Migration Studies Commons^™

Double Margins: Yolanda Martines-San Miguel Discusses Lgbtq Hispanic Caribbean Lit, Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

In her talk, "Families of Desire: Migration and Sexuality in New York's Caribbean Enclaves," Yolanda Martinez-San Miguel explored the representation of same-sex affective and sexual relationships in the works of one lesbian and two gay Hispanic Caribbean authors, all of whom migrated to New York from their island of origin and who portray this Diasporic experience in their writing. Her presentation forms part of a broader, book-length project on cultural representations of migration among Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and New York, including literature, popular music, graffiti, and photography.

No. 04: Gender Concerns In South African Migration Policy, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

This paper draws attention to the need for a gender analysis of the South African government’s proposed new policy on international migration, by identifying a number of areas of implicit gender discrimination. Such “discrimination by default” is of more than academic relevance, having important implications for national and regional development. Research undertaken by the Southern African Migration Project indicates a growing “feminization” of migration to South Africa from the Southern African region, as well as gender-specific motives and patterns of migration. If migration is to be effectively managed, such realities must be taken into account. The paper concludes by advocating …

No. 02: The New South African Immigration Bill: A Legal Analysis, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

The Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) notes the promulgation of an Immigration Bill in Government Gazette Vol. 416 (No. 20889) on 15 February 2000 and the invitation to submit comments. SAMP supports the Department’s contention, implicit in the gazetting of a new Bill, that the Aliens Control Act is an unacceptable instrument for the sound and effective management of migration. The rescinding of the Aliens Control Act and its replacement by a new Immigration Act is therefore a matter of highest priority. However, it is equally important that such legislation is not rushed; that it is constitutionally-sound, implementable and cost-effective. …

No. 03: Making Up The Numbers: Measuring “Illegal Immigration” To South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

The extent of South Africa’s “illegal immigrant” problem continues to confound. Numbers in the millions continue to be casually thrown around by officials, politicians, and the local and foreign press. The study on which these millionaire estimates are based has been widely discredited. But those who are critical of the study and skeptical of the inflated numbers are unable to come up with alternative numbers. Their response is usually that the extent of undocumented migration is, by definition, unknowable. True as it might be, this response unfortunately does not help very much. In this paper, the author attempts to break …

No. 01: The South African White Paper On International Migration: An Analysis And Critique, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

SAMP commends the South African government and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) for their ongoing commitment to developing a new immigration and migration policy framework, exemplified most recently by the passage of a new Refugee Act and the gazetting of a Draft White Paper on International Migration (WP).

SAMP notes with encouragement the steps taken in the Draft White Paper to move to a more holistic view of the benefits of sound, effective and transparent immigration management. SAMP is supportive of continued immigration policy transformation and any initiatives that advance this aim.

SAMP possesses the experience and capacity to …

No. 06: The Point Of No Return: Evaluating The Amnesty For Mozambican Refugees In South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

In the 1980s, civil war in Mozambique forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and seek refuge in neighbouring countries, including South Africa. Formal refugee status was granted only after the civil war ended, with the signing in October 1992 of a Tripartite Agreement between Mozambique, South Africa and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The majority of these former Mozambican refugees clearly wish to remain in South Africa, as few took advantage of a UNHCR offer of free repatriation to Mozambique in the early 1990s. In 2000, an estimated 200-220 000 former Mozambican refugees …

No. 05: Counting Brains: Measuring Emigration From South Africa, Jonathan Crush, Vincent Williams

Southern African Migration Programme

Official South African statistics on the magnitude of emigration from the country seriously undercount. In this paper, the authors have devised an innovative methodology which reveals the extent of the undercount but also provides important insights into the volume and sectoral distribution of emigrants. One of the common strategies suggested for countering some of the negative consequences of “brain drain” is the mobilization of diaspora networks. The paper provides an introduction to one such network, the SANSA project. The paper was written by Mercy Brown, David Kaplan and Jean-Baptiste Meyer of the Development Policy Research Unit of the University of …

No. 22: Immigration, Xenophobia And Human Rights In South Africa, Jonathan Crush

Southern African Migration Programme

In 2000, the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) entered into a partnership with the Roll Back Xenophobia Campaign of the South African Human Rights Commission. The two cooperated in offering a series of country-wide training workshops for media and journalists at which the results of SAMP research into media xenophobia was presented and discussed. This publication is the second product of that partnership. The paper sets out to critically review and examine the evidence for the argument that xenophobia is widespread and growing in South Africa. While it is important to document the scale of the problem and the enormity …

No. 21: Cross-Border Raiding And Community Conflict In The Lesotho-South African Border Zone, Gary Kynoch, Theresa Ulicki, Tsepang Cekwane, Booi Mohapi, Mampolokeng Mohapi, Ntsoaki Phakisi, Palesa Seithleko

Southern African Migration Programme

Movement backwards and forwards across borders for work is often considered to be the primary form of unauthorized movement in Southern Africa. In southern Lesotho, a new and particularly dangerous form of two-way cross-border movement has become entrenched. This situation warrants the label “crisis”; a crisis which is devastating parts of the countryside in both Lesotho and the northern Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Media and official attention has focused on the extreme violence which accompanies cross-border stock raiding. This paper seeks to understand the social and economic roots and impacts of cross-border stock theft. Such an analysis is …

No Easy Walk: Advancing Refugee Protection In South Africa, Jeff Handmaker

Southern African Migration Programme

South Africa only began accepting individual applications for political asylum in 1994. A policy designed to recognize former Mozambican refugees for the purposes of a repatriation program became the (awkward) basis of the asylum procedure up until April 2000. Criticized by some, a lively discussion raising often-contradictory views began in 1996, leading to a policy reform process culminating in the Refugees Act in December 1998. The Act only came into force at the beginning of April 2000. This article analyzes the process of policy development in South Africa, focusing on practical and theoretical challenges facing the government in the implementation …

Ecological Degradation, Rural Poverty, And Migration In Ethiopia: A Contextual Analysis, Markos Ezra

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The interrelationships between ecological degradation, poverty, and rural out-migration in Ethiopia are examined using data from a Household and Community Survey conducted in 1994-95. The survey, which covered a sample of 2,000 households, collected retrospective data on changes in household composition, including migration of household members, during the period 1984 to 1994. The study hypothesizes that the decision to out-migrate in the impoverished rural areas of northern Ethiopia is influenced by a combination of factors based on individual, household and community characteristics. A multilevel analysis is applied to determine the role of these factors in the decision. The findings show …

Chapter One: Migration And Radicalization In The Age Of Covid-19, Gabriel Rubin

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

How do we flatten the radicalization curve? How do we quell the millions of people disaffected by their new societies or by the changes to their old ones? In 2020, with covid-19 running rampant, trends regarding migration and radicalization took a backseat. But migration and the reactions it causes in host societies a critically important issues for our post-pandemic world. As migrants move to new lands, they are subjected to accusations of being radicals and criminals, and are blamed for extremist nationalist violence on the part of their hosts. The politics of migration have pulled some democracies into illiberalism and …