Immigration - a Complex Issue

Justin Miller

Professor Rich

Culture and Expression

2/22/2016

Immigration, a complex issue

        Immigration is a complicated subject to understand, it has a variety of underlying causes and can cause many threats, both those that we know and those that remain unknown. Immigration, however, may also provide many benefits to society as well, and it is for this reason that there is no clear-cut answer as to what is the right way to treat the issue. Because migration is an inherently complex and challenging concept to understand, Professor Mavrikos-Adamou, in her lecture, states that her primary goal is to both shine some light on the topic as a whole, and to introduce to her audience the field of study known as “migration studies.” This area of studies, she claims, is inherently multidisciplinary because of its ties to modern politics, the contemporary ability to more easily travel and communicate, the ability to inspire and take inspiration from the arts, and the challenges which it presents to the countries participating in this exchange of peoples.

Adamou begins her lecture by defining for her audience the field of study known as “migration studies.” Describing it as a field of studies primarily devoted to the movement of people, studying these movements through the lenses of many different areas including political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, geography, law, history, and others1. Adamou then prepares the audience for the understanding of immigration by defining three different types of migration. She described these as “internal migration” such as seen during the Great Migration, “inter-regional migration” such as that found when people migrate freely between European countries, and “international migration,” in which a person crosses closed international borders, such as the boundary between the United States of America and Mexico. However, more importantly than the different types of migration, Adamou asks her audience to consider the question “why do we study this human movement?” Her claim in this lecture is that of a humanitarian, for she presents different statistics to the audience to elicit sympathy and share the dire status of many of these immigrants punctuating a basic point; they often need help. She tells us of the 21.3 million refugees in the world, almost half of which are minors, and mentions the nearly ten million stateless people who “have been denied a nationality and access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement.”1 Her last claim, then, is that it is both beneficial to these people and for the countries into which they migrate that we study migration.

Having sufficiently talked about the various regional qualities of migration and the reasons for Migration Studies, Adamou then continues to speak of the different categories and subcategories of the term “migrant.” To correctly define these categories, however, Adamou first must discuss the causes of migration. These causes are wide-reaching and include a variety of topics such as underdevelopment, poverty, environmental disruptions, war/conflict, and human rights violations. These inciters of movement lead to various non-exclusive subcategories of the term “migrant.” These subcategories include “voluntary” vs “forced” migrants, a contrast between those who choose to leave their country of origin and those who feel compelled to leave. Another important distinction is that between “legal” and “illegal” migrants, A status based on the ownership of the proper documentation to live in a country. Adamou even further places these people into subcategories, referring to the differences between “labor” migrants who travel for work and consist of both low and high skilled workers, non-labor migrants, and female migrants1. Finally, she introduces several more terms to clarify misconceptions about the legality and correctness of various terms. “Asylum Seekers” are defined as “[a] person who left their country of origin and who has formally applied for international protection and whose application has not yet been determined/concluded.”1 Whereas “refugee” is a person who has been forced to leave their country because of persecution, war, or natural disaster. Because these terms have objectively correct legal definitions, Adamou continues to try and correct the various misconceptions about them.

Adamou then points out that, in a globalist society such as that in which we live in today, certain concepts which are traditionally defined rigidly or without question need be changed or redefined. Her first example of this is with the introduction of the term “irregular migrants.” While this term might be awkward, she defends it by saying that linguistically speaking, people cannot be “illegal.” Illegality also assumes some malicious intent. However that is not always the case, such as with the event of a student on a visa; their status could change quite literally overnight if they miss a deadline, but more often than not there is no malicious intent except for, perhaps, a little laziness. Other examples of post-national citizenship are then presented, and it is questioned whether or not there are certain rights which should transcend national boundaries. She accompanies this though with the presentation of ideas such as diasporas, de-territorialized identities, transnational communities, and dual-citizenships, all of which are ideas which transcend the traditional idea of single-nation identities.