Pakistani immigrants and their challenges in accessing culturally diverse physicians in the Toronto CMA

This research concerns the health experience of both new and long-term Pakistani immigrants living the the Toronto CMA and focuses on their experiences of utilizing culturally diverse famliy physicians. It considers their spatial context of healthcare access and the leading barriers to access they face. Attention is given to the gendered experiences of Pakistani women and the influence of culture and socio-economic factors as determinants of health. The study implies Pakistani newcomers experience significant challenges to adequate healthcare access as opposed to mature Pakistani immigrants, in terms of their English communication skills, access to transportation, lack of social/familial ties and awareness.

Pakistani immigrants and their challenges in accessing culturally diverse physicians in the Toronto CMA

This research concerns the health experience of both new and long-term Pakistani immigrants living the the Toronto CMA and focuses on their experiences of utilizing culturally diverse famliy physicians. It considers their spatial context of healthcare access and the leading barriers to access they face. Attention is given to the gendered experiences of Pakistani women and the influence of culture and socio-economic factors as determinants of health. The study implies Pakistani newcomers experience significant challenges to adequate healthcare access as opposed to mature Pakistani immigrants, in terms of their English communication skills, access to transportation, lack of social/familial ties and awareness.

“We are similar, but different”: Contextualizing the Religious Identities of Indian and Pakistani Immigrant Groups

This article explores how Indian and Pakistani immigrant groups from the Bay Area in North California relate to and interact with one another. There is limited research on the role of religion in shaping sentiments of distinctiveness or “groupness” among diasporic Indians and Pakistanis in the UK and North America. Through conducting qualitative interviews with 18 Indian and Pakistani immigrants in the Bay Area, I recognized three factors pertaining to religion that were salient in influencing notions of groupness—notions of modernity, sociopolitical factors, and rituals. With respect to these three variables, I flesh out the spectrum of associated groupness; while some factors were linked with high levels of groupness, others enabled the immigrant groups to find commonality with one another. This research is integral to a better understanding of the interactions between South Asians in the diaspora, as well as to gain insight into how these immigrant groups—whose countries of origin share a history of religious conflict—perceive and interact with one another.

Pakistani Immigrants' Nuanced Beliefs About Shame and Its Regulation

The present study explored beliefs about shame and coping strategies of Pakistani immigrants to Canada, without imposing Western definitions or theories. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 adult Pakistani immigrants to Canada who immigrated within the last 8 years. Grounded theory was used to uncover and illuminate how shame could act as a signal for wrongdoing or emerge as a result of social control and social hierarchies, while in both instances being shaped by and informing complex relational and social contexts. Participants accessed a wide range of positive and negative coping behaviors and prioritized positive coping strategies which included close others and focused on self-improvement. The findings highlight the need for researchers to expand current definitions of shame to render them more inclusive of non-Western worldviews and to honor the diversity in metacognitions or beliefs about shame present in different cultural groups. Future research may also benefit from exploring how shame may be felt as a response to power differentials, and how this may impact individuals' experiences of immigration. It is important for practitioners working with Pakistani immigrants to Canada to honor clients' nuanced and complex cultural and religious knowledge about shame, as Pakistani immigrants' beliefs about shame and their proactive stance toward the regulation of this emotion are likely to be protective. We also encourage therapists to be open to discussing sources of shame (e.g., personal vs. imposed by others) and systemic, structural inequalities which may be important in explaining individuals' emotional experience.

Situation of Asymptomatic Malaria among Iranian Native and Af-ghan and Pakistani Immigrants in a Malarious Area under the Na-tional Malaria Elimination Program of Iran

Background: This study was designed to detect, if there are asymptomatic malaria infections amongst native and immigrant population from Afghanistan and Pakistan countries in Sistan & Baluchistan Province of Iran, where is under the national malaria elimination program. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed among native individuals and resident immigrants in the southeastern province of Sistan & Baluchistan from May 2016 to Jul 2017. A total of 271 individuals were considered in this cross- sectional study based on microscopical method, Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) and PCR techniques. Out of 271 native and immigrant participants 140 (52%) and 131 (48%) were male and female, respectively. Results: None of the prepared samples was diagnosed as malaria positive case when was considered via above mentioned three techniques. Conclusion: Neither native nor immigrant individuals had asymptomatic malaria, hinting that national malaria elimination program is performed according to planned schedule in the studied areas

Mental disorders among young adults of immigrant background: a nationwide register study in Norway

Purpose Previous research indicates increased risk of various mental disorders in immigrant populations, particularly for schizophrenia and PTSD. However, findings are inconclusive due to variations in contextual factors, characteristics of immigrant groups and study design. Our study aims to investigate prevalence differences of receiving an ICD-10 psychiatric diagnosis between 2008 and 2016 among four first-generation immigrant groups and one second-generation immigrant group compared to ethnic Norwegians. Methods Linked register data from the Norwegian Patient Registry and Statistics Norway were utilised. The sample (age 18–35) comprises 758,774 ethnic Norwegians, 61,124 immigrants originating from Poland, Somalia, Iran and Pakistan and 4630 s-generation Pakistani immigrants. Age- and gender-adjusted binary logistic regression models were applied. Results The odds of schizophrenia were significantly elevated for all groups except for Poles. The highest odds were observed for second-generation Pakistani immigrants (adjusted OR 2.72, 95% CI 2.21–3.35). For PTSD, the odds were significantly increased for Somalis (aOR 1.31, 95% CI 1.11–1.54), second-generation Pakistani immigrants (aOR 1.37, 95% CI 1.11–1.70), and in particular for Iranians (aOR 3.99, 95% CI 3.51–4.54). While Iranians showed similar or higher odds of receiving the vast majority of psychiatric diagnoses, the remaining groups showed lower or similar odds compared to ethnic Norwegians. Conclusion Our findings suggest considerable prevalence differences in receiving a psychiatric diagnosis according to country of origin and generational status compared to ethnic Norwegian controls. The general pattern was lower prevalence of most ICD-10 mental disorders for the majority of immigrant groups compared to ethnic Norwegians, except for schizophrenia and PTSD.

Sadia Shepard’s Foreign-Returned: Pakistani Immigrants’ View on American Values

Sadia Shepard’s Foreign-Returned talks about the life of Pakistani immigrants in America, especially Hasan, who struggle to live a better life in the U.S. American values become the main focus in this study to see their influences in certain characters’ point of view of this short story. The data are selected conversations and the narrations in Sadia Shepard’s Foreign-Returned as well as traditional American values and the sociological data of Pakistani Diaspora in America in the 2000s. This research reveals that most of the characters, both first- and second-generation Pakistani immigrants, practice American values in certain ways. However, values are fluid. Not everyone in the U.S.A believes in American values; on the other hand, non-Americans are possible to practice American values. In brief, how much the American values influence the characters' minds and behavior does not depend on whether they are first- or second-generation immigrants.

The Pakistani community in Spain: social and cultural challenges

This article uses the example of the Pakistani community to explore the phenomenon of multiculturalism in Spain. Although Muslims of Maghrebi origin constitute the most numerous immigrant group on the Iberian Peninsula, the Pakistanis are special in that they represent an exceptionally distinctive and hermetic community. The article analyses social, economic and cultural determinants of this community’s situation in Spain. The Raval immigrant neighbourhood in Barcelona exemplifies the mechanisms under study. The article focuses on determinants of Pakistani immigrants’ situation as well as the challenges that arise against the backdrop of interaction between this community and the host society. The author also reflects on the issue of the ethnocultural distinctiveness of this group in normative and institutional terms, and analyses the consequences of this distinctiveness.

Contesting Familial Bonds: (Af)filiative Relationships in Pakistani Anglophone Writing

Following Edward Said’s theorization of filiation and affiliation, this paper maps transformative itineraries of second-generation Pakistani immigrants in Britain who negotiate their personal identities on the basis of choice and affiliation instead of filiation. I argue that, as a result of the changing relationships of migrant parents with their British-born children, either because of a clash between nostalgia for the culture of origin and the host culture, between racial discrimination or the changing social structures of multicultural Britain, familial bonds within Pakistani families in Britain are severely affected. In other words, public or “external debates” in the diaspora, that Ralph Grillo describes as migrants’ imagined cultural practices, interact with internal debates that occur within migrant families. Against this backdrop, I explore the tensions, informed by a filiation-affiliation dialectic, that exist between first and second generations and the way these affect the personal struggles of an embittered anglicized Asian second generation and dramatize the metaphorical birth of a subject outside the confines of the familial order.

More than a Mask, Burkini, and Tights

This chapter explores how the intersections of Kamala Khan’s identity are presented in her appearance, and how Ms. Marvel’s costume visually contests misrepresentations of Muslim women. Through an examination of scholarship on fashion and aesthetic practices as political action, this chapter argues that the character of Ms. Marvel does important political work to shift public perceptions of Muslims and to display pride in Khan’s background as a Muslim, daughter of Pakistani immigrants, superhero, and nerdy teenager. The creators visually portray her as a character who seamlessly moves between various categories, allowing fans to connect to this multifaceted identity. This chapter focuses on the transformation of Ms. Marvel’s costume as these changes connect to Khan’s larger identity issues. Furthermore, the chapter addresses how fans have engaged with the image of Ms. Marvel through online artwork, creating and wearing Ms. Marvel cosplay outfits, and using Ms. Marvel’s image to counter hate.