Summary: Introduction to Migration Studies – Week 1 to 6
Week 1:
Age of Migration H1 p.1-18 Introduction
Lecture 1
Obstacles: for advancing the understatement of migration processes
- Eurocentric ‘receiving country bias’
o All about what is means for ‘us’
o Not thought about the migrant’s self
Who are they?
How did they end up here?
o One-sided focus on ‘impacts’, failure to understand migration as a social process
Dominant framing of migration as a problem
- Push and pull factors
o Push: few services, lack of jobs, etc.
o Pull: access to services, jobs, etc.
Is this really the case?
Need to reconceptualize migration
o Migration social change
o Social change migration
- Migration as an intrinsic part of broader change
o Urbanization fundamentally linked to migration as well as industrialization
o Central theoretical assumption:
Migration is both moulded by and helps to mould greater change
The need to question our assumptions; conventional wisdoms about migration
Haas, Hein de (2014) Myths of Migration: Much of What We Think We Know Is Wrong – Der Spiegel
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/eight-myths-about-migration-and-refugees-explained-a-
1138053.html
10 myths:
1. Migration is at an all-time high and accelerating fast/ we live in an era of unprecedented
migration
Assumed causes: growing economic inequality, increasing technological
advancement, increasing conflicts
, Not true 3% of world population is a migrant (more people, more migrants)
86% of refugee’s stays in the region
3.3% of the world population is an international migrant
0.3% of the world population is a refugee
o Why is international migration stable?
People stay in the region and want to stay where they are and are better
informed
It is not easy to move around, border surveillance, there are no massive world
wars
More people than ever live in a democracy, money can be sent to origin country
more easily (remittances)
More people can work from home or travel to work easily, production can be
outsourced, work moves to people (labour to capital)
Why do we think migration is at an all-time high?
Media framing from politicians
Politicians need enemies
Europeans stopped leaving Europe after 5 centuries of Eu migrants they stopped
moving around the world, which changed the face of migrants
Europe became a major destination of migration as well as the gulf area
Entering of Asia on the global migration stage
Eurocentric world view
2. Development in poor countries will reduce migration/ development aid prevents migration
9/10 African migrants come legally
Migrants are not poor, illegal migrants pay a lot of money to migrate
Push-pull theory not right
West is idealized
‘We the west’ are civilized
The more developed the country, the more migrants, because more people
have the money to migrate and find a better life for themselves
The migration paradox
Poverty and oppression tend to deprive people of mobility options
3. Migration restrictions reduce migration
Stops the circulation, people are scared that they cannot come back, so they opt
to stay
Immigration restrictions made immigrants stay, ‘inflow’ these increases
(because people cannot go back)
If migration is unrestricted, most migrants will return to their origin country
Policy makers do not see migration as a process
Correlation between net migration and GDP
If the economy does well, there is a higher demand for workers and
thus migrants, so net migration goes up as well
Labour demand primary drives migration
, 4. Closed borders will lead to less migration
5. Migration policies have failed
A lot (9/10) migrants are legal and come via legal routes
6. Migration policies have become more restrictive
The enforcement has become more restrictive, the policy itself has not
7. Migration leads to a brain drain
Migrants cannot find a job that suits their education level in their country.
However, people prefer to stay in the country where they are from. The origin
country can also still benefit from the people who are emigrating, as they send
back money and invest in ‘local’ businesses back in their origin country
8. Migrants steal jobs and undermine the welfare states
9. Migration solves the problem of the aging society
Aging society is global
10. Climate change will lead to mass migration
People can use various adaptation strategies
Flood defences, changes in livelihoods or short-distance mobility
In cases of floods. Tsunamis and other environmental havoc, the vast majority
of people move over short distances
Most displacements tend to be temporary, because most people wish to return
home as soon as possible
Most people living in the poorer countries of the world do not have the
resources to move over large distances
Processes of impoverishment influenced by environmental stresses can actually
deprive vulnerable people of the means to travel and migrate over large
distances, and they might find themselves therefore trapped at home
Age of Migration H2 p.21-41 Categories of Migration
Migration= a change of residency across administrative borders
Migrant= a person who is living in another country, state, province or municipality than where she or he
was born
Human agency= people’s capacity to make their own choices and to impose these choices on the world
Asylum seeker= a person who has applied for refugee status and is still awaiting a decision on her or his
recognition as a refugee
, Refugee= a person who, owning to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his
nationality and is unable to or owning to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that
country
Internally displaced persons (IDPs)= persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to
flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to
avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or
natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state border
Human smuggling= the use of paid or unpaid migration intermediaries to cross borders without
authorization/ the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material
benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or
permanent resident
Human trafficking= the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means
of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the
abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other forms of
sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the
removal of organs
Depoliticization= discursive strategies that remove the political dimension from a social issue
Migratory vs non-migratory mobility
o Human mobility= all forms of human movement outside of their direct living place and
social environment, irrespective of the distance and time-period implied, or whether
this involves the crossing of administrative borders
Non-migratory and migratory mobility are subsets of human mobility
o Migratory mobility= migration and involves the change of residence across
administrative borders (So not within a neighbourhood, town or municipality)
o Non-migratory mobility= all forms of mobility that do not qualify as migration.
Commuting, shopping, tourism etc.
Defining features of migration
o Change in residence
o Crossing of administrative border
Can be internal border (municipality, counties, provinces or states)
Internal/domestic migrants
Or external/ international border (states)
International migration
o Short-term/ temporary migration vs long-term/permanent migration
3 to 12 months vs > 12 months
Principle of non-refoulement
