Forced and Voluntary Migration Why do people migrate? Forced and Voluntary Migration

Types of Migration Forced Migration: involves the imposition of authority or power Voluntary Migration: occurs after a migrant weighs options and choices (even desperate ones) The distinction is not always clear Example: Irish Potato Famine

Power Struggles Migration at an individual level is complex Who makes the decisions in the household? In many regions, men migrate more than women, and men migrate further than women It is possible that not all members of the household want to migrate In many Mexican households, men are sent out to find work away from home In households where there is not a strong male presence, women are sent out to find work

Forced Migration The largest forced migration in history was the Atlantic slave trade, which carried tens of millions of Africans to South America, North America, and the Caribbean Exact numbers are not known, but estimates range from twelve to thirty million Most slaves were transported to South America and the Caribbean North American slaves were very expensive (roughly $35,000 in today’s money), and were treated more humanely

The Atlantic Slave Trade

Atlantic Slave Trade The slave trade began in the sixteenth century in the Caribbean It gradually expanded northwards through North America The slaves performed plantation agriculture Plantation Agriculture: producing one or a couple of cash crops, mainly for export Slaves were mainly exported from the western coast of Africa, due to physical and cultural geography

Other examples of forced migration British convicts exported to Australia from 1788-1830s US government moving Native Americans to reservations in the 1800s Russia moving non-Russians to Central Asia and Siberia from 1920-1953 Germans moving many groups of people to ghettos and concentration camps in the 1930s Countermigration is a form of forced migration US sending back the Haitians in the 1990s

Why do people choose to migrate? Studies of voluntary migration indicates three reasons why people migrate where they do: Similarity between new location and homeland Ease of travel back to homeland Physical distance

Push and Pull Factors When a person, family, or group of people makes a voluntary decision to migrate, push and pull factors come into play Push Factors: the conditions and perceptions that help a migrant decide to leave a place Pull Factors: the circumstances that effectively attract the migrant to certain locales from other places The decision to migrate is a combination of push and pull factors

Push Factors Typically more accurate than pull factors Include individual considerations such as: Work or retirement conditions Cost of living Personal safety and security Environmental catastrophies

Pull Factors Pull factors can be based solely on perception The closer one migrates, the more accurate the perception Distance Decay: the intensity of human activity, process, or function declines as distance from the source increases

Other types of migration Step Migration: occurs when migration happens in stages Example: a farmer moving to a village, then a town, then a city, and finally a metropolis Not everyone that sets out for the “big city” makes it there Some get sidetracked by intervening opportunities An opportunity that presents itself in such a way that is a barrier to migration

Types of Push and Pull Factors

Economic Conditions Economic opportunities are the number one reason why people migrate Perceived opportunities cause millions to flee to Western Europe and North America When the economy is in a recession, immigration decreases, both legal and illegal

Political Circumstances Migrations are driven by escape and expulsion Vietnamese immigrants that fled Vietnam following the Vietnam War are known as “boat people”

Armed Conflict and Civil War Examples include the breakup of Yugoslavia (Balkanization) and the genocide in Rwanda

Environmental Conditions The Irish Potato famine was a result of disastrous environmental conditions Emigration occurs in California following every major earthquake

Culture and Traditions People who fear their culture and traditions will not survive a major political transition often migrate Millions of Muslim Indians fled India to Pakistan Many white citizens of South Africa fled to Great Britain, Australia, and North America after the end of Apartheid

Technological Advances People can learn about new places, search for job opportunities, and even purchase real estate via the Internet Kinship links also strengthen the pull factor to a new place Ethnic neighborhoods When migrants move through kinship links, this is called chain migration Chain migration can create immigration waves, or swells in immigration from one origin to the same destination