.2 The situation differs between the 16 Bundesländer. Whereas every fifth person has a so-called “migration background” in the five new Bundesländer, it is every fourth person in the rest of the country. The majority of this population have a German passport (54%). It is widely assumed that the share of the population with a migration background will increase further, as most political parties recognize that the demographic crisis Germany is facing (with its increase in the retirement-age population) can only be solved by actively managing migration.3 As the social and economic diversity of social landscapes deepens, shrinking national social welfare and public health care systems lead to narrower entitlement requirements for noncitizens, tighter eligibility criteria, and reduced benefits (Good Gingrich & Köngeter, 2017). In these social, political, and economic contexts defined by scarcity and insecurity, immigration laws and social programs in many welfare states are geared toward ensuring that newcomers and migrants of the second and third generation are equipped to become contributing members of society rather than a drain on the system. Against this background, social service organizations (SSOs) are often seen, on the one hand, as agents of support, integration, and social change toward a more just society. On the other hand, critical

Measuring economic exclusion for racialized minorities, immigrants and women in Canada: results from 2000 and 2010

ABSTRACT In this article, the authors examine patterns of economic exclusion in Canada’s labor market in 2000 and 2010. Using Canada’s Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics data, the authors devise a unique Economic Exclusion Index to capture disparities in income, employment precarity, and wealth. The authors find evidence of persistent disadvantage tied to immigrant status, race, and gender in Canada’s labor market; specifically, individuals identified as Black, South Asian and Arab, as well as recent immigrants and women, fare worst. The authors conclude that there is a need for structural changes that enable disadvantaged groups to move toward economic inclusion in Canada’s labor market.

Religion and social work – transnational perspectives

The impact of religious perspectives and practices in global social work has been underestimated in empirical and theoretical research. We live in multi-religious societies and, accordingly, social work must deal with diverse religious influences. Religion is, on various levels, an unavoidable feature of everyday social work practice. Furthermore, the history of social work cannot be written without taking into account the influence of religion (see Chambon, Johnstone, & Winckler, 2011; Pierson, 2011; Seithe, 2010). The past and sometimes current neglect of religious aspects and spiritual needs of recipients of social services has been critiqued (see Hodge, 2002). At the same time, the religious roots of social work gain new importance in different contexts, especially in our contemporary mobile and transnational world. For example, many scholars claim that most cultural practices and norms are intricately tied to religious ideals and beliefs, whether recognized as such or not (see Butler, 2008; Butler & Spivak, 2007; Levitt, 2007). Thus, migratory livelihoods, which are increasingly necessary for millions across the globe, inevitably provoke religious confrontation and conflict and at the same time transform and reshape religious practises and religious landscapes (see Levitt, 2007). Furthermore, we recognize evolving transnational networking in religious movements and between religious groups. The notion of religion in social work and social policy contexts must refer not only to the known (world) religions and associated religious practices, but can be made applicable by adding the perspective of spirituality, which is encompassed in religion but not restricted to what we refer to as religious. It includes “the quest for meaning, purpose, morality, transcendence and profound relationships” (Canda & Furman, 2010, p. 5). Transnational social work can be defined as “an emerging field of practice that (a) is designed to serve transnational populations; (b) operates across nation-state boundaries, whether physically or through new technologies; and (c) is informed by and addresses complex transnational problems and dilemmas” (Furman, Negi, & Salvador, 2010, p. 8). Accordingly, our attention to transnational social work must take religion and spirituality on different levels into account for the following reasons. Firstly, for example, with regard to local and biographical effects of migratory movements of people, transnational social work is discussed as a matter of local social work practice that reacts to the needs of clients who originate from many parts of the world. Recognition of the diverse religious and spiritual needs that come together in the local environments of social work practice and social policy is growing, sometimes as the result of conflict. Together with these shifts in social landscapes comes the call for a new focus in social work education