Exam questions Flashcards
History of migration in bullet points
During prehistoric times, people where walking long distances to find new game, new land.
Taking the case of European history, those that today we would call migrants were mostly travelers, pilgrims, or peddlers and merchants moving within and outside Europe, in search of new markets. There were also soldiers and conquerors, accompanied by settlers (dedicated to farming and other economic activities) moving to new countries along with military expansions and colonizations.
Between the XVI and XIX Centuries we also assist to the forced movement of Africans in the slave trade. More than 10millions Africans arrived to the Americas in this way.
Starting from the XIX century we start to see an intensification of migrations, within close
regions, in direction of those urban centers and places where industrialization or plantation
agriculture or the mining industry attracted more workers.
This explains most of migrations taking place within Europe, but also from different parts of
the Indian continent towards the plantations areas. It was the case of Southern Europeans
going to work in factories in France and Germany. In Africa: people going to work in the
construction of the Suez Canal.
With the XIX century, we observe the increasing migration of people within same geographical areas, but also the taking place of long-distance migrations of millions of people, across the oceans, which was made possible by new means of transportation This emigration has continued after the Second World War, when the use of airplanes started to make easier and faster connections within and outside Europe.
Mass migration refers to what period?
When we speak about the history of “mass migrations” through the XIX and XX centuries, it is important to consider how this has been a truly global phenomenon determined by economic and demographic processes that gave shape to contemporary societies Europe, the Americas, as
well as in Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Between 1846 and 1940, the main routes of long distance mass-migration have been:
to the America (58mil people)
to Southeast Asia, Indian Ocean Rim and South Pacific (52mil)
to Manchuria, Siberia, Central Asia and Japan (52mil).
These were migrations happening very much over the sea (which makes it more quantifiable in
statistical terms).
Migration to the Americas
If we focus on the Americas: 65% arrived to the US, and for the rest to Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Cuba. Amongst them: 6 millions of Irish and 10 millions of Italians.
Until the 1870s, most of these migrants came from Ireland and UK. Later on also in big numbers
from Portugal, Russia and Syria. About 2.5mil also came from south and east Asia, in many cases indentured laborers to plantations in the Caribbean, Peru or Brazil.
Indian-Pacific migration
In the case of the circuit in the Indian-Pacific Rim, it was mainly about people coming from:
India: 29mil, moving between colonies of the British empire, for the 10% consisting of indentured
laborers. In particular: 4mil to Malaysia, 8mil to Ceylon, 15mil to Burma, 1mil to Africa.
China: 19mil. Amongst these: 250K to Sumatra islands; 11mil to British territories (Straits Settlements), to the Dutch Indies, Borneo, Burma; 4mil to Thailand; 3mil to French Indochina; 1mil to Philippines; 500K to Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii.
East-Asia migration
This area is the less studied, but we know that, after the end of serfdom in Russia and political changes in china:
- 30mil Chinese, 2mil Koreans, and 500,000 Japanese went to Manchuria and Siberia
- 2,5mil Koreans migrated to Japan (1930s)
- 13mil Russians moved to central Asia and Siberia
- 1mil Chinese, Koreans, Japanese migrates to Americas, Hawaii, southeast Asia, south Africa and Europe
Migration today (2010)
Migration involves 232 millions of people in the world, which consist in flows of people going:
- from South to North
- From South to South
- From North to North
- but also from North to South Main pathways:
(1) from Mexico to USA [12,189,158]
(2) from China to USA [1,956,52]
(3) Philippines to USA [1,850,067]
(4) India to USA [1,556,641]
(5) from Bangladesh to India [3,190,769]
(6) from Afghanistan to Pakistan [2,413,395]
(7) from Ukraine to Russia [3,662,722]
(8) From Russia to Ukraine [3,524,669]
(9) from Turkey to Germany [2,819,326]
What does reunification refer to?
Family reunification/reunion is “the right of non-nationals to enter into and reside in a country where their family members reside lawfully or of which they have the nationality in order to preserve the family unit
Which migration theory discusses ‘dependency’ as a factor for migration?
World system theory.
World systems theory, alternatively, focuses more on wider systems than on individual agents. Here the world itself can be viewed critically as a single capitalist system in which poorer nations, the periphery, provide a constant supply of cheap labour to support the powerful and wealthy nations at the core of the system (Wallerstein 1974). It is an approach on which many contemporary critiques of global capitalism are based, and it explains the poverty of poorer nations in terms of historical relations of power, dependency and debt. Drawing from Marxist political economy, it emphasises global inequalities and views migration as a central feature contributing to the perpetuation of the system. It is not in opposition to the push/pull approach,
but rather takes a critical and global view to explain the actions of individuals from a structural perspective.
Is it possible to be more than one kind of migrant?
Accurate statistics by type of migration are seldom available, except when migrants fall into a clear legal category or benefit from special assistance, such as refugees or those benefiting from family reunification programmes, who are recorded by relevant national and international agencies. In most cases, however, migratory situations are complex, rarely fall into a single category, and may evolve over time.
What are pull factors?
Pull factors, on the other hand, are the expectations which attract people to the new place. They are usually positive things such as job opportunities, a better standard of living, better education or better healthcare.
What are push factors?
Push factors are the reasons that make someone decide to move. This is their own experience of life in one place which gives them good reasons to leave it. Often push factors are negative things such as unemployment, crop failure, droughts, flooding, war, poor education opportunities or poor services and amenities.
What do we mean by ‘returnees’?
Returning migrants are persons returning to their country of citizenship after having been international migrants (whether short-term or long- term) in another country and who are intending to stay in their own country for at least a year.
What’s the role of state borders in defining migration?
Border governance – The legislation, policies, plans, strategies, action plans and activities related to the entry into and exit of persons from the territory of the State, comprising detection, rescue, interception, screening, interviewing, identification, reception, referral, detention, removal or return, as well as related activities such as training, technical, financial and other assistance, including that provided to other States.
Migration in the Mediterranean
Starting from the 1990s, the Mediterranean Sea has become the location of the majority of irregular border crossings despite being these very dangerous journeys.
We are speaking here of what scholars call ‘mixed flows’ and that include people in search of work, people that want to reunify with their family in Europe, or people that wants to apply for refugee status.
Researchers have divided migrants’ trajectories across the Mediterranean in 3 clusters:
The Western route is starting from West Africa, going through the Canary islands, or Morocco, and arriving to Spain.
We have then: the Central Mediterranean routes. The oldest of them is the one used by Albanians to reach Italy in the 1990s.
Starting from 2002, harbors in Libya and Tunisia have become main departure
points for boats sailing towards Italy or Malta.
The Italian island of LAMPEDUSA has been the first shore for many, with up to
150.000 arrivals in 2015. Migrants choosing these routes are often Africans that have crossed the desert coming from the Western and Eastern parts of the Sub-Saharan area. The number of people traveling via Central Mediterranean routes kept increasing through the years, reaching the RECORD NUMBER of 170,000 people in 2014.
In 2015, however, journeys in the Eastern Mediterranean have outnumbered all others with more than 700,000 arrivals. TURKEY and EGYPT have become main places for departure of boats directed mainly to ITALY and the GREEK ISLANDS facing Turkey.
Migrants arrive to Greece also by land, crossing the river Evros. This is the preferred route for refugees from Syria and Iraq, but also from East Africa. At their arrival in Greece, many of these migrant continue their journey by land going through the Balkan peninsula in order to reach Germany and other Central European countries where they want to apply for refugee status.
