Migration
Why Do People Migrate?
What Is Migration?
How Do Governments Affect Migration?
Where Do People Migrate?
Field Note: Risking lives for Remittances
Periodic Movement is like cyclical movement, but it involves a longer time away from the home base
Migration is a form of movement that long term or permanent
Cyclic Movement is the short term movement throughout your activity space, in which you will return
Forced Migration happens when people living somewhere don’t have any choice in where to go or what to do when they get there
Push And Pull Factors In Voluntary Migration
Types Of Push And Pull Factors
Power Relationships include different people’s perception of race, gender, money, and ethnicity and that can determine who they want in their country
Political Circumstances can cause people to leave their country
Armed Conflict and War drive lots of people away, making them permanent emigrants unable to return home
Environmental Conditions such as infertile farmland and natural disasters are major push factors in some places
Culture and Traditions and the fear of losing them drives many people away from certain countries
Technological Advances have made news and communication spread faster than ever, which makes it easier to encourage someone to move somewhere
Global Migration Flows have continually evolved and will continue to do so
Regional Migration Flows
National Migration Flows reflect how people move within a country
Economic Opportunities are often concentrated in a few areas of less developed countries, called islands of development
Reconnection of Cultural Groups drives many people to migrate back to their home countries, like many Jews did in moving back to Israel
Conflict and War
Guest Workers are legal, documented migrants that go to a new country to work
Refugees are forced to leave home because of persecution, natural disaster or otherwise, yet most don’t go very far
Regions Of Dislocation
North Africa and SouthWest Asia generate more than half of the worldwide refugees, as it has some of the deepest rooted conflicts such as the conflict around Israel and Afghanistan and the Gulf War
Africa and its Sub Saharan region have experienced intense poverty and political instability, causing many to move around in search of economic opportunities
South Asian conflicts such as the massive numbers of Afghan refugees and the Civil War in Sri Lanka make it the third most popular region of dislocation
Southeast Asia has had conflict surrounding the Vietnam War and more recently in Myanmar
Europe still faces issues from the fall of Yugoslavia
The Western Hemisphere really only has high dislocated persons in Columbia, as narcoterrorists have an increasing grip on the country
Legal Restrictions are laws and policies that prevent or restrict people trying to enter the country, like the White Australia Policy
Waves of Immigration in the U.S.
Post 9/11 a lot of new immigration policies were implemented in order to strengthen our national security and to attempt to stop terrorists from entering
Hundreds of thousands of migrants leave their home countries and make dangerous journeys to find sanctuary or opportunities in a new place, that they may or may not be accepted into.
For example, The United States had a "wet foot, dry foot" policy with Cuban immigrants
"wet foot" means that if the incoming migrants were intercepted at sea, they got deported
"dry foot" means that if a Cuban immigrant wre to make it to land, they had the right to stay here
Many Haitian Immigrants came to the United States, where many were sent back to Haiti, and very few were made refugees here
As long as migrants perceive a better life abroad, they will continue to migrate
The goal of most undocumented migrants is to work in the United States and send money home to their families
This money is called remittances
1 in 5 Haitian households receives remittances from abroad.
In Mexico, 19-27% of incomes is remittances
Because of The U.S.'s economic downturn has led to a new flow of money
This is money is called reverse remittances
This happens when illegal unemployed migrants in the U.S. ask families in Mexico for financial support
This includes commuting, like to work or school
This also includes moving seasonally because you want to, like when people head south for the winter
This also includes nomadism, which is a means of survival
Nomadism is often passed down through a culture, as people walk toutes that have been used for centuries
It is not just wandering, it is very planned and purposeful
One common type is migrant labor, which is when you go somewhere for a job and then eventually return
This type of movement is common among Mexican workers in the USA, many of whom work in the fields of California, Florida, and other states with a lot of activity at its borders with other countries
Another type is transhumance, which is a farming system where farmer move their livestock based on the seasonal availabilities of pastures
This occurs in Switzerland when ranchers drive their cattle up into the alps in the Summer, and back down in the Winter
This also occurs in the horn of Northeast Africa when people follow their cattle to pastures replenished by rainwater
A common example is when a kid goes to college, as they live in a new place for an extended period of time while still identifying with their old home
This includes military service, as the military personnel are moved around on tours and their family is moved around throughout the US
International Migration or transitional migration happens when someone moves from one country to another
An emigrant has left their country
An immigrant has arrived in a new country, and they add to that country’s population
Internal Migration happens when people move around within a country
This happened with western expansion, the great migration, and more recently to the sun belt and far west for new economic opportunities
International migrants also migrate around in their new country
This slows down in times of economic recession, like in 2008, leaving internal migration at a near standstill
The largest forced migration in history is the Atlantic slave trade, which took millions of Africans from their homes into the Americas to become slaves
Even though slavery plays a huge role in American History, most of the people forced to leave Africa ended up in Latin and South America
It went on throughout the 16th and 17th centuries
Many slaves ended up on plantations growing cotton, coffee, sugar, and fruit
People were taken from all over Western and Northern Africa, and the effects are still felt today
Now there are few indigenous people left in the Caribbean, as the vast majority are mixed with African descent
For 50 years from 1788, Great Britain sent thousands of convicts to Australia, where they changed the culture.
This also happened with the Jews in Nazi Germany, Native Americans in the US, and millions of non-Russians under Stalin's rule
Legal Status comes into play with migration, as migrants can arrive in a country legally or not. If they don’t apply for a visa or become a citizen they risk deportation
Economic conditions can cause people to enter or to leave a country. Millions leave their homelands to escape poverty, and many move to a new place in search of a job opportunity
Since Baby Doc's rule in Haiti started in 1986, thousands of Haitians have sought refuge in the US
In the 90's, thousands of refugees from Haiti were sent back home, or countermigrated
Since the Taliban has taken control of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran have both taken in many refugees
Now after 9/11, the UNHCR has helped Pakistan and Iran to repatriate many Afghan refugees
- The majority of migrants move a short distance
- Migrants who move longer distances tend to choose big-city destinations
- Every Migration flow generates a return or countermigration
- Urban Residents are less migratory than inhabitants of rural areas
- Families are less likely to make international moves than young adults
The gravity model is an equation that explains the ratio of distance between populations to how much people interact (population x population)/distance
Push and pull factors are the reasons that people voluntarily migrate
Push factors are what makes a migrant want to leave a place
Pull factors are what draws someone to a country
push factors are often seen more accurately than pull factors as people often have high expectations of positive aspects of a place
Distance decay is a graphic model that compares distance to interaction intensity
It shows that the closer a place is, the more likely people are to interact and even to move there, as they are more familiar with it
When a migrant makes lots of stops on their way to their new home, it’s called step migration
This often happens as people might move from a village to a town and then to a bigger city
If the migrant finds a job or a home on their way to the planned destination and they decide to stay there instead, it’s called an intervening opportunity
This happened as migrants from the Caribbean used to be seen as docile and kind, and great for hiring, but they are now thought of as aggressive and not as good of workers
This happened after communists took control of Vietnam in 1975, making many people leave their homes
This happened in Yugoslavia as millions had to flee into Western Europe
For example, the Irish potato blight started a brand new major wave of Irish Immigrants to America
Another example is hurricanes like Katrina, which force lots of people to move to a more safe and sustainable place
In the 90s after Soviet obstruction, more than 2 million Jews left
Kinship links happen when a friend or family member tells you of their success in a new place so you decide to move there too
The flow of migration through kinship links is called chain migration
When you look at chain migration together, you see spike in immigration called immigration waves
Before 1500, before explorers came about and told us what was out there, global migration was pretty random and haphazard
In the 1800s, the Europeans started to colonize places all over the world
Over the last 500 years, people have been moving more than ever. Some major trends are as follows:
Europe to The Americas started in the 1830s, and was the foundation of the melting pot that we call America today
Britain and Ireland migrated to Africa and Australia
In the 100 years post 1835 millions left Europe for Africa and Asia
Many people from Africa were forcefully brought to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade
People from India often leave for Eastern Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean
After WW2 many Germans left Germany to head west, some voluntarily, some not
After Castro and communism took over Cuba, thousands fled to the US
This happened as the US citizens moved collectively west and north, and then back down south after the civil war
This also happened in Russia as the people moving farther East reshaped the culture of Eurasia, a policy called Russification
This happened in Europe after WW2, as the major players had lost a lot of their workforce, so people from nearby poorer countries came in to work
When the country no longer needs the help in the workforce, they can kick the guest workers out, like Nigeria did in the 80s
Not to be confused with internally displaced persons, who are still in their country
This includes people like the victims of hurricane Katrina
Refugees can then seek safe asylum in their new country
Once the old country is safe again, they will be returned through repatriation
This also involves the Sudanese civil war
In the 1800s lots of Europeans came in, forming an immigration wave, which also sparked the invention of quotas
Other countries use selective immigration, only letting certain people in after looking into their backgrounds