Migration

Migration

1. What is Migration?

   • Three types of Movement:
     • Cyclic movement: shorter periods away from home
       • Activity Spaces:a daily routine that takes them through a sequence of short moves within a local area
       • nomadism: matter of survival, culture and tradition
     • Periodic Movement: longer periods away from home
       • migrant labor: millions of workers in the US and tens of millions worldwide
       • trans-humance- system of pastoral farming where ranchers move livestock according to the season availability of pastures
       • military service- another form of periodic movement, military personnel are moved to new locations where they will spend tours of duty
     • Migration: involves a degree of permanence the other two do not
       • International Migration- movement across country borders
       • emigration subtracts from the total population, immigration adds
       • internal migration-migration that occurs within a countries borders

2. Why do people migrate?

   • Migration can be forced action
     • involves the imposition of authority or power
       • largest forced migration example was the Atlantic slave trade
       • Forced migration still happens today, in the form of countermigration.
         • governments detain migrants who enter or attempt to enter their countries illegally and return the migrants to their home countries
     • the difference between forced and voluntary migration is not always clear cut
   • Migration can be the result of a voluntary action
     • Voluntary migration occurs agter a migrant weighs options and choices and decides to move
     • Push factors: the conditions and perceptions that help migrants decide to leave a place
       • Armed Conflict and Civil war will push civilians away
     • Pull Factors:the circumstances that effectively attract a migrant to a certain place
       • types of push and pull factors: Legal status, economic conditions, power relationships
         • Culture and traditions can push someone away, or draw someone in
         • Political circumstances
         • Environmental Conditions can attract or repel people from migrating
       • Technological Advances- attract new migrants

3. Where do people Migrate?

   • the chance of a job elsewhere trumps the lack of a job in your hometown
     • Guest Workers-W European governments called the labor migrants this
   • Global Migration Flows
     • global-scale migration-(long distance) happened in pursuit of fame, exploration, or spices
     • Colonization- the physical process when a colonizer takes over another place, putting there government in charge
     • the past five centuries have witnessed human migrationation an unpredictable scale
       • one very notable migration is the colonization from Europe to the Americas
     • Refugees-a person who has a wellfounded fear of being persecuted reasons such as race, religion, etc.
       • Internally displaced persons- people who have been displaced within their own countries
       • asylum- the right to protection in the first country the refugee arrives
       • repatriation- UNHCR helps return refugees to their homelands
       • North Africa and SW Asia (including Iraq and Afghanistan) generates more than half the refugees worldwide
         • subsaharan africa comes in second
   • Regional Migration Flows
     • migrants going to a neighboring country to take advantage of short-term economic opportunities
       • islands of development- cities in the developing world where most foreign investment goes, where the paying jobs are located where infrastructure is concentrated
     • Reconnection of Cultural Group
       • a migration stream with big consequences is the flow of Jewish immigrants to Israel
     • Conflict and war
   • National Migration Flows
     • can also be thought of as international migration flows

4. How do Governments Affect Migration?

   • Legal Restrictions
     • immigration laws-prevent the immigration of Chinese people to California
   • Waves of Immigration into the U.S
     • Changes in a country's migration policies are reflected in the number of people entering the country and the origin of the immigrants
     • Selective Immigration- individuals with certain backgrounds are barred from entering
       • other countries have specific requirements (S. Africa- demanded pure European descent for awhile
   • Post 9/11
     • Since 9/11 government immigration policies have incorporated security converns
       • primarily with drug trafficking and human smuggling
     • it has affected illegal immigrants
       • allows the Justice Department to detain any illegal immigrant