Why Do People Migrate?
Forced Migration
Push and Pull Factors in Voluntary Migration
Political Circumstance
Armed Conflict and War
Environmental Conditions
Culture and Traditions
Technological Advances
The imposition of authority or power producing involuntary migration movements that cannot be understood based on theories of choice
Voluntary Migration
Occurs after migrant weighs options and choices and can be analyzed and understood as a series of options or choices that result in movement.
European Migration- Both voluntary and forced, British treatment of Irish can be seen as political persecution (forced). But the Irish chose to go to North America (voluntary)
Migration Trends
Household power, power relationships, divisions of labor, and gender identities all factor into migration flows.
Men are more mobile than women.
Men migrate farther than women
Men have more job opportunities and women earn less than men in their jobs at the destination.
Atlantic Slave Trade
Majority of Africans were forced into the Caribbean, Central America, and Brazil.
Largest and most devastating forced migration in history was Atlantic slave trade
The increasing amount of wealth coming from plantations caused the need for more slaves.
Sugar was most important, coffee, fruit, and cotton were also
West Africa, Equatorial Africa, and East (Horn) of Africa were most affect by slave trade.
Africa- loss of population, damage on societies and communities Caribbean- Majority of people are African-Caribbean descent Brazil, Central,and US- changed cultural and ethnic geography
Examples of Forced Migration
Countermigration- gov. detain illegal immigrants and return migrants to home countries
Haiti
Spikes caused by the overthrowing of elected president with military rule, when the president was reinstated
2012 Earthquake- caused the law stating that any Haitians in US a protected status so they cannot get deported, to allow Haiti to recover from the earthquake
Afghan Refugees- fled to escape after Taliban took control
Repatriation
A refugee or group of refugees returning to their home country, usually with the assistance of government or non government organization
Nazis forced Jews to leave western Europe
Soviet Union forced millions of non-Russians to parts of Central Asia and Sibera
Europeans forcing Native Americans to reservations
Great Britain to Australia
Ravenstein Laws of Migration
- Every Migration flows generates a return or countermigration (for every migration flow, people will eventually move back)
- The majority of migrants move a short distance.
- Migrants who move longer distances tend to choose big city destinations
- Urban residents are less migratory than inhabitants of rural areas
- Families are less likely to make international moves than young adults
Gravity Model
Mathematical prediction of the interaction of places, the interaction being a function of pop. size of the respective places and the distance between them.
Equation: population (1) * population (2) / distance^2
Distance Decay
Effects of the distance on interaction, greater the distance the less interaction
Causes migrants to move closer to home because they are less certain about distant destinations.
Step Migration
Migration to a distant destination that occurs in stages
EX: from farm to village to town to city
Intervening opportunity
Presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away
EX: traveling to Chicago but stop and stay in St. Louis because of good opportunities there.
Types of Push and Pull Factors
Push Factors
Conditions and perceptions that help the migrant decide to leave a place
Perceived more accurately because migrants is more familiar with their home
Pull Factors
Circumstances that effectively attract the migrant to certain places from other places (decision of where to go).
Power Relationships
Legal Status
Migrants can arrive either legally or illegally, illegal migrants choose different options for finding their way into the country because they do not want to be caught
Deportation- act of government sending a migrant out of its country and back to the migrant's home country.
Economic Conditions
Poverty causes millions to search for a better life.
Lower economic positions can lead to exploitation by employers and others.
United Nations Convention works on human trafficking and the right of migrant workers to equal wages, influencing the migration policies of some states.
Gender, ethnicity, race, and money are all factors in the decision to migrate
They are already in society to enable the flow of migrants. Employers hire migrant workers based on perceptions of who are the best workers.
Emigration from Vietnam after communist took control of country
Emigration from Uganda because of the Dictator forcing Asians out of the country
Emigration from Cuba after dictator forced 125,000 Cubans
Driven migration flows marked by both escape and expulsion
War in Yugoslavia forced many to leave
Rwanda's civil war caused many to leave and go to Congo and Tanzania
Earthquakes, hurricanes, and volcano eruptions stimulate migrations
Hurricane Katrina caused families to move out of the city center, the pop. fell and a economic recession.
Montserrat volcanic eruption caused many people to move to the northern part of the island because the other parts are dangerous. The north's land making a living difficult. Most of the people just emigrated off the island
After the British partitioned South Asia, it caused many Muslims to migrate across the border to the new Islamic state and Hindus migrated from Pakistan to India.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, it allowed Jews to move and migrate to Israel and other destinations
The decline in white power in South Africa caused many whites to move to Australia, Europe and North America
kinship links
Types of push and pull factors that influence a migrant's decision to go where family and friends have already found success
By communicating with family and friends back home about the success, it creates a positive perception of the destination.
Chain Migration
Pattern of migration that develops when migrants move along and though kinship links
Immigration waves
Where different patterns of chain migration build upon one another to create a swell in migration from one place to the same destination.
With news traveling faster than ever, it creates new job opportunities and ways to reach desired destinations
Most refugees travel by foot
Availability of modern transportation and communication can encourage migration and make it easier.