Miller - Chapter 12 (short in-class version

People on the Move

(Chapter 12)

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

The

BIG

Questions

 What is migration?

 What are the major categories of migration?

 What are some examples of the new immigrants in the United States and

Canada?


What is migration?

 Migration is the movement of a person or a group of people from one place to another

 Migration is of interest to anthropologists and others because migration affects all areas of human life and is related to all other areas of culture


Health and human development

Marriage and household formation

Economic and reproductive systems

Migration is related to all other areas of culture

Politics and social order

Communication

Religion and expressive culture


Anthropologists interested in migration study…

 The kinds of people who migrate

 Causes of migration

 Processes of migration

 Health and psychosocial adaptations to new locations

 How migration affects economic and social status, identity, language, religion

 Implications for planning and policy


Methods of anthropologists studying migration

 Multisited research

 Fieldwork in more than one location in order to understand life in the place of origin as well as the migration destination



 Combines micro and macro perspectives

 Village or neighborhood research combined with research on national and global economic, political, and social forces



 Research tends to be applied

 Anthropologists have been at the forefront of efforts to address the situation of people forced to move by war, environmental destruction, and massive building projects such as dams


Categories of Migration

 Categories based on spatial boundaries

 Internal migration – movement within state boundaries

 International migration – moving to a different country

 Transnational migration – movement in which a person regularly moves back and forth between two or more countries and forms a new cultural identity transcending a single geopolitical unit


Categories of Migration

 Categories based on reason(s) for moving

 Labor migration – migrating for labor/work

 Displacement – being forced to move, involuntary migrants

 Institutional migration – people who move into a social institution, either voluntarily or involuntarily


Internal Migration

 Rural-to-urban migration is the dominant form of internal migration throughout the world

 A major reason why people migrate to urban areas is the availability of work



 Push-pull theory of labor migration

 An explanation for rural-to-urban migration that emphasizes people’s incentives to move based on a lack of opportunity in rural areas

(the “push”) compared to urban areas (the

“pull”)

 Individual decision making – believe will have a better quality of life and better lifestyle in cities

 Structural factors – inability of family farmers to support themselves when faced with competition from corporate farms

 Negative aspects – stress, health problems, high rates of hypertension



 Can also get internal migration due to other factors

 Development projects

 O’Hare expansion

 City of Chicago purchased about 550 homes in Bensenville to make way for

O’Hare expansion plans

 The people who leave their homes become internal migrants!




Internal Migration http://www.urbanophile.com/2009/04/03/detroitout-migration-devastates-michigan-and-themidwest/


International Migration

 Nearly 2 percent of the world’s population lives outside of their home countries

 That’s around 100 million people!

 Most of the voluntary migrants in this category move for work-related reasons

 Increasing numbers of involuntary international migrants, especially refugees and trafficked persons

 Racist and politicized policies in many of the major destination countries


International Migration

 http://pstalker.com/migration/mg_map.ht

m


Transnational Migration

 Defined as migration in which a person regularly moves back and forth between two or more countries

 Is increasing along with other aspects of globalization

 Much contemporary transnational migration motivated by economic factors


Transnational Migration

 Remittances , or transfers of money, from migrants to their families back home, are increasingly a large part of a country’s economy and are often sent “home” by migrant laborers


Example of the importance of remittances: 60 percent of the gross domestic product of the Kingdom of Tonga comes from remittances



Labor Migrants

 Labor migrants migrate to obtain work/labor

 Usually work in that location for a specified period of time (a few weeks to a few years)

 Do not have permanent residence in area where they migrate to

 Often have few legal protections where they work


Labor Migrants

 Circular migration – a regular pattern of population movement between two or more places

 May occur within or between countries

 e.g. Circulation of male labor from villages in

Haiti to work on sugar estates in the neighboring Dominican Republic

 A matter of debate how free the “choice” is to migrate


Labor Migrants

 There are about 35 million migrant workers worldwide

 Asian women are the fastest-growing category of migrant workers (1.5 million

Asian women working abroad)

 Domestic service jobs, factories, teachers, nurses


Labor Migrants

 54 Myanmar migrants die in Thai tragedy

 http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0408/5

10435.html


Displaced Persons or

Involuntary Migrants

 Displaced persons are people who are evicted from their homes, communities, or countries and forced to move elsewhere

 Colonialism, slavery, war, persecution, natural disasters, and large-scale mining and dam building are major causes of population displacement







 Refugees are internationally displaced persons

 Many refugees are forced to relocate because they are victims or potential victims of persecution on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, gender, or political views

 Probably more than 10 million refugees worldwide

(about 1 in 500 people)

 ¼ of the world’s refugees are Palestinians

 Women and children form the bulk of refugees

 Have little or no choice as to when and where they will move




 Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are people who are forced to leave their home and community but who remain within their country

 Are the fastest-growing category of displaced people

 About 20 million people worldwide are IDPs

 Most within Africa – in particular Sudan

 UN and other international bodies have limited authority over problems faced by

IDPs because they do not cross state boundaries


Example of

IDPs: Maya people in

Guatemala displaced due to political violence




 Development-Induced Displacement (DID) is forced migration due to development projects

 Large dam construction, mining, shopping centers, airports, and other projects have displaced millions in the past several decades

 Dam construction alone is estimated to have displaced around 80 million people since 1950

 2 million people displaced by the Three Gorges Dam project in China

 Largest engineering project in the world

 Often DID occurs against the will of the local population, and government compensation for loss of homes, land, and livelihood is often inadequate

 Local population displaced rarely reaps the benefits from dams or other development projects


Three Gorges Dam project


Institutional Migrants

 Institutional migrants are people who move into a social institution, either voluntarily or involuntarily

 Include monks in a monastery and nuns in a convent, the elderly in nursing homes, members of the military, students at a boarding school or going to college, etc.

 Stress and other physical/mental health problems can accompany institutional migration, just like with other forms of migration


Protecting Migrants’ Health

 Health risks to migrants are many and varied, depending on the wide variety of migrant types and destinations

 They may face vast challenges in their journey

 When they get to their destination they may experience new diseases, mental health issues as may get cultural shock and be separated from family and friends

 Of special concern is maintain the health of those whose livelihoods depend on mobility and migrations – foragers, pastoralists, and horticulturalists


Map of the Sahel: most of the people are pastoralists, and they frequently experience food shortages and political violence; many are refugees or IDPs


New Immigrants

 The term new immigrant refers to a person who moved internationally since the 1960s.

 Trends among new immigrants include…

 Globalization – more countries involved in international migration, leading to increased cultural diversity in sending and receiving countries

 Acceleration – growth in numbers of migrants has occurred worldwide

 Feminization – woman are a growing percentage of all types of migrants


The New Immigrants

Trends since the 1990s

Globalization

Acceleration

Feminization


New Immigrants to the U.S.

 A wave of immigration began in the 1960s with amendments to the Immigration and

Nationalization Act

 Made it possible for far more people from developing countries to enter the U.S., especially if they were professionals or trained in some desired skill

 Family reunification provision allowed permanent residents and naturalized citizens to bring in close family members

 Most of the new immigrants in the United States are from Asia, Latin America, and the

Caribbean, although increasing numbers are from Eastern Europe, especially Russia


The New Immigrants to the United

States and Canada

 The New Immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean

 The New Immigrants from Asia

 The New Immigrants from the Former

Soviet Union


New Immigrants from Latin

America and the Caribbean

 Since the 1960s, substantial movements of the

Latino population have occurred, mainly to the

United States

 Latinos are about 10 percent of the U.S. population

 Mexico is by far the major source of foreignborn immigrants to the United States

 About 11 million foreign born Mexicans live in the

U.S. (number doubled from 1990 to 2000)

 Most live in California, Texas, and Illinois, although other destinations such as Georgia and North

Carolina are also becoming more common


New Immigrants from Latin

America and the Caribbean

 Other Latino immigrants in the U.S are from

Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and

El Salvador

 Chain migration is a form of population movement in which a first wave of migrants comes, which then attracts relatives and friends to join them in the destination place

 Popular among Dominicans in the U.S. as well as other immigrant groups

 Migrating for greater economic opportunities or to escape wars/violence

 Often face economic, social, and linguistic challenges when arrive in the U.S., though


The New Immigrants from

Asia: Hong Kong Chinese in

Canada

 Urban clustering

 Have shopping centers, television and radio stations, newspapers, country clubs geared towards Hong Kong immigrants

 Tend to be economically well-off in Canada

 Relatively secure economic status before migrating

 Tend to have high level of education

 Still may have a difficult time finding employment early on – as time goes on get more disposable income to increase consumption



Asia: Hong Kong Chinese in

Canada


The New Immigrants from Asia:

Vietnamese in the US

 Three distinct subgroups and patterns of adaptation shows how difficult it is to generalize about an immigrant group’s experience based just on their ethnicity or country of origin

 1975-era elite – generous financial assistance from the U.S., good education and English language skills, most found good jobs in the U.S.

 Boat people – little financial assistance from the

U.S., less well educated, less resources, didn’t speak English well

 Ethnic Chinese – difficult time in the U.S. because lacked a Western style education and sometimes suffered from discrimination against them


The New Immigrants from Asia:

Vietnamese in the US



Asia: South Asians in the US

Highly educated first wave concentrated in professional fields

South Asian

Indians

Less educated later waves in family business or service industry

Considered an immigrant success story – place high value on children’s education, have few children to invest more in them

Hinduism attempting ritual flexibility to appeal to youth


The New Immigrants from the

Former Soviet Union: Soviet

Jews in the US

Features

 Over 300,000 Soviet Jews have settled in the U.S. since the 1960s

 Closer to the “racial” mainstream in the U.S.

 Have good educations and access to prosperous communities of American

Jews

Challenges

 Have to find new ways of meeting needs in the market economy

 Finding a job commensurate with their education and previous work experience

 Marriage options

– cultural norms promote intraethnic marriages


Migration Politics, Policies, and

Programs in a Globalizing World

 National policies that set quotas on the quantity and types of immigrants who are welcome and that determine how they are treated are largely dictated by political and economic interests

 Labor flow – cheap, including illegal, immigrant labor is used around the world to maintain profits for businesses and services for the better off

 May undermine labor unions and the status of established workers

 There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. this year




 Governments undertake a cost-benefit analysis of how much will be gained and how much will be lost through their quotas

 Lifeboat mentality – a view that seeks to limit enlarging a particular group because of perceived resource constraints

 Working-class racism – emerges out of competition with immigrants for jobs and other benefits

 Governments show their political support or disapproval of other governments through their immigration policies


Example of increasing numbers of immigrants in

Palermo, Italy, and degrees of tolerance among local people


Migration and Human Rights

 Several questions arise about migration and human rights…

 Is migration forced or voluntary?

 Forced migration may be considered a violation of a person’s human rights

 Is migrating for economic reasons voluntary?

 If the choice is to migrate or starve, can migrating really be considered a voluntary choice?


Migration and Human Rights

 Do displaced groups have a guaranteed right of return ?

 Right of return – a person’s ability to return to and live in his or her homeland

 Is considered by the United Nations to be a human right in theory

 In reality displaced persons may not be able to return to their homeland

 Those displaced within their home country

 Indigenous people in the U.S.

 Blacks displaced by Hurricane Katrina

 Palestinians displaced from Israel




Inclusion

Exclusion

Palermo

Lifeboat mentality

Working-class racism

Human

Rights

Right of return


The

BIG

Questions Revisited

 What is migration?

 What are the major categories of migration?

 What are examples of the new immigrants in the United States and

Canada?


Miller - Chapter 12 (short in-class version

The

Questions

Transnational Migration

Transnational Migration

New Immigrants

New Immigrants to the U.S.

The New Immigrants to the United

States and Canada

New Immigrants from Latin

America and the Caribbean

New Immigrants from Latin

America and the Caribbean

The New Immigrants from the

Former Soviet Union: Soviet

Jews in the US

The

Questions Revisited

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Miller - Chapter 12 (short in-class version

The

Questions

Transnational Migration

Transnational Migration

New Immigrants

New Immigrants to the U.S.

The New Immigrants to the United

States and Canada

New Immigrants from Latin

America and the Caribbean

New Immigrants from Latin

America and the Caribbean

The New Immigrants from the

Former Soviet Union: Soviet

Jews in the US

The

Questions Revisited

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