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Ethnic and Racial Studies Migration comes of age
The Age of Migration has been uniquely successful as a student text on international migration, not only filling a niche but defining the field. This review article documents the evolution of the five editions of the book in terms of its core structure and enlarging scope. In a more critical vein, I note some omissions and potential shortcomings, while acknowledging the subjectivity of my perspective. More attention could have been given to the mobilities paradigm, transnationalism, internal and return migration, and quantitative analyses. Nevertheless, this book has done more than any other to ensure that the academic study of migration now occupies a central place in the social sciences.
The State of Migration Theory: Challenges, Interdisciplinarity and Critique
Migration Theory (4th edition), 2022
Reflecting on the changing historical backdrop to the various editions (now 4th) of the widely used handbook Migration Theory: Talking Across Disciplines, edited by Caroline Brettell and James Hollifield, this post-script to the volume offers a brief introduction to the new generation of critical migration studies that have emerged across disciplines, from outside of the migration studies paradigm mostly represented in their collection. It explains the turn to highly politicised and activist-driven critique of the modes of liberal democratic thinking about migration and immigration, which have been exposed as often reproducing techniques of governmental power in the management of populations nationally and internationally. It also addresses the charge of “denying race” in migration studies or that the field is too “white”, while suggesting ways in which the field is being transformed by reflecting on migration in the Global South, or (especially) Global East. It ends with a short sketch of what the author refers to as the study of “political demography”: reframing migration and mobilities studies in line with the critique of critical migration studies and decolonial theory more generally.
Whilst the literature on international migration expands at a seemingly exponential rate, significant statements about the theorisation of migration are much less common; probably they are hindered by the increasing diversification of types of migration. This paper first reviews the various types of migration, and emphasises the need for an interdisciplinary approach to the study and theorisation of migration. In the main part of the paper I provide a personalised overview of theories of international migration, divided into the following sections: push-pull theory and the neoclassical approach; migration and development transitions; historical-structural and political economy models; the role of systems and networks; the 'new economics' of migration; and finally approaches based on the 'transnational turn' in migration studies. In the conclusion I point up some future challenges to theorising migration: the need to embed the study of migration within global processes of social, economic and political transformation and within the biographies of migrants' lifecourses; the importance of also explaining why people do not migrate, and the notion of access to mobility as a differentiating factor of class and inequality; and the relevance of existential and emotional dimensions of migration. The paper is explicitly aimed at a student audience and is intended as a primer to understanding some of the complexities and challenges of theorising migration.
In the context of the contemporary globalized world, international migration gained an increasing interest among social sciences scholars. Which are the main drivers of international migration? Who benefits more from migration: the host or the origin countries or communities? Which is the relationship between migration and social stratification or inequality? What is changing in the identity register for both migrants and natives in social contexts with significant communities of immigrants? Is there any relationship between migration and the new wave of terrorism in Europe? These are only some of the main questions which request the academic community's attention and intricate answers. From this perspective, The Routledge International Handbook of Migration Studies edited by Steven Gold and Stephanie Nawyn is an excellent up to date introduction in a range of topics related to migration studies and a useful tool for scholars interested in economic, cultural and social processes linked to international migration. The Handbook is organized in nine distinct parts covering theoretical and methodological aspects of several dimensions of migration phenomenon. This book review constitutes a brief overview on each of these parts aiming to emphasize some of the most interesting chapters of the handbook. Unauthenticated Download Date | 3/5/15 10:15 PM
International migration has become one of the most important and most contested issues of our times (Castles and Miller 2009). In response to this development, the sociology of migration has, over the past decades, developed into a dynamic and multifaceted fi eld of research. ln this chapter, we present key characteristi cs of this field, introduce the historical trajectories that have influenced its development, and discuss current debates and prospects for future research.
The Sociology of International Migration: Where We Have Been; Where Do We Go from Here?1
Sociological Forum, 2012
Controversies about international migration expose the changing structure of and underlying assumptions about societal membership in many nations. The sociology of international migration has emerged as an increasingly important subfield over the past decade in large part because it has tended to move beyond more narrow economic and demographic problems and has begun to address this fundamentally sociological issue. In the future it will be particularly important that sociologists pay attention to how demographically changing societies define who is and is not a member. As such, legal status and the role of the state has become critically important.
Internal and International Migration: Bridging the Theoretical Divide
Working Paper, 2008
The interdisciplinary field of migration studies is riven with binaries, one of the most fundamental of which is its split into internal and international migration, characterised by different literatures, concepts, methods and policy agendas. Most migration scholars nowadays are researching international migration, even though, quantitatively, internal migration is more important. Yet the distinction between internal and international moves becomes increasingly blurred, not only because of geopolitical events and the changing nature and configuration of borders, but also because migrants’ journeys are becoming increasingly multiple, complex and fragmented. Nevertheless, there remain both many similarities and many differences between these two ‘migration traditions’. The paper is in three main sections. First we present a schematic model which sets out 10 migration pathways which combine internal and international migration, and return migration, in various sequenced relationships. Second, we survey the limited literature which attempts to compare and integrate internal and international migration within the same theoretical framework – both general models and some case-study literature from Mexico. We consider three approaches where theoretical transfer seems to hold potential – systems analysis, studies of migrant integration, and the migration-development nexus. The final part of the paper looks in more detail at the case of Albania where since 1990 there has been contemporaneous mass emigration and internal migration. We deploy both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the links between the two forms of migration in the Albanian context, demonstrating how closely they are entwined both in the macro-dynamics of regional population change and in individual and family biographies of mobility. In conclusion, we argue that there is considerable potential for integrating the study of internal and international migration, both at the theoretical and the empirical level. Too often one is studied without reference to the other, yielding a partial analysis. However, we baulk at attempting any ‘grand theory’ of migration which incorporates all types of migration, in all places and at all times.
International Migrations in a Context of Global Change
New foundations for a sustainable global society, Madrid: CSIC, 2021
International migration is a highly complex and global phenomenon, an ideologically charged and polarizing topic of enormous symbolic and political relevance, a phenomenon that requires an interdisciplinary approach from both a descriptive as well as normative perspective. Migratory flows have increased and are incrementally caused by armed conflicts or climate change, as well as by acute global inequalities. Given that the causes and implications of migration exceeds state limits a comprehensive study needs to abandon “methodological nationalism”. The economic and social integration of the migrant population is a complex challenge, but the opportunities it opens up are also manifold: migration drives economic growth, connects different cultures, and contributes to international development.