Migration And Its Enemies

Can politicians effectively control national borders even if they wish to do so? How do politically powerless migrants relate to more privileged migrants and to national citizens? Is it possible for capital to move to labour rather than vice versa? In this book Robin Cohen shows how the preferences, interests and actions of the three major social actors in international migration policy - global capital, migrant labour and national politicians - intersect and often contradict each other. Cohen addresses these vital questions in a wide-ranging, lucid and accessible account of the historical origins and contemporary dynamics of global migration.

The history of migration from prehistoric man's first steps out of the Rift Valley to the present-day exodus from Syria, and the effects migration has had on language and culture, artistic and scientific advancement throughout history. While recognizing that distinctions between categories are often fuzzy, Migration covers many types of migrants including explorers, slaves, pilgrims, mineworkers, laborers, exiles, refugees, sex workers, students, tourists, retirees and expatriates. Cohen covers a long span of history and many regions and themes, giving context and color to one of the most pressing issues of our time. The text is supplemented by a series of vivid maps, evocative photographs and powerful graphics. Migration is present at the dawn of human history - the phenomena of hunting and gathering, seeking seasonal pasture and nomadism being as old as human social organization itself. The flight from natural disasters, adverse climatic changes, famine, and territorial aggression by other communities or other species were also common occurrences. But if migration is as old as the hills, why is it now so politically sensitive? Why do migrants leave? Where do they go, in what numbers and for what reasons? Do migrants represent a threat to the social and political order? Are they none-the-less necessary to provide labour, develop their home countries, increase consumer demand and generate wealth? Can migration be stopped? All these questions are probed in an authoritative text by one of Britain's leading migration scholars.

Migration is at the heart of Asian history. For centuries migrants have tracked the routes and seas of their ancestors - merchants, pilgrims, soldiers and sailors - along the Silk Road and across the Indian Ocean and the China Sea. Over the last 150 years, however, migration within Asia and beyond has been greater than at any other time in history. Sunil S. Amrith's engaging and deeply informative book crosses a vast terrain, from the Middle East to India and China, tracing the history of modern migration. Animated by the voices of Asian migrants, it tells the stories of those forced to flee from war and revolution, and those who left their homes and their families in search of a better life. These stories of Asian diasporas can be joyful or poignant, but they all speak of an engagement with new landscapes and new peoples.

Only recently has the role of Chinese minorities at the forefront of Southeast Asia's rapid economic growth attracted world attention. Yet interactions between Chinese and Southeast Asians are longstanding and intense, reaching back a thousand years and making it difficult, if not specious, to attempt to disentangle what is Chinese and what is indigenous in much of Southeast Asian culture. Sojourners and Settlers, now back in print, written by some of the most distinguished specialists in the field, demonstrates the depth of that relationship. Contributors: Leonard Blussé, Mary Somers Heidhues, Jamie C. Mackie, Anthony Reid, Craig Reynolds, Claudine Salmon, G. William Skinner, Wang Gungwu, O. W. Wolters.

"The authors challenge currently dominant approaches to migration, and offer important ways to move between the individual experience and the structure of the world system."---Alan Smart, University of Calgary --

International migration has been subject to many studies, conducted by academics, students, policy makers, and in civil society. As the migration flows continue to increase amongst countries, new dynamics shape international politics, economy, and culture. In this context, the main purpose of this book is to present a contemporary understanding of international migration through an interdisciplinary analysis. The authors investigate migration and its dynamics in different perspectives (cultural, economic, political, judicial, and sociological) by considering the latest changes in the international relations agenda. This book sheds light on different minor aspects of international migration in a critical perspective.

Migration is an old, perhaps perpetual, phenomenon. Currently, it is an urgent challenge involving huge numbers of people who leave their home in search of a better life. Differences in language, customs, and norms are often joined by specific manifestations of xenophobia born of particular differences between host countries and their current influx of migrants. In a pronounced way, then, migration reveals important societal questions・of solidarity, of identity, of transition and transformation, of human rights and obligations. The explorations in this collection highlight individual stories of migrants, showcase innovative research methods, and explore concepts and theories that might be usefully applied toward learning needs in a migration society. Including insights from scholars across 14 different countries, this book offers an international perspective on the role of adult education in addressing migration. Such international comparisons hold great potential for seeing new possibilities in any single country, whether in Europe, North America, or across the world.

"This timely book reveals how the increase in traffic of transpacific plants, insects, and peoples raised fears of a "biological yellow peril" beginning in the late nineteenth century, when mass quantities of nursery stock and other agricultural products were shipped from large, corporate nurseries in Japan to meet the growing demand for exotics in the United States. Jeannie Shinozuka marshals extensive research to explain how the categories of "native" and "invasive" defined groups as bio-invasions that must be regulated-or somehow annihilated-during a period of American empire-building. Shinozuka shows how the modern fixation on foreign species provided a linguistic and conceptual arsenal for anti-immigration movements that gained ground in the early twentieth century. Xenophobia fed concerns about biodiversity, and in turn facilitated the implementation of plant quarantine measures while also valuing, and devaluing, certain species over others. The emergence and rise of economic entomology and plant pathology alongside public health and anti-immigration movements was not merely coincidental. Ultimately, what this book unearths is that the inhumane and unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II cannot, and should not, be disentangled from this longer history"--