The demography of ethnicity, culture and language

The historical comparability of data from different censuses requires that we take into account all changes that may have arisen during the period under study. The way in which we answer the census of population questionnaire or to any other surveys may in fact be influenced by various factors, including those related to the methodology. The examination of the responses to the language questions of the 2001, 2006 and 2011 censuses allows us to note that observed changes in the patterns of response to the questions on mother tongue and language spoken at home in 2011 arise in large part from the changes made to the position and context of the language questions in this census questionnaire relative to previous censuses.

Ecological Migration Project conducted since 2004 by Qinghai Government which aims to protect the worsening environmental situation in Sanjiangyuan Area. Based on the questionnaire survey data in Kunlun Immigrants Village in the suburb of Golmud City, using Cernea's impoverishment risks and reconstruction (IRR) model, this paper analyzed the risks that the migrants may face in the process of resettlement and reconstruction. Besides, environmental risk is also added to the evaluation framework to fit the environmental migration context. The results showed that some risks decreased after the migration (such as homelessness, food insecurity, increased morbidity, loss of access to common property resources and community disarticulation), while some risks are increased (landlessness, joblessness and marginalization). For environmental effect is not time to draw a conclusion yet and need a long term observation. Some policy implications are posed out to improve the process of project planning and policy making.

Latin America has tried to cope with ethnicity and race issues since the beginning of the colonization process till current days, therefore, how to collect this information is also a sensible point on census matter. Additionally, different countries build their racial and ethnical identity based on different criteria. From that we built an analysis of the criteria used by the last two Censuses round of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador in South America. For that, initially, census criteria used to represent ethnic and racial categories in those four countries were assembled into a comparative table. Following it were assessed the constitutional and law changes concerning ethnical and racial issue, alongside the social movements/civil society demands for the same period. It made possible seeking the changes on census criteria for ethnic and racial data collection within and among those countries, highlighting the differences on how each country officially deal with their population diversity, as much as the legal disposition and census criteria intertwining changes. The results lead us to the main argument of the text: racial and ethnical data are a product of constitutional disposition reviews motivated by social demands and political relations in a very controversial environment.

This paper is borne out of the need to resolve the ever-growing dilemma of census counts in Nigeria. Ever since its independence in 1960, the country has employed and switched between two major methods of census enumeration namely - de jure and de facto, for its census exercises to minimize errors and obtain more dependable data planning and development. The aftermath of each exercise has been marked by allegations based on manipulations by the various sectors. Purposive sampling technique was adopted for the study which targeted societal members knowledgeable about census issues in Nigeria. They include census officials, researchers, academicians and policy makers. What do stakeholders put forward? What measures should be put in place by government to have its citizens become committed to ensuring reliable census results? These and similar issues are what the paper explores and then proposes a more satisfactory approach - which includes consultations at the grassroots among others - that will be agreeable to all and sundry if Nigeria must have accurate population count.

Along with the socio-economic and political crises encountered by the people, a recent and rather disturbing event has been the stalling of fertility decline in the North-eastern Region of India (NER). NER comprising of eight states- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura- is often perceived as an ethnically and culturally distinct component of the Indian subcontinent. Changes in the socio-cultural moorings of the tribes of India have been quite well documented and its repercussion on reproductive decision-making has been commented on. However, the much needed research on the effect of these changes on the fertility behaviour in the context of NER is pitifully rare, a gap which the proposed paper fills in. Perhaps even more interestingly (and importantly), this research attempts to illustrate how the seeds of recent demographic development might have indeed been sown in the past. Results from the statistical analysis of available data (ordinary least squares regression and panel data models have been employed) support the hypothesis of changing socio-cultural norms among tribes and protracted social and political turmoil in the region as possible factors behind the lagging demographic regime of NER.

This paper aims to analyze the experience of four Latin-American countries with different traditions and methodological perspectives on the gathering of ethnic and racial statistics of black and indigenous populations, but also of white, mestizo and Asian populations, in particular after the significant appearance in the four societies of the multicultural ideology since the mid-eighties in the 20th century until today. The choosing of these four national societies to present the Latin American experience has to do with the particular interest in the different types of ethnic-racial statistics between the four societies, which allows to have a relevant view of these type of statistics in the region, this is without saying that this is giving an account of all the countries in the region. Anyhow, we take the three societies with the major population volume in the region (Brazil, Mexico and Colombia) and with differentiated ethnic-racial patterns: Brazil has a tradition of statistics by skin color and according to the 2010 census it shows that more than half of its population self-recognized as black under two historical categories (preta and parda). On the contrary, the other three countries have built their statistics under the ethnic paradigm of the indigenous groups.

Multi ethnic and multi-cultural societies are constantly confronted with problems of identity and conflicts based on differential hiddenites. For a variety of reasons religion has been the most potent source of ethnic identity, internal cohesion and external conflicts. Indian society, perhaps more than any other, represents a pluralistic social order which at best can be described as an inclusive society. Though usually perceived as the land of the Hindus, the country has been home to nearly all the religions of the world. Over 12 percent of the total population has embraced Islam while a little over 2 per cent belong to Christian religion-the two constituting the minority religious groups of non-Indic origin. The Indic group includes the Buddhists, the Jains and the Sikhs. The problem of identity based on religion assumes nuances of meanings in a country as vast as India and as populated as India.

In year2010, the total number of international students has increased by 5.7% from year2009. Mahidol University ranked as one of the top ten universities that had number of international students in Thailand

There is limited number of studies of Asian students living in ASEAN countries. The lack of researches in this area is therefore making this issue interesting.

The objectives of this research are 1) to identify motivated factors influence ASEAN students to study in Mahidol University 2) to determine their expectation for being student here 3) to identify the their adaptation in difference culture 4) to investigate the need for ASEAN students to improve the learning process. Purposive sampling procedure is designed to select the cases. Case study approach was used by interview.

Result: there is no communication problem in class but it’s hard for ASEAN students to communicate with Thai people in their daily life because of the language barrier. The reason for selecting Thailand as their destination choice is because the cost is cheap, ASEAN countries have similar culture, which doesn’t require much of adaptation. Study oversea will give them a better opportunity to get a better paid. The result of the study will serve universities seeking the need of growing international students, there is much yet to be learned.

Migration from one place to another has brought about the inter-mingling of different people, languages and cultures. While in some case, this inter-mingling of ethnic groups have brought great prosperity; in most cases it has brought ethnic conflicts. North East region of India is considered the hotbed of ethnic conflicts in the recent times. The concept of ‘sons of the soil’ is not a new concept in the region. The frightening sentiment of the indigenous people becoming a minority in their own state has fueled anti-outsider movement in almost all the states of the region. Anti-Nepali feeling has occurred in Meghalaya and Mizoram in the 1970s, and still occurs in states like Manipur and Nagaland. Keeping this in view, the present paper studies the Nepali community and their migration to the region. Census 2001 provides migration details as well as the language considered as the mother tongue by every individual. The Nepali speaking community is one of the largest ethnic groups of the population of North-East states. The paper brings out the irregularities observed in the estimation of international migration in the region on the basis of the two definitions used in Census of India.

An intriguing finding in demographic studies of majority–minority group differences in mortality is that Hispanics in the United States, particularly those of Mexican origin, have a life expectancy similar to, and sometimes higher than, whites. This is a situation exactly the opposite that of non-Hispanic blacks. Despite the fact that Mexican Americans and African Americans both have a greater likelihood than whites to be unemployed, in poverty, with low levels of education, and have a long history of discrimination – all of which should result in high levels of mortality -- Mexican Americans compared to whites are not disadvantaged with regard to longevity, but African Americans are. This is known as the Hispanic epidemiological paradox. There is a similar finding in studies of criminal behavior, showing that Hispanic neighborhoods, especially those mainly inhabited by immigrants, have low crime rates, at about the same level as those of whites in similar neighborhoods, but much higher than those of African American neighborhoods. This is known as the Hispanic criminological paradox. In this paper we present our new and extended research and analyses of Hispanic and non-Hispanic mortality and criminal behavior in the United States around the period of 2000-2010.