This is a compilation of Cape Verdean-Americans from the New Bedford, Massachusetts area who were World War II veterans.

This is a compilation of Cape Verdean-Americans from the New Bedford, Massachusetts area who were Korean War veterans.

This is a compilation of Cape Verdean-Americans from the New Bedford, Massachusetts area who were Vietnam War veterans.

For several years, I have wanted to write the history of karate in Southeastern Massachusetts. However, there always seemed to be other priorities that distracted my focus. In 2009 I retired from my position as a police detective, and having been retired from the armed forces, I now had no legitimate reason not to devote as much time as possible to such a good karate idea well, except for a brief period of hospitalization due to a serious surgery that kept me hospitalized for twenty-seven days and then at home for three weeks under nurses' care with months of recovery. Karate history, in general, is, in some cases, somewhat obscured, including in the United States. I am willing to bet that not many people have thought of or proceeded to put in writing any historical account of karate in specific communities of the United States other than the Armed Services Judo and Jujitsu Academy in Pensacola, Florida, and the paper Helium by Can Tran. There are a number of historical writings as to how karate was introduced to the United States; however, I have not come across any historical account that takes us from Japan to the United States and to a particular community. There are also a number of historical accounts, but only pertaining to individual organizations or instructors. For this reason, I decided that this may spark the interest of other practitioners of martial arts to write factual accounts to the best of their abilities so that other young martial artists may draw some knowledge from these written facts or events. Even if this does not occur, at least the Shotokan practitioners can have some guidance as to the historical facts, at least in a certain US community. The reason I emphasize the Shotokan practitioners is because I have a greater involvement with the Shotokan system of karate. Perhaps this can be used as the basis of historical research or studies, especially among the college clubs and even dojos. I hope to keep your interest from beginning to end as I will cover a short history of karate in general and Shotokan karate to the history of karate in Southeastern Massachusetts. This will also be useful in recognizing specific individuals, masters, and instructors that deserve the credit and acknowledgment since karate remains a sport with less recognition compared to other sports. As Gichin Funakoshi often reminded his students, "The spirit of karate-do is lost without courtesy." Therefore, this written account expresses the acknowledgment of those who brought karate to us, beginning at the grass roots of the communities, for this is how it manifested to national participation. This is one courtesy we often forget; it is like not knowing, or forgetting, where we come from. So often I have come across karate practitioners that are black belts and instructing karate classes and they do not know much, if anything, about how and where karate began and how it spread to all parts of the world. Sure, if you should ask any person with some karate interest as to where karate originated and how it spread, they almost always give the basic knowledge that it started from Dharma in India to China to Okinawa but not a whole lot more than that. In Japan, karate is a culture, not just instructions on how to kick and punch. As to this, I quote Funakoshi's writing: "The ultimate aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of the participant." Through this, there are a number of dojo kun to be followed, and the five most important are the following: seek perfection of character, be faithful, endeavor to excel, respect others, and refrain from violent behavior. These are usually found posted on a wall in the dojo. Additional dojo kun will be listed at the end of the book in both Japanese and English.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the linkages among migration, development and environment undoubtedly belong to the most pressing issues on the political agenda. A special focus of this book is on two of these relations – on environmentally-induced migration and on the relationship between migration processes and development. The prime aim of the book is to contribute to and extend the current knowledge on these issues. How to define environmentally-induced migration? What are the differences between environmental and economic migrants? Is environmentally-induced migration forced or voluntary and what are the outcomes of selected regional field case-studies? ? How to classify environmental migrants? Where are the regional hot-spots of environmentally-induced migration? How to systematize the knowledge on migration policies? What are the impacts of skilled migration on development? What is the role of the transnationalism paradigm in the international migration research? Is international migration trade-diverting or creating? What is wrong with the effectiveness of development aid providing? Several prominent scholars and young researchers offer their answers to these challenges in the book.

This book focuses on international migration and return of highly-skilled Ghanaians and Ivorians and presents empirical research findings that demonstrate that, under certain circumstances, return migrants can act as key development agents in their home country. It investigates the influence of a number of factors that condition their motivation to return and their capacity to stimulate change in their countries of origin. The aim of the study is the assessment of policy implications related to élite returnees’ development impact in evolving socio-economic contexts. The comparative and multi-method research strategy adopted revealed that migrants tend to return home with considerable savings (financial capital), new knowledge, skills and ideas (human capital), as well as with valuable contacts (social capital). Besides their level of education, work profile, and particular life experience, whether these migrants have worked abroad for a significant period, proved the most critical factor influencing their acquisition of different kinds of capital. However, there seems to be an ‘optimum’ work duration abroad – approximately five years – after which the benefits deriving from human and financial capital acquisition tend to stabilise. At the micro level, back home skilled migrants attained their goals, improving their relative income levels, expressing satisfaction with their work conditions and, more generally, enjoying a higher quality of life. At the meso level, they provided support to others in line with expectations and pressures they faced. They also introduced many kinds of new knowledge, skills and ideas in their workplace. At the macro level, return migrants promoted economic and political transformations through, among others, the creation of new businesses and various community development initiatives. The role of return migrants is influenced by many factors linked also to their situation back home. Reintegration into their home context proved challenging, especially for women, and returning migrants need time to overcome initial hurdles and get settled before they can start to make any meaningful contribution. That is one of the reasons why there is a need to facilitate their reintegration and create a conducive environment which can also foster return migration of the highly-skilled élite. More importantly, however, evidence is produced in favour of arguments and ideas about ‘brain circulation’, a strategy that can help in maximising the positive effects stemming from migration and return.