Migration and Diversity

Front Matter

2024-07-30

Living with ‘Uninvited Guests’ of Necessity? The Dilemma of African Migrants Sandwiched between Public Attitudes and Economic Realities in Malta

Mike Omilusi — 2024-07-29

This current study establishes how host-state economic realities (economic boom and labour shortages) and refugee security interact with the broader dynamics of irregular migration. It explores the circumstances in which migrant communities experience stereotypes, public attitudes, and racial discrimination in the context of contemporary Maltese immigration. Drawing on focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, informal conversations, sample survey and extant migration literature, the study interrogates the resilience of African refugees and asylum seekers and the political will of the Maltese authorities to protect them. It offers policy recommendations to foster social cohesion, human dignity, and equal concern which are necessary for achieving effective migrant integration.

The Migration Dreamer: A New Insight into Concepts and Issues in Cameroonian Migration

Vivian Besem Ojong — 2024-07-29

Our paper reports on the challenges that confront Cameroonian migrants and, in particular, "migration dreamers" or migration aspirants who face serious limits, including social extinction or social relegation beyond recovery. Combining data from fieldwork with documentary records on trends in Cameroonian migration, this paper focuses on the social impact and adverse outcomes for aspiring migrants and movers. It reveals that there are migration aspirants who are victims of social extinction and feature prominently behind the camera. As their population increase, their activities have intricate and ferocious impacts at the micro or grassroots level with regard to the hazards thereof. In light of the intricate link between grassroots and national levels in socio-economic development, the article concludes that a major way out is to incorporate the issue into national policy frameworks and, in the process, also engage the attention of interested international agencies.

An Analysis of In-Migration of “Parosee” Tribal in Rural Uttar Pradesh, India in the Context of International Gulf Migration

Mohammed Taukeer — 2024-07-29

International labour migration from Uttar Pradesh to Gulf countries is a new phenomenon in the context of globalization of migration in the twenty first century. Therefore, the major objective of this research paper is based on an explorative study about the role of international Gulf migration in the internal migration of tribal in rural Uttar Pradesh, India. The methodology of the paper is based on empirically based primary field surveys, conducted in two phases from February 2015 to March 2015 and October 2023 to November 2023 in Inayat Patti with its surrounding villages and urban city namely Kareli- in Prayagraj (Allahabad) district, Uttar Pradesh, India. Collected primary data is analyzed in the framework of ethnographic technique under analysis of a cause-effect model with content analysis. The findings of the study show that the culture of Gulf migration created a shortage of labourers in the located brick kilns in rural Uttar Pradesh and these consequences led to tribal-based parosee migration from neighbouring tribal states of Uttar Pradesh namely- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to brick kilns in rural Uttar Pradesh. These tribal migrants were known as parosee among local people in rural Uttar Pradesh due to their neighbouring connection with Uttar Pradesh. Consequences of tribal-based parosee migration were caused by the function of cultural migration and promoted tribal-based culture due to interaction with nomadic local Musahar tribal community in out-international Saudi-based Gulf migration zone in rural Uttar Pradesh as well as created problems of environment degradation, health problems due to black fume of brick kilns and also created a barrier in the implementation of agenda of sustainable development goals (SDGs) 2030 of United Nation. Therefore, the findings of the study will encourage researchers, policymakers, and academicians to further research in the study of the nexus of sustainable development and migration in India and the rest of the world.

Haitians at the Mexican-American Border

William McCorkle — 2024-07-29

Since 2021, the city of Reynosa on the Mexican-American border has seen a dramatic change in the asylum-seeking population, primarily being composed of families from Central America to now being overwhelmingly Haitian. The authors have assisted with aid work and conducted research in Reynosa with the Haitian population as well as volunteers and educators who have worked with them. This article, based on our ethnographic research, examines the reasons for the increase in Haitian immigration, the experiences of these migrants both coming to and living at the Mexican-American border, and the treatment of the Haitians by the Mexican government and society. The research indicates some similar dynamics that Haitians face in comparison to other asylum seekers but also some unique challenges given the role of race at the border. The findings indicate that the often harsher experience of Haitian migrants is also intertwined with more restrictive border and migration policies based on national origin and wealth.

Amélie Le Renard (2021) The Western Privilege: Work, Intimacy, and Postcolonial Hierarchies in Dubai

Cansu Kandara — 2024-07-29

Review of Western Privilege: Work, Intimacy, and Postcolonial Hierarchies in Dubai by Amélie (Saba) Le Renard (Transl. by Jane Kuntz, Stanford University Press. (256 Pages, Hardcover ISBN: 9781503613843, Paperback ISBN: 9781503629233, Ebook ISBN: 9781503629240)

Western Privilege overlooks a sociological perspective on the Western expats’ hegemony who are the privileged ones in Dubai from a feminist postcolonial perspective. The researcher Amélie Le Renard emphasizes transformations and reproduction of hierarchies that interlink race, nationality, gender, and sexuality. The researcher demonstrates concessions and privileges for the employees and the white collars who have Western passports and non-white employees and working class from other countries. Having a Western European passport reproduces the hierarchical division of labor in favor of getting well-paid, having higher positions, easier career jumping, and redoubling or rapid salary increase for Westerners in the job market, and having more working hours as opposed to getting less paid within resident permit problems for non-Westerners.