Migration: The Vocabulary

It is a fundamental human activity

It is how we moved from a limited environment in Africa to occupy every bioregion on Earth.

Every period of human history involves migration.

As a result of migration: Cultures develop as humans adapt to and

interact with new environments. Place creates us as much as we create place.

Cultures change as groups of people adapt too and interact with each other and leave each other changed.

Innovations spread from place to place in a process geographers call diffusion.

Examples of Cultural Change as a Result of Migration

Italian cuisine Afro-Pop Worldwide Moorish Spain La Raza Soccer

Jazz Indian pony Cell phone English starling

Evidence of Past Migration or “footprints”

Ainu of Northern Japan. Gypsy culture. Ancient ruins: Stonehenge, Easter Island,

Olmec relics. Genetic data

Every culture is a blended culture.

There is no such thing as a “pure” culture. (These women are from India, one of the most culturally

diverse nations in the world.)

It’s all called migration. Ancient migration: the gradual expansion of

areas of successful human occupation. Pastoral nomadism: a form of economic

activity involving traveling seasonally to hunt or herd animals.

Modern migration: the search for economic opportunity.Common Factor = the search for resources for livelihood

Types of Migration: Voluntary

Moving to another place to live, work, teach, trade or learn:

Missionaries Import-export businesses Teachers/students Anthropologists Guest workers

Involuntary (Forced)

Forced movement because of political or economic factors:

Slavery Forced marches Pogroms “Ethnic cleansing”

Temporary Migration that is never meant to be

permanent: Military campaigns Religious pilgrimages Seasonal work Trade travel

Reluctant

People move to new areas who didn’t intend to move.

Famine Flood Drought Epidemic Political persecution Civil war Military aggression Earthquake

Migration Destinations Rural-to-urban: half the world’s population now

lives in cities Domestic migration: within one’s own country International migration: to another country

Migration Patterns: Step Migration Rural to small town to city to big city. Often work for a while to earn money to move

further.

Migration Patterns:Chain Migration Using family ties and links with friends to move

to a prepared destination. Canada’s immigration policies promote chain

migration.

Migration Patterns:Channelized Migration A pattern of preference not necessarily tied to

family or friends Retirees to Vancouver Island, Arizona or Florida Scandinavians to Alberta and upper Midwestern

USA. Hawaiians to Salt Spring Island and Las Vegas.

Migration Patterns:Return (Counter) Migration As many as 25% of migrants will return to their

place of origin; Return migration starts almost as soon as the

first in-migration.

In and Out

Immigration: in-migration

Emigration: out-migration

Push and Pull Factors

Push factors: those factors that cause people to decide to leave: lack of opportunity, environmental collapse, war.

Pull factors: those factors that make people decide to go to a particular place: jobs, safety, opportunity.

Migration Fields . . . Field of Origin: the source of a migration

starts close to an exit point; over time, those who leave through that exit point come from farther and farther away.

Destination Field: new arrivals settle as close to their point of arrival as possible; over time, they must settle farther and farther from their “gateway” point.

. . . Become migration streams

The end result is like a river: there is an “erosion” from the point of origin and a build up of a “delta” at the point of arrival.

Diaspora Diaspora means the scattering of a people over

the face of the Earth; it has typically meant a people without a country of their own.

The word was first used regarding the Jewish diaspora, but has expanded to include the African diaspora, the Armenian diaspora, the Palestinian diaspora, and most recently, the Afghani diaspora.

When people arrive

Gateways: usually gateway cities - - a point of entry to a new country

New York City Los Angeles Miami Brownsville, TX

Ethnic geography Charter culture: the dominant first

arrivals who establish the cultural norms; those with the first effective settlement.

Host society: the larger society in which the immigrants must learn to operate

Ethic enclaves: concentration of immigrant arrivals: Little Italy, Germantown, Chinatown, etc.

Voluntary and Involuntary Enclaves Voluntary: new arrivals live and work

close to each other by choice; support, language, food, relationships, adjustment process.

Involuntary: new arrivals cannot move out of the area because of discriminatory laws or practices.

“Redlining” Ghettoes

Acculturation/Assimilation

Acculturation: becoming comfortable with and adapted to new surroundings, retaining elements of one’s original culture.

Assimilation: adopting the cultural norms of the host society, becoming completely integrated into the larger society, dropping one’s original cultural norms.

Concentrations . . . First generation: follows migration

streams, enters through gateway, settles in ethnic enclave which is located in the destination field, and begins the process of acculturation.

Second generation: Makes leap from acculturation to assimilation, moves out of the original enclave, usually in a channelized pattern, creating an ethnic concentration.

. . . And Dispersions

Third generation: Entirely assimilated, move to areas that are only broadly associated with their ethnicity, creating a very broad culture region.

There is nothing new about migration.

Everyone in this room

Is here because of migration