Migration
Chapter 3
Key Question 1:
What is Migration?
Movement
• Cyclic Movement –
movement away from home for
a short period.
– Commuting
– Seasonal movement
– Nomadism
• Periodic Movement –
movement away from home for
a longer period.
– Migrant labor
– Transhumance
– Military service
Migration
Migration –
A change in residence
that is intended to
be permanent.
Little Haiti, Miami, Florida
International Migration –
Movement across country borders (implying a degree of
permanence).
Internal Migration
• Internal Migration
– Implies degree of
permanence
– Within one country.
– Movements between states
or provinces.
– Little government control.
– Factors:
•
•
•
•
Employment
Retirement
Education
Civil conflicts (internally
displaced population).
Key Question 2:
Why do People Migrate?
Ravenstein’s Anticipation Guide
1. Determine whether you think each
statement is TRUE or FALSE
2. Check your answer with your neighbordiscuss why your answers are similar or
dissimilar
3. Is there any more general statements you
think you could add about migration?
Ravenstein (1880’s)
1. The greatest body of migrants travel short
distances and remain within the same country.
2. Each current has a compensating countercurrent in the opposite direction.
3. Long distance movements are directed towards
great commercial centers.
4. People in rural areas migrate less than people in
urban areas.
5. Males migrate more over long distances and
females migrate more over short distances.
Additions to These Laws
•
•
•
Most migrants are between 20-34 years of
age.
People mainly move for economic
reasons.
Urban housing development is
inadequate for the influx of migrants so
ghettoes/shanties are formed.
Why do People Migrate?
• Forced Migration – Human migration flows
in which the movers have no choice but to
relocate.
• Voluntary Migration – Human migration
flows in which the movers respond to
perceived opportunity, not force.
Can you think of some examples of each?
Forced Migration – the Atlantic Slave Trade
Voluntary Migration –
Migrants weigh push and pull factors to decide first, to
emigrate from the home country and second, where to go.
Distance
Decay weighs
into the decision
to migrate,
leading many
migrants to
move less far
than they
originally
contemplate.
Kinds of Voluntary Migration
• Step Migration –
When a migrant follows a path or a series of stages, or
steps toward a final destination.
* intervening opportunity –at one of the steps along
the path, pull factors encourage the migrant to settle
there.
• Chain Migration –
When a migrant communicates to family and friends at
home, encouraging further migration along the same
path, along kinship links.
With a partner….
PUSH FACTORS
• Define
• Examples
PULL FACTORS
• Define
• Examples
Types of Push and Pull Factors
• Economic Conditions
• Political Circumstances
• Armed Conflict and Civil War
• Environmental Conditions
• Culture and Traditions
• Technological Advances
Economic Conditions –
Migrants will often risk their lives in hopes of economic
opportunities that will enable them to send money home
(remittances) to their family members who remain behind.
Environmental Conditions –
In Montserrat, a 1995 volcano made the southern half of the
island, including the capital city of Plymouth, uninhabitable.
People who remained migrated to the north or to the U.S.
HW-Migration
Create a one page story about the reasons your
ancestors immigrated to the United States.
Include push/pull factors, the type of
migration they partook in, how they
traveled, their obstacles and what they
accomplished once here.
Try to speak with an ancestor that did migrate
here. If you can’t, ask a parent or family
member as much as you can and then you
can infer the rest.
Key Question 3:
Where do People Migrate?
Global Migration flows
Regional Migration flows
National Migration flows
Global Migration Flows
• Between 1500 and 1950, major global
migration flows were influenced largely by:
– Exploration
– Colonization
– The Atlantic Slave Trade
• Impacts the place the migrants leave and
where the migrants go.
Major Global Migration Flows
From 1500 to 1950
Regional Migration Flows
• Migrants go to neighboring countries:
- for short term economic opportunities.
- to reconnect with cultural groups across
borders.
- to flee political conflict or war.
Economic
Opportunities
Islands of
Development –
Places within a
region or country
where foreign
investment, jobs,
and infrastructure
are concentrated.
Reconnecting
Cultural Groups
About 700,000 Jews
migrated to then-Palestine
between 1900 and 1948.
Fleeing Conflict/War
After 1948, when the land
was divided into two states
(Israel and Palestine),
600,000 Palestinian Arabs
fled or were pushed out of
newly-designated Israeli
territories.
National Migration Flows
• Also known as internal migration
– eg. US, Russia, Mexico
– US: center of population moved west, then south
Guest Workers
• Guest workers – migrants whom a country
allows in to fill a labor need, assuming the
workers will go “home” once the labor need
subsides.
- have short term work visas
- send remittances to home country
• What are some positives of allowing guest
workers? Negatives?
Refugees
A person who flees across an international boundary because of a wellfounded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.
Regions of Dislocation –
What regions generate the most refugees?
• Subsaharan Africa
• North Africa and Southwest Asia
• South Asia
• Southeast Asia
• Europe
Imagine you are from an extremely poor country,
and you earn less than $1 a day. Choose a
country to be from, and look for it on a map.
Assume you are a voluntary migrant. You look at
your access to transportation and the
opportunities you have to go elsewhere. Be
realistic, and describe how you determine where
you will go, how you get there, and what you do
once you get there.
Journal
•How do governments affect
migration? Use Chapter 2 vocab in
your response
Key Question:
How do Governments Affect
Migration?
Governments Place
Legal Restrictions on Migration
• Immigration laws – laws that restrict or
allow migration of certain groups into a
country.
– Quotas limit the number of migrants from each
region into a country.
– A country uses selective immigration to bar
people with certain backgrounds from entering.
Waves of Immigration
Changing immigration laws, and changing push and pull
factors create waves of immigration.
Post-September 11
Post 9/11: US govt. marked 33 countries as countries where
terrorist groups operate  govt automatically detains
asylum-seekers from there
One goal of international organizations involved
in aiding refugees is repatriation – return of the
refugees to their home countries once the threat
against them has passed. Take the example of
Sudanese refugees. Think about how their land
and their lives have changed since they became
refugees. You are assigned the daunting task of
repatriating Sudanese from Uganda once a
peace solution is reached. What steps would you
have to take to re-discover a home for these
refugees?
Becoming American:
Immigration Experiences
• How did you/your ancestors become an
American? What did you need to do? What
did you need to know or learn?
1875 English-Chinese Phrase
Book
• designed to help newcomers from China
adjust to life in the United States.
• Notice the topics of the various
conversations.
– What do you notice about the language used in
the book?
– What insights does the Phrase Book offer into
the concerns of Chinese immigrants and their
relationships with their neighbors?
Becoming American
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxaras
-fc-c
• What individuals, images, or events stand out?
• How does the video enhance our understanding of
the Phrase Book and the experiences of Chinese
immigrants living in the United States between
1847 and 1882?
• Do these experiences seem similar or different to
those your ancestors may have experienced when
coming to America?
• Write a letter to a newspaper describing the
needs of local immigrants and suggesting
ways that they might be made to feel more
welcome.
• Write a reflection or a poem that expresses
how you regard immigrants and what you
think they need to know about life in the
United States.