CLA: Global REM

Border Control and Technology

2008-08-16T03:06:06Z

The following resource utilizes articles, images and videos that describe the use of sophisticated technologies to control migration at the border between the United State and Mexico. The goal is to encourage students to understand how technology is not neutral, but functions in complex political and economic contexts, often to foster exclusion of certain racial and ethnic groups.

]]> Introduction
Debates over illegal migration often invoke the use of technology as a solution to control migration and to enhance security. Consequently, increasingly sophisticated and expensive technologies have been developed to monitor the external borders of nation-states. For example, the 2,000 mile border along the United States and Mexico, has become increasingly militarized and monitored through the application of various technologies. However, the sophistication of the technology and the increased danger of illegal border crossings have not deterred migrants from risking their lives in order to get into the United States. An exclusive focus on ‘technological fixes’ to border control ignores the economic realities, partially induced by the North American Free Trade Agreement, that have devastated livelihoods in Mexico and increased pressure to migrate. While border surveillance is designed to attempt to keep some migrants out of the United States, other technologies, such as the NEXUS program at the US and Canada border, are used to facilitate the migration of privileged economic classes. As a result, these technologies effectively separate groups of migrants, and raise significant questions about equity and human rights. Finally, technologies used for migration control are not exclusively focused on the external borders of nation-states. Passports, biometrics, identity cards all enable border control to occur within the boundaries of nation-states. Although technology can be useful, it is important to understand that it does not exist as a neutral device. Technologies of border control are linked to power relations, exclusionary politics and globalizing economic forces.

The following resources focus on how technology is used to control the border of the United States and Mexico, and how migrants respond to changing border management. The first source is an article published by the Christian Science Monitor which provides details on “Project 28", a United States program that attempted to create a virtual fence along 28 miles of the border with Mexico. The second source, an audio file by National Public Radio, describes the results of a new virtual surveillance program in Texas, the Texas Border Watch project, which broadcast live video footage of the border on the internet and requested that the public report suspicious activity. The third source is a PBS video, entitled Mexico: Crimes at the Border, which shows how smugglers and migrants change their border-crossing strategies in response to the increased surveillance and militarization of the border. The final source, a New York Times article, describes how a migrant was shot and killed at the border fence, as well as the reactions to the killing in Mexico.

Sources

Source one
Wood, Daniel. 2008. Arizona's 'Virtual' Wall Gets Reality Check. Christian Science Monitor.
Click here for related photographs.

Source two
National Public Radio. 2007. Texas Tests Cameras Along Mexican Border.

Source three
PBS. Mexico: Crimes at the Border.

Source four
McKinley, James C. Jr. 2006. A Border Killing Inflames Mexican Anger at U.S. Policy. New York Times.

Discussion Questions

(1) What difficulties did ‘Project 28’ encounter, and what are the implications of the outcomes of this project for further utilization of more complex and expensive technologies to control border spaces? What impact does this have on migrants trying to cross the border? How do smugglers in the PBS video circumvent increased use of technology and surveillance?

(2) What are the perspectives on the militarization of the border in Mexico, as described in the New York Times article? How does the militarization of the border reflect broader racial and ethnic tensions?

(3) The US-Mexico border has also become increasingly monitored by vigilante groups, but in the case of the Texas Border Watch project the state called on its citizens to monitor the border on the internet. What are the implications of calling on civilians to monitor the border and how successful was this technology?

Suggested Reading

Sparke, Matthew B. 2006. A neoliberal nexus: Economy, security and the biopolitics of citizenship on the border. Political Geography, 25, no. 2:151-180.

Brain Drain: Healthcare Workers

2008-08-11T21:33:42Z

This resource uses a map and newspaper articles to provide a broad overview of the contemporary ‘brain drain’ of healthcare workers. Its goal is to further understanding of the general dynamics of contemporary migrations of healthcare workers and to stimulate thinking about the implications of this movement for sending and destination countries, as well as for the migrants themselves.

]]> Introduction

A typical stereotype, that migrants are unskilled and poorly trained, is defied by the significance of the global migration of highly skilled workers, such as doctors and nurses. This is part of a phenomenon popularly called the ‘brain drain,’ which is a term used to designate the emigration of highly skilled individuals, often from a developing to a developed country. Globally, the continued migration of healthcare workers from places where there are critical shortages exacerbates already existing inequalities between world regions and nation-states. For sending states, this migration not only results in the loss of skilled workers, but it is also a lost financial investment. The training of healthcare workers is expensive, and when healthcare workers leave their home country, their training leaves with them. However, like other migrants, many healthcare workers still maintain ties with their home countries by sending financial remittances. Some countries, such as the Philippines, even encourage the migration of healthcare workers, because their remittances are important for the national economy. Another potential, but currently rare, benefit for sending countries results when migrants return with more education and work experience. In the receiving countries, the critical need for healthcare workers does not necessarily mean that these migrants receive superior treatment. Indeed, quite the opposite may be true: studies undertaken in a wide variety of receiving states attest to the racial discrimination experienced by migrant healthcare workers, despite their social location in the labor market. Moreover, migrant healthcare workers have also been subject to different degrees of deskilling (when their skills are not acknowledged and they are given jobs for which they are over-qualified) because educational credentials may not be recognized in receiving states.

The following sources provide a perspective on the global dimensions of the migration of healthcare workers, as well as more specific stories about its impacts on sending and receiving states. The first source is a map, produced by the World Health Organization, which shows countries with and without critical shortages of health service providers. The second source, a story broadcast by National Public Radio, includes pictures and links to an audio clip which describe the impact of critical shortages of healthcare workers in Kenya. Finally, the third source, an article from the BBC, details the experiences of racism faced by migrant nurses in the United Kingdom.

Sources

Source one
World Health Organization. 2006. Countries with a critical shortage of health service providers (doctors, nurses and midwives).

Source two
Wilson, Brenda. 2005. Developing Countries See Health Care 'Brain Drain'. Morning Edition, National Public Radio.

Source three
BBC NEWS. 2003. UK 'racist' to overseas nurses.

Discussion Questions

(1) The map reveals that Africa suffers the most from critical shortages of health service providers. How is Kenya trying to combat the impacts of ‘brain drain’? What are the implications of this strategy? What are other possible reasons, besides migration, that may account for the shortage of healthcare workers?

(2) The map is based on data collected at the scale of the nation-state. What are the implications of focusing on the nation-state as the primary unit of analysis? What does this focus obscure (for example, differences between rural and urban areas as highlighted in the NPR article)?

(3) Consider the voices of the health service workers and how they are represented in the two articles. While nurses may be legally recruited from abroad, they still face exploitation, discrimination, and deskilling. What are the challenges faced by migrating health service workers? Consider racial and gender-related dimensions.

Suggested Readings

Coombes, Rebecca. 2005. Developed world is robbing African countries of health staff. BMJ: British Medical Journal 330, no. 7497:923-923.

Hugo, Graeme. 2007. Population geography. Progress in Human Geography 31, no. 1:77-88.

Pond, Bob, and Barbara McPake. 2006. The health migration crisis: the role of four Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. Lancet 367, no. 9520:1448-1455.

Ray, Kristin M., B. L. Lowell, and Sarah Spencer. 2006. International Health Worker Mobility: Causes, Consequences, and Best Practices. International Migration 44, no. 2:181-203.

Climate Change, Developing Countries/Regions, and Migration

2002-07-01T21:49:32Z

This resource consists of maps and texts about climate change and its impact on migration. Its goal is to reveal how less developed regions such as Africa suffer disproportionately from climate change and to stimulate critical thinking about possible ways to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change.

]]> Introduction

A 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a collaborative team of international experts and government agencies assessing the latest scientific knowledge on climate, asserted that the warming of the Earth’s climate system is “unequivocal." Climate change affects different regions in different ways, and less industrialized regions become particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, such as rising sea levels, soil erosion, floods, droughts, famine, deforestation, and desertification. A report published in Nature in 2005 points out that sub-Sarahran Africa is at highest risk for climate-related health problems. Climate change also exacerbates the long-standing problems in Africa, such as water and food insecurity, conflict and poverty. For example, food production is expected to halve by 2020, and 250 million people—over 25 percent of Africa’s population—will not have easy access to water. Climate change, together with other social, economic and political tensions, can also disrupt livelihood and serve as a “push" factor for people’s migration to seek better living conditions, either domestically or in another country. While scholars have different perspectives on the impacts of climate change on migration, it has been widely accepted that the potential for climate change to increase migration deserves careful consideration and policy attention. It has become an enormous ethical global imperative that developed countries take a leading role in reducing climate change impacts and promoting sustainable and equal development.

The following sources show how less developed regions suffer disproportionately from climate change and suggest possible solutions to mitigate the threats of climate change. The first two sources show the total greenhouse gas emissions in 2000 by country (the first map) and the estimated deaths attributed to climate change in 2000 by subregion (second map) respectively. The third source is a news report from Voice of America (VOA) discussing how climate change drives migration from sub-Saharan Africa. The last source is an excerpt from a migration expert’s comments on the relationship between climate change and forced migration and the possible ways to reduce or eliminate forced migration.

Sources

Source One

Citation: Basu, Paroma. “Third World Bears Brunt of Global Warming Impacts." University of Wisconsin-Madison Online News, November 16, 2005. The map was created by a team of climate and health scientists from UW-Madison and World Health Organization.

Source Two

Citation: Basu, Paroma. “Third World Bears Brunt of Global Warming Impacts." University of Wisconsin-Madison Online News, November 16, 2005. Drawing from date from the World Health Organization, this map was created by a team of climate and health scientists from UW-Madison and World Health Organization.

Source Three

Palus, Nancy. “Experts Say Climate Change Drives Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa." Voice of America News Online, March 20, 2008.

Source Four

Excerpts for classroom use.

Citation: Castles, Steven. "Environmental Change and Forced Migration: Making Sense of the Debate." Working Paper No.70. Geneva: UNHCR, 2002.

Discussion Questions

(1) According to the two maps, what are the countries and regions with large greenhouse gas emissions? What regions have the largest numbers of deaths attributed to climate change? Why is Africa most vulnerable to climate change?

(2) What social impacts does climate change have on Africa? What is the impact on migration? Why are women most affected?

(3) According to Castles, what are the root causes of forced migration due to climate change and other factors? What do you think can be done to reduce forced migration and eliminate such root causes (consider international and national levels as well as individuals such as you and I in our daily life)?

Suggested Readings

Larry, M.L., O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/ar4-wg2.htm

Piguet, Etienne. “Climate Change and Forced Migration: How Can International Policy Respond to Climate-induced Displacement?" Geneva: UNHCR Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit, 2008.

Rain, D. Eaters of the Dry Season – Circular Labor Migration in the West African Sahel. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999.

Swain, A. “Environmental Migration and Conflict Dynamics: Focus on Developing Regions."Third World Quarterly 17, no. 5 (1996): 959-973.

Columbian Exchange

2002-05-01T18:04:27Z

This resource consists of texts and images dealing with the Columbian Exchange. Its goals is to evaluate the mixed consequences of the Columbian Exchange by examining two of its most infamous elements: small pox and chocolate.

]]> Introduction

The “Columbian Exchange" is the term used to describe the complex biological and ecological consequences of European voyages to the Americas starting in the late fifteenth century. These early explorations ignited an unparalleled quantity of exchange in plants, animals, people, and diseases across the Atlantic and had an enormous and mixed affect on the world’s human populations and the natural environment. Food, such as wheat and grapes, and animals such as horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and chickens made their way from Europe to the Americas. Crops indigenous to the Americas, including maize, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, peppers, peanuts, manioc, papayas, cacao, avocados, tobacco, and pineapples were transplanted to parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa and became important elements in many cultures' foodways. Most devastating perhaps was the uneven global circulation of pathogens. Europeans transferred deadly diseases to the indigenous populations of the Americas, whose immune systems were ill-prepared to ward off imported diseases like smallpox. Such contagions produced widespread epidemics though the Americas, contributing to a precipitous decline in the indigenous population. While the total number of deaths attributable to European diseases remains in dispute, scholars estimate that over 100 million people perished from European diseases imported to the Americans and Pacific Islands between 1500 and 1800.

The following sources provide evidence of the complex outcomes of the Columbian Exchange. The first resource is a drawing by Spanish missionary and Aztec archeologist Father Bernardino de Sahagún from the mid sixteenth century that depicts small pox victims at different stages of the disease. Historians estimate that over the sixteenth century, infectious diseases may have reduced the number of people belonging to the Aztec civilization in present day Mexico from around 17 million to 1.3 million. The second source is an excerpt from Sahagún's Book Twelve of the Florentine Codex that describes the role of smallpox in the defeat of the Aztec by the Spaniards. The third source is an excerpt from a mid-seventeenth century treatise written on chocolate and the cacao plant (from which chocolate derives) by Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma, a Spanish physician. Indigenous to Mesoamerica, natives introduced the cocoa plant to the Spanish. Soon chocolate become a popular drink throughout Europe.

Sources

Source One:

Citation: Bernardino de Sahagún, Fray. Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España, c. 1575-1580, edited and translated by James Lockhart in We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

Source Two:

Excerpts for classroom use.
Florentine Codex, date.

Citation: Bernardino de Sahagún, Fray. Florentine Codex. Quoted in James Lockhart. We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico. Repertorium Columbianum: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993.

Source Three:

Excerpts for classroom use.

Citation: Colmenero de Ledesma, Antonio. A Curious TREATISE OF THE NATURE and QUALITY OF CHOCOLATE, Done into English from the Original Spanish. In Philippe Sylvestre Dufour. The manner of making of coffee, tea, and chocolate as it is used in most parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, with their virtues/ newly done out of French and Spanish. Printed for William Crook at the Green Dragon without Temple Bar near De|vereux Court, 1685 102-111. EEBO: Early English Books Online. http://eebo.chadwyck.com.floyd.lib.umn.edu/home (accessed Aug. 23, 2008).

Discussion Questions

(1) According to the first two documents, what role did small pox play in the defeat of the Aztecs? What do we learn about the disease from the two accounts?

(2) What ingredients in addition to cacao were used to make chocolate? How did methods of preparation and consumption differ among the indigenous, Spanish, and other Europeans? How does the document portray the native population?

(3) Evaluate the sources together to think about whether the Columbian Exchange was a mutually beneficial exchange. Who profited from the flow of pathogens and food goods? Provide examples of current debates over fair exchange in discussions of global trade today.

Suggested Readings

Crosby, Alfred W. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Westport: Greenwood Pub. Co, 1972.

Richards, John F. The Unending Frontier: An Environmental History of the Early Modern World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

Coolie Trade in the 19th Century

2002-05-01T05:59:09Z

This resource consists of historical documents about Chinese coolies imported to Cuba during the 19th century. Its goal is to highlight the human experience during the coolie trade and to encourage critical thinking about how the coolie trade and coolies were portrayed and discussed internationally.

]]> Introduction

The “coolie trade" refers to the importation of Asian contract laborers (especially Chinese and Indians) under force or deception during the 19th century. It emerged during the “gradual abolition" of slavery in the early 19th century, and coolies were exploited as substitutes for slave labor. The British were the first to experiment with this infamous form of labor migration when they imported 200 Chinese to Trinidad in 1806, the time when the British ended the slave trade. By 1838, some 25,000 East Indians had been exported to the new British East African colony of Mauritius. While Indian coolies were mainly transported inside British colonies, 250,000 to 500,000 Chinese coolies were imported during 1847-1874 to various British, French, Dutch and Spanish colonies in the Americas, Africa and Southeast Asia. During this twenty-seven year period, about 125,000 Chinese coolies were sent to Cuba. They were predominantly men from southern China exported via Macao (then a Portuguese colony). Eighty percent or more were sent directly to sugar plantations. Coolies worked and lived no better than slaves, having insufficient food, lacking promised medical care, working long hours, and suffering physical torture. The merciless coolie trade caused scandal in contemporary international media and was criticized as a new form of slavery. In 1855, England withdrew its ships carrying Chinese coolie laborers to Cuba and Peru; in 1856, Peru followed suit and made the coolie trade illegal; in 1862, the United States banned the coolie trade in a law issued by President Lincoln; around 1874 the Portuguese also ended the coolie trade via Macao under international pressure. While having long viewed Chinese abroad as “abandoned people" and having been largely impotent in confronting western powers, the late Qing government took a rather firm stand after the mid-19th century to protect its overseas subjects. In 1877, a Sino-Spanish Treaty provided that the Chinese then under contract in Cuba had their contracts terminated, and Chinese consuls were named to protect Chinese residing in Cuba.

The following sources are about the experiences of Chinese coolie laborers in Cuba and how the coolie trade was discussed internationally. Source one includes excerpts from a report submitted by a Chinese commission sent to Cuba in 1874 to investigate the mistreatment of Chinese laborers. In less than two months, the Cuban Commission collected 1,176 depositions and 85 petitions supported by 1,665 signatures, all vividly demonstrating the miserable lives of Chinese coolies in Cuba. Source two is a New York Times article in 1860 that advocates for United States governmental actions against the coolie trade and compares the coolie trade with Chinese migration to the United States.

Sources

Source One
Excerpts for classroom use.

Citation: The Cuba Commission Report: A Hidden History of the Chinese in Cuba, The Original English-Language Text of 1876. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Source Two
Excerpts for classroom use.

Citation: “The American Coolie-Trade." New York Times, April 21, 1860, sec. 4.

Discussion Questions

(1) According to their own testimonies, how did Chinese coolies come to Cuba? How were they treated in Cuba?

(2) According to the New York Times article, why should the United States act against the participation of United States merchants in the coolie trade?

(3) How did the New York Times article differentiate coolies to Cuba from Chinese immigrants in the US? Read the two sources together, what can we see about the different portrayals and the ambiguous position of Chinese labor migrants in different local contexts (such as their racial status, interracial marriage, cultural characteristics and economic value)?

Suggested Readings:

Christopher, Emma, Cassandra Pybus, and Marcus Buford Rediker. Many Middle Passages: Forced Migration and the Making of the Modern World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.

Hu-DeHart, Evelyn. "Chinese Coolie Labour in Cuba in the Nineteenth Century: Free Labour or Neo-slavery?" Slavery and Abolition 14, no.1 (April 1993): 67–83.

Irick, Robert L. Ch’ing Policy toward the Coolie Trade: 1847-1878. Taipei: Chinese Materials Center, 1982.

Jung, Moon-Ho. "Outlawing "Coolies": Race, Nation, and Empire in the Age of Emancipation." American Quarterly 57, no. 3 (September 2005): 677-701.

Lai, Walton Look. Indentured Labor, Caribbean Sugar: Chinese and Indian Migrants to the British West Indies, 1838–1918. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Demographic Trends, Fertility and Migration

2002-04-01T06:00:00Z

This resource consists of graphs and articles that review general demographic changes and related national policies on migration. The goal is to provide information about general population trends, while encouraging a critical examination of policies, such as replacement migration, which are designed to address these trends.

]]> Introduction

Towards the end of the 20th century, the rate of global population growth declined, and many countries, such as Italy, Japan, and Russia, even began to face the prospect of absolute population decline. Complicating this demographic change is the fact that many nation-states with declining population numbers will also have an increasing proportion of persons older than 65 (mostly non-working age). Some demographers and economists view this trend with alarm and argue that the working age population will not be able to support such large proportions of pensioners. In response, some policy makers have argued that ‘replacement migration,’ or migration to counter population decline, should be encouraged and is needed in order to maintain economic growth and sustain large populations of retired persons. In 2000, the United Nations Population Division issued a report, entitled “Replacement Migration: Is It a Solution to Declining and Ageing Populations?"which detailed the numbers of migrants that various countries would need to avoid population decline. This specific report quickly ignited many diverse debates and controversies, but the widely discussed implications of ‘replacement migration’ have revealed broader racial and ethnic tensions. Other pronatalist policies towards population decline encourage women to have children to increase fertility rates. In addition to the direct gendered dimension of this purported ‘solution,’ certain ideas regarding race, nation and ethnicity often implicitly inform and shape population policies.

The following sources provide a perspective on contemporary population trends and their implications. The first and second sources are both from the Population Reference Bureau. The former is a graph called a population pyramid, which displays the age distributions of developing and developed countries. The latter is a bar graph showing which places have the lowest fertility rates globally. The third source, an article written in 2000 by the Population Reference Bureau, discusses the main findings of the United Nations report and includes some responses. The fourth source, an article published in 1999 by the South China Morning Post, provides an overview of falling fertility rates in Hong Kong, as well as the implications for population policy.

Sources

Source one

Population Reference Bureau. 2006. Age Distribution of the World's Population.

Source two

Population Reference Bureau. 2006. 10 places with the lowest total fertility worldwide.

Source three
Tarmann, Allison. 2000. The flap over replacement migration. Population Reference Bureau.

Source four
Manuel, Gren. 1999. Waking up to the baby blues: Faced with a declining birth rate, the Government is working on a population policy for the SAR. South China Morning Post.
Click here for excerpts for classroom use.
Click here to access the full text through LexisNexis.

Discussion Questions

(1) How have academics and politicians responded to the idea of ‘replacement migration’? How do race and nationality figure into discussions on replacement migration?

(2) Demographic changes are complex phenomena, caused by multiple factors. How are different groups, like migrants, pensioners, and women, represented in the articles? Are certain groups bearing a disproportionate amount of responsibility to remedy the perceived negative consequences of demographic change?

(3) A more recent UN Population Division report reveals that by 2050, 75% of all developing countries will also have fertility rates that are below replacement levels. Considering this projection, as well as the data from the second source, if developed countries, such as the United States, France and Germany, pursue a policy of ‘replacement migration’, what are the implications for other countries who may also be experiencing fertility declines but may not be able to draw migrants? What kind of assumptions does the concept of ‘replacement migration’ rely on?

Suggested Readings

Krause, Elizabeth. 2001. "Empty Cradles" and the Quiet Revolution: Demographic Discourse and Cultural Struggles of Gender, Race, and Class in Italy. Cultural Anthropology 16, no. 4:576-611.

Riley, Nancy E. 1999. Challenging Demography: Contributions from Feminist Theory. Sociological Forum 14, no. 3:369.

Sexton, Sara. 2006. Too Many Grannies? The Politics of Population Aging. DifferenTakes 42.

2002-03-01T16:22:26Z

Education and Integration of Migrant Workers' Children

This resource consists of videos concerning the education of migrant workers' children in Shanghai, China and in the United States.Their goal is to help us think critically about the impact of migration on the education and integration of migrants' children in different national and international contexts.

]]> Introduction

Migration is a complex process. It not only affects people who initiate the migration but also changes the lives and identities of their family members, including their children's education and integration into host communities. While adjusting to a new environment, migrant children face the challenges of finding proper schools, forming stable relationships with friends, and building up self-esteem. The situation is even harsher for children of low-skilled migrant workers: their schooling is often interrupted as their parents move in pursuit of the limited yet floating employment opportunities, and their life opportunities are squeezed for lack of social status or even legal status. In China, less than 30 percent of migrant workers' children attended schools. The unequal treatment of migrant workers and their children have generated wide criticism in China on its notorious household registration (hukou) system. The education of children of undocumented migrants in the United States also arouse heated debates about the rights of migrants and their children and the meaning of citizenship. Other major questions arising from the education of migrant workers' children concerns their identity, social mobility and the prospect of integrating into the local society. Are migrant children experiencing "downward assimilation"--the process through which migrants incorporate into an underprivileged class due to lack of education and confinement to inner city environments--or are they finding other alternatives to gain social mobility and move up the social ladder?

The following sources are two films of the education and integration of migrant workers' children, both produced by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). The first video, produced by student filmmakers from the New York University, is about a migrant children's school in Shanghai. The second source is based on the film Escuela made by Hannah Weyer, which is about a Mexican American family and the education of their youngest daughter Liliana.

Sources

Source One
Video: A School for Migrants' Children in Shanghai, China

Citation: PBS Online. "Migrant Children." Wide Angle, 2007. (a video directed by Celeste Hughey and produced by Walter Scarborough)

Source Two
Video: Escuela

(you can also click the following individual links)

a. Text: Behind the Lens--Director Interview of Hannah Weyer
b. Video: The Luois family stops at a highway checkpoint
c. Video: Liliana and another migrant student in the school office
d. Video: A high school teacher explains why education is important

(If there is a problem in viewing these individual videos, please click the direct web link in the following citation and watch the Spring, Summer, and Fall episodes)

Citation: PBS Online. "Escuela." Point of View (POV), 2002. (a film directed by Hannah Weyer)

Discussion Questions

(1) What were the school experiences of migrant workers' children seen in these two videos?

(2) How did school teachers in these two cases understand and participate in migrant children's education? How did migrant children themselves understand their schooling and their lives in these two cases?

(3) The video about China involves internal migrants, whereas the video about the United States involves international migrants. How were the education and integration of migrant worker's children similar or different, considering factors such as class, gender, race/ethnicity, nationality, family structure, cultural values, and educational systems.

Suggested Readings

Klapper, Melissa R. Small Strangers: The Experiences of Immigrant Children in America, 1880-1925. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. 2007.

Morse, Susan C. and Frank S. Ludovina. Responding to Undocumented Children in the Schools. Charleston, WV: Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, Appalachia Educational Laboratory. 1999.

Waldinger, Roger and Cynthia Feliciano, "Will the New Second Generation Experience "Downward Assimilation"? Segmented Assimilation Re-assessed." Ethnic & Racial Studies 27, no.3 (2004): 376-402.

Zhou, Min and Carl Bankston. Growing up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 1998.

Eugenics, Race, and Immigration Restriction

2002-01-01T22:36:31Z

This resource consists of primary documents about the international eugenics movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its goal is to show how eugenics influenced immigration laws and how eugenics theories and policies circulated across national boundaries as tools of the state in controlling population and immigration.

]]> Introduction
In 1883, English scientist Francis Galton first introduced the term “eugenics" in his study of the biological inheritance of leadership qualities of Britain’s ruling class. Galton later defined “eugenics" as “the study of the agencies under social control that improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either physically or mentally." Drawing from the new science of genetics, eugenicists understood various human and social problems as rooted in the defective germ-plasm of individuals or certain racial/ethnic groups. Claiming basis on scientific evidence and methods, eugenic theories provided rationale for “scientific racism" in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and helped shape state policies of sterilization, miscegenation prohibition, and immigration restriction. For example, in the United States, eugenicists were influential in passing the Immigration Restriction Act of 1924 to halt the influx of Southeast European immigrants, who eugenicists viewed as immigrants "of the lower grades of intelligence" and immigrants "who are making excessive contribution to our feeble-minded, insane, criminal and other socially inadequate classes." Eugenicists exchanged their findings in international professional meetings, including three major International Eugenics Congresses. Eugenic models and policies were also closely observed and followed among nations. The United States sterilization law (first in Indiana in 1907 and then upheld in 1926 by the United States Supreme Court) served as the model for similar laws in Alberta, Canada (1928), Sweden and Norway (1934), and Germany (1934). Harry Laughlin, the superintendent of a major United States eugenics organization (the Eugenics Records Office in New York City, later ERO) and a prominent advocate of immigration restriction, was even awarded an honorary degree from the University of Heidelberg in Germany in recognition of his work on “the science of racial cleansing."

The following sources show how eugenics influenced immigration laws and how eugenics theories and policies circulated across national boundaries as national tools for controlling population and immigration. The first source is a proposal for immigration control from C.B. Davenport, leader of the ERO. The second source is a New York Times report on German sterilization laws and Germany's acclaim of the United States model. The third source is a letter from another influential eugenicist in California that commented on German and French eugenics policies and reflected on the United States alternatives.

Sources
Source One

Citation: Committee on Immigration of the Eugenics Research Association. "Minutes of Meeting." February 25, 1920. Eugenics Archive. http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/index2.html?tag=504.

Click here for a PDF version.

Source Two

Citation: Goethe, C.M. "Letter about French and German Eugenics Laws." January 12, 1935. Eugenics Archive. http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/index2.html?tag=1038.

Click here for a PDF version

Source Three
New York Times. “Sterilization Law Is Termed Humane." January 22, 1934, sec.6.

Discussion Questions
(1) What are the main points Davenport put forward for the state control of immigrants’ quality? What was the impact of eugenics on United States immigration laws in the 1920s?

(2) According to the New York Times report, how did German legislators refer to American immigration and sterilization laws? How did Goethe discuss French and German eugenics laws? How were the eugenics ideology and policies were imitated and reinforced across national boundaries?

Suggested Readings
Adams, Mark. The Wellborn Science: Eugenics in Germany, France, Brazil and Russia. New York: Oxford, 1993.

Dowbiggin, Ian. Keeping America Sane: Psychiatry and Eugenics in the United States and Canada 1880-1940. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997.

Kuhl, Stefan. The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Stephan, Nancy Leys. The Hour of Eugenics: Race, Gender and Nation in Latin America. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1991.

Gatekeeping

2001-11-02T03:58:18Z

This resource presents political cartoons from four different national contexts. Its goal is to further understandings of the ways in which nation-states affect individuals’ ability to move freely around the world.

]]> Introduction

“Gatekeeping" refers to the control that nation-states exert over their boundaries. National boundaries might be metaphorically compared to fences (and in some cases, as the current fence spanning sections of the border between the United States and Mexico demonstrates, this can literally be the case). The means of crossing a fence is by entering or exiting through a gate. Thus, “gatekeeping" refers to the practice whereby national governments open or close their “gates" (that is, their portals of entry) to migrants. “Gatekeeping" highlights the role of law and policy for migration. Migrants do not move freely around the world, but encounter structures set up by states or international bodies. That said, the strategies by which migrants avert border restrictions provide evidence of their agency. The politicization of words like “illegal immigrant" masks power struggles that take place between migrants and controlling mechanisms of the state. The notion of “gatekeeping" also challenges myths that simultaneously celebrate the immigrant past and portray contemporary immigration as threatening. Although current debates condemn uncontrolled immigration, states have a long history of monitoring their borders. In the case of the United States, for example, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred nearly all immigration from China. Australia's White Australia policy similarly enacted governmental legislation and policies between 1901 and 1973 that restricted the entrance of non-white immigrants.

The following cartoons depict historical examples of “gatekeeping." They date from the turn of the twentieth century and concern “gatekeeping" in four different national contexts. The first cartoon comes from the Vancouver newspaper Saturday Sunset and contrasts European and Chinese immigration to western Canada. The second cartoon was printed in the Chicago magazine The Ram’s Horn and shows Uncle Sam encountering an Eastern European Jewish immigrant at a gate to the United States. The third cartoon, from the West Australian newspaper Western Mail, depicts Italian immigrant contract laborers disembarking in Australia. Finally, the fourth cartoon comes from the Argentinian magazine Caras y Caretas and depicts a government official traveling to Europe in order to promote immigration to his country.

Sources

Hawkins, N. H. “The Same Act Which Excludes Orientals
Should Open Wide the Portals of British Columbia to
White Immigrations." Saturday Sunset (Vancouver),
24 August 1907.

Beard, Frank. “The Immigrant: The Stranger at Our Gate."
The Ram’s Horn (Chicago), 25 April 1896.

Western Mail (Perth, West Australia), 1904.

Caras y Caretas VI (Argentina), 10 January 1903.

Discussion Questions

(1) How are immigrants depicted in each cartoon? Consider such characteristics as race, gender, class, and age.

(2) How are the symbols of the nation-state(s) depicted in each cartoon? Again, consider characteristics like race, gender, class, and age.

(3) What do the cartoons suggest about the politics of immigration? What editorial statement is each cartoonist attempting to make about popular conceptions of immigration?

Suggested Readings

Daniels, Roger. Guarding the Golden Door: American Immigration Policy and Immigrants Since 1882. New York: Hill and Wang, 2004.

Fitzgerald, John. Big White Lie: Chinese Australians in White Australia. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2007.

Guiraudon, Virginie, and Christian Joppke, eds. Controlling a New Migration World. London and New York: Routledge, 2001.

Knowles, Valerie. Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540-2006. Revised edition. Toronto: Tonawanda, 2007.

Gender Ratios in Global Migration: Men who Migrate, Women who Wait?

2001-09-01T15:37:35Z

This resource uses a text and graft to show how the gender ratio of international migrants--the proportion of male to female migrants--has changed over time. Its goal is to stimulate thinking about shifting gender ratios in global migration and to consider how migration affects men and women differently.

]]> Introduction

Scholars of migration note how men and women experience the migration process differently. Gender—culturally constructed ideas of what it means to be female and male—has shaped how, when, and where men and women move across national borders and within nation-states. In the late nineteenth century geographer E.G. Ravenstein used 1871 census data from the United Kingdom to posit a number of “laws of migration" that attempted to explain human mobility. One of these laws concluded that while women were more migratory than men overall, the distances women traveled remained short; long-distance migration, Ravenstein argued, was preserved primarily for men. While men have tended to predominate long-distance migration from certain sending countries, new trends since the 1960s reveal many more women traveling longer distances. The shifting gender ratio in migration patterns is affected by various factors, including large scale economic changes, new labor demands, communication and technological innovations, modifications of national migration laws, and changing ideas about womanhood and manhood. Since the 1960s in particular, the “femininization" of international migration has prompted scholars to ask more probing questions about variations in gender ratios in migration patterns: Why do some countries send men, while others send women? Which countries send women and which countries send men? How have these numbers change over time?

The following resources explore how gender ratios in global migration change over time. The first document is an excerpt from E.G. Ravenstein’s 1885 “The Laws of Migration," in which he describes female migration in the United Kingdom. The second source is a graph depicting shifts in women’s presence among immigrants in a total of 20 nations. This data is drawn from individual-level census data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS-USA and IPUMS-International) and the North Atlantic Population Project at the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota.

Primary Sources

Source One:

Exerpts for classroom use.

Citation: Ravenstein, E.G. “The Laws of Migration." Journal of the Statistical Society of London. Vol 48, N. 2 (June, 1885): 196-199.

Source Two:

Citation:: Alexander, Trent J., Katharine M. Donato, Donna R. Gabaccia, and Johanna Leinonen. “Women’s representation among the foreign-born in 20 countries." Data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series films (IPUMS-USA and IPUMS-International), North Atlantic Population Project (NAAP). Reprinted here with authors' permissions.

Discussion Questions

(1) What does Ravenstein argue about the differences between male and female migration patterns in the United Kingdom during the late nineteenth century? How does he explain variations among gender ratios in different countries?

(2) What long-term trends related to changes in the proportion of women international migrants can you identify from the IPUMS graph? Which countries have the most women migrants?

(3) How does the graph both challenge and support some of Ravenstein’s conclusions about gender and migration in the late 1800s? Hypothesize about some of factors that might explain the “feminization" of international migration.

Suggested Readings

Tobler, Waldo. "Migration: Ravenstein, Thorntwaite, and Beyond." Urban Geography. Vol. 16, No. 4 (1995), 327-343.

Donato, Katherine. “Understanding U.S. Immigration: Why Some Countries Send Women and Others Send Men." In Seeking Common Ground: Multidisciplinary Studies of Immigrant Women in the United States, edited by Donna Gabaccia. New York: Greenwood Press, 1992.

Oishi, Nana . Women in Motion: Globalization, State Policies and Labor Migration in Asia. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005.

Gabaccia, Donna, Katherine Donato, Jennifer Holdaway, Martin Manalansan, and Patricia Pessar, eds. International Migration Review. Special issue on “Gender and Migration." Vol. 40, Spring 2006.

Global Economy and Migration

2001-07-01T17:27:00Z

This resource is a documentary film about global labor migration from developing countries to developed ones at the end of the twentieth century. Its goal is to encourage critical thinking about the influence that global capitalism has on local economies and individual decisions to migrate.

]]> Introduction

The new phase of global capitalism in the late 20th century has introduced significant changes to the human society. Capital, goods, people and ideas move increasingly fast across national borders, communication and transportation technologies that allow worldwide connections in real time, reconfigured transportation routes, and consumers’ increased access to products and services, are some examples of globalization’s recent transformation of local and global phenomena. Surely the most readily identifiable consequence of global capitalism is the change that exerts on economic structures. Foreign investment transformed local economies, while international corporations reap significant profits. Less obvious, however, is the effect that global capitalism has on individuals operating within such economically macro-economic systems. Most importantly, changes in local economies often force populations to search for job opportunities in other parts of the world. Scholars refer to such economically motivated migration as "economic migration" or "labor migration." Although they are considered voluntary migration, many people who cross borders in search of better opportunities feel they have no choice but to leave their economically destitute homelands. They also do not necessarily involve the poorest of the poor, as international migration requires resources and connections. Since the mid-1980s, economic migration reached a new high point, and it has remained largely constant through the present day. In the contemporary world, economic migration has been especially characteristic of the developing world, where the penetration of international corporations has disrupted local economies. Many of today’s economic migrants seek jobs in developed countries such as the United States, Germany, and Japan.

This is a documentary entitled Uprooted: Refugees of the Global Economy (2001), made by The Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, raises important questions about the impact of global capitalism on individuals decisions in a time when large corporations cross nation-state borders at will. It is based on interviews with immigrants from the Philippines, Bolivia, and Haiti that migrate to the United States. The interviews show how the penetration of global capitalism has forced people to leave their home countries.

Source

Uprooted: Refugees of the Global Economy (National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights with Sasha Khokha, Ulla Nilsen, Jon Fromer, and Francisco Herrera, 28 min, 2001).

Discussion Questions

(1) List the reasons why Maricel (Filipino), Jessy and Jaime (Bolivians), and Luckner (Haitian) left their countries. Point out similarities and differences in their experiences.

(2) In what ways does serving the economic needs of people in advanced industrialized societies cause harm to people in less developed societies? International corporations show how commodities and financial resources move freely across borders. Is it the same for people crossing borders due to seeking better jobs? Do people in search of work enjoy the same freedom to move across national boundaries? Support your answer.

(3) Global capitalism has both positive and negative attributes. List some of each. What do you think can be done in your daily life to minimize the negative attributes of global capitalism? Whose side (i.e. migrants or corporations) does the documentary take? What can we learn from that perspective? What do we miss from it?

Suggested Readings

Burawoy, Michael, et al. 2000. Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections and Imaginations in a Postmodern World. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Frieden, Jeffry. 2006. Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century. New York: W. W. Norton.

Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. 2001. Servants of Globalization: Women, Migrants and Domestic Work. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Sassen, Saskia. 1999. Guests and Aliens. New York: The New Press.

Immigrants and Cities: Mapping Ethnic Enclaves in Early 20th Century United States

2001-05-01T19:24:25Z

This resource couples a visual and descriptive map of urban ethnic enclaves with an oral interview by an immigrant growing up in New York City. Its goal is to provide different ways of “mapping" or understanding life for immigrants living in cities at the turn of the century.

]]> Introduction

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, most immigrants to the United States worked and lived in large urban centers such as New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. Employment opportunities in major industries, such as the steel, textile, and construction industry, drew many immigrants to urban centers, where they tended to live in crowded all-immigrant tenement housing. Chain migration, the process through which migrants use familial ties to bring friends and family from their same hometown or region, also facilitated the growth of immigrant neighborhoods. Lax municipal housing regulations, discrimination against migrants, and overcrowding combined to make many of these ethnic enclaves unhealthy, congested, and dangerous. Starting in the late nineteenth century, social reformers turned their attention to identifying and alleviating problems particular to migrants working and living in United States cities. Residents at Chicago’s Hull House, for example, served the Near West Side immigrant community by offering services and classes to help immigrants deal with the perils of urbanization. Founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Star in 1889, Hull House became one of the best known settlement houses in the United States. While many reformers denounced immigrant enclaves as sites of vice, corruption, and antagonism between immigrant groups, migrants often found support and comfort in such environments, surrounded by familiar languages and traditions.

The following resources show how social reformers and migrants depicted immigrant neighborhoods in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The first resource is a map of Chicago’s near West Side ethnic neighborhood. Published by Hull House residents in 1895, this map accompanied reports by social reformers on urban problems many immigrants faced, including child labor, poverty, and poor working conditions. The second resource is a short excerpt by social reformer and journalist Jacob Riis, whose 1890 book How the Other Half Lives, described the poor living conditions of immigrants in New York City’s “slums".

Sources

Source One:

Click here for printer friendly version.

Citation: Hull-House Maps and Papers: A Presentation of Nationalities and Wages in a Congested District of Chicago, together with comments and essays on problems of growing out of social conditions New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., 1895.

Source Two:

Excerpts for classroom use.

Citation: Riis, Jacob. "Chapter Three: The Mixed Crowd." In How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York, with 100 photographs from the Jacob A. Riis collection, the Museum of the City of New York, and a new preface by Charles A. Madison . New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1971: 19-25. Originally published in Jacob Riis. How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York. New York: Scribner’s and Sons, 1890.

Discussion Questions

1) What migrant groups are represented by the Hull-House Map, and which nationalities predominate? Can you identify any specific residential patterns? What does the Hull House Map tell us about the diversity of Chicago’s Near West Side neighborhoods?

2) How does Jacob Riis’ depiction of New York’s tenement districts differ from the Hull House Map? How does Riis portray relationships between the immigrant groups?

3) What social problems related to urbanization do the resources discuss? Hypothesize about today’s immigrants. Can you identify shared experiences between immigrants from the turn of the century and more recent arrivals to United States cities?

Suggested Readings

Foner, Nancy. From Ellis Island to JFK: New York's Two Great Waves of Immigration. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2000.

Lissak, Rivka Shpak. Pluralism and Progressivism: Hull House and the New Immigrants, 1890-1919. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.

Immigration, Demographic Change, and National Identity

2001-03-01T06:03:37Z

This resource includes two documents: one is written by a senior Japanese immigration officer who discusses Japan's immigration policy options, and the other is written by a Harvard professor who questions the influence of Hispanic immigrants on the United States. The goal of this resource is to stimulate critical thinking about how immigration relates to demographic change and shapes national identity.

]]> Introduction

Immigration is closely related to a country's demographic changes and profoundly shapes its identity. In recent decades, the impact of immigration has become significant for both “nations of immigrants" such as the United States and traditionally non-immigrant societies such as Japan. As a United Nations report predicts, with falling fertility rates and population aging, Japan’s population will plummet from over 127 million in 2005 to around 105 million in 2050. The ratio of the working-age population (15-64 years old) to the retried-age population will decline to 1.7 in 2050, down from 4.8 in 1995 and 12.2 in 1950. To sustain the population level in 2005, Japan would need 17 million net immigrants by 2050, when immigrants would comprise 17.7 percent of Japanese population as compared to 1.57 percent around 2005. As a traditionally homogeneous society, Japan faces hard choices of whether and how to transform itself into a multiethnic and multicultural nation. Conversely, the United States has prided itself as “a nation of immigrants" and immigrants have sustained its population growth and development. At the same time, throughout United States history the flows of immigrants have constantly challenged and redefined “what is America" and “who is an American." With post-1965 immigrants mainly from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, there are concerns about “the third world coming to the United States." Reports of the ever-increasing immigrant population (especially Mexicans) and predictions that non-Hispanic whites will become a minority have stirred new white nativism and led to heated public debates on the national identity of the United States.

The following sources show the challenges brought by immigration and demographic shifts to national identities. The first source is a translated excerpt from a book published in 2005 and written by a senior Japanese immigration officer, who discusses immigration policy options of Japan as it faces a declining and aging population. The second source is an excerpt from an article in Foreign Policy written in 2004 by Harvard professor Huntington, who questions the influence of the increasing Hispanic immigrant population on the United States.

Sources

Source One
Excerpts for classroom use

Citation: Sakanaka, Hidenori. “The Future of Japan’s Immigration Policy: A Battle Diary." Japan Focus, http://www.japanfocus.org/products/details/2396. This is an abridged translation by Andrew J. I. Taylor based on the last chapter of Sakanaka Hidenori’s Immigration Battle Diary (Nyukan Senki), Kodansha, 2005.

Source Two
Excerpts for classroom use.

Citation: Huntington, Samuel P. “The Hispanic Challenge." Foreign Policy, no. 141 (Mar/Apr2004): 30-45.

Discussion Questions

(1) What are the two options that Sakanaka Hidenori suggests to address Japan’s declining and aging population? What challenges will Japan face if it takes the “Big Option" and accepts large numbers of immigrants?

(2) According to Huntington, what is the core of the American national identity? What challenges have this core identity faced in recent decades? What is the single most immediate and serious challenge, and why? Do you agree or disagree, and why?

(3) Read these two sources together and consider the fact that Japan and the United States have distinct histories and cultures. Are the two authors here perceiving immigration and its impact on national identity in similar or different ways? How and why?

Suggested Readings

Gabaccia, Donna R. Immigration and American Diversity: A Social and Cultural History. Problems in American history. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 2002.

Lesser, Jeffrey. Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities, and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 1999.

Teitelbaum, Michael S. and Jay Winter. A Question of Numbers: High Migration, Low Fertility, and the Politics of National Identity. New York: Hill & Wang, 1998.

Triandafyllidou, Anna. Immigrants and National Identity in Europe. London, New York: Routledge, 2001.

Involuntary Migration: Testimonies of Women Refugees

2001-02-01T20:29:39Z

This resource includes memoirs of two women who were forced to flee civil conflicts in their countries. The goal is to further the understanding of how men and women experience political and religious exile differently.

]]> Introduction

While civil wars often lead to forced displacement for both women and men, gender-specific differences emerge in countries experiencing armed conflicts. While men more often than women participate voluntarily or involuntary in national armies or guerilla movements, women and children too sometimes serve as soldiers. As social structures in such countries break down, unstable economies create job insecurity. Men who succeed in evading military conscription and reach safe locations are usually unable to work or help support their families, in part because they are suspected of being enemies by all sides. As a result, women—wives, mothers, sisters and daughters—often became solely responsible for their families' economic and emotional needs. Women in countries experiencing civil war are also targeted for violence and rape by the "enemy" as a war strategy to make their partners or relatives succumb. Women's visibility and susceptibility to persecution sometimes forces them to migrate across national borders as refugees or political exiles, disrupting families and communities. Women's first-hand accounts of such experiences shed light on both their susceptibility and agency in countries undergoing internal and violent conflicts.

The first source is an excerpt from the testimonial of 1992 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Rigoberta Menchú, an indigenous Quiche peasant. As a social activist Menchú helped organize against the military oppression of indigenous people through the Committee of the Peasant Union and later she became involved in the women’s right movement. After the Guatemalan army arrested, tortured and killed her family, Manchú's fled to Mexico where she continued to fight for the rights of peasants. The publication of her biography drew wide attention to the conflict and vulnerability of peasants, though there are debates on the accuracy of her testimonials. The second source is an excerpt from the autobiography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a controversial Muslim Somali feminist and politician. She fled Somalia in the mist of Siad Barré's dictatorship (1969-1991) and the Somali civil war in 1988. She currently lives in political asylum in the Netherlands where she is a critic of Islamic fundamentalists. In her campaign to reform Islam, she continues to be criticized by many and a target for violence by extremists, but also has received numerous awards such as Norway's Human Rights Service's Bellwether of the Year Award.

Sources

Source One

Excerpts for classroom use.

Citation: Menchú, Rigoberta. Rigoberta Menchú: an Indian Woman in Guatemala. Introduced by Elisabeth Burgos-Debray. London: Version, 1984.

Source Two

Excerpts for classroom use.

Citation: Hirsi Ali, Ayaan. Infidel. New York: Free Press, 2007.

Discussion Questions

(1) Identify specific reasons why Menchú and Hirsi fled Guatemala and Somali to neighboring countries? What are the similarities and differences in their experiences of involuntary migration? (consider their age, class position,resources and skills, and political conditions in Guatemala and Somalia)

(2) How do Menchú and Hirsi depict themselves in their memoirs?

(3) Both women's memoirs sparked debates over whether personal narratives or testimonials reflect reality. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of using testimonials as source material?

Suggested Readings

Gluck, Shena Beger and Daphne Patai. "Introduction." In Women’s Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History., edited by Gluck and Patai, 1-6. New York and London: Routledge, 1991.

Heimer, Carol. "Cases and Biographies: An Essay on Routinization and the Nature of Comparison." Annual Review of Sociology. 27(2001):47-76.

Stoll, David. I, Rigoberta Menchu and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans. Boulder: Westview Press, 1999.

Migration and Sex: Trafficked Humans or Sex Workers?

2001-01-01T20:58:03Z

This resource includes a handbook and report related to contemporary debates about women migrants and sex. Its goal is to complicate stereotypes that depict women migration who engage in sex as either victims or agents.

]]> Introduction

The relationship between migration, sex, and labor is complicated and controversial. In 2001, the European Commission estimated that each year over 120,000 women and children cross into Western Europe from Eastern and Southern Europe as part of the sex industry. Some activists use the term "human trafficking" or "sex trafficking" to describe the experience through which mostly women and children move across borders to engage in sex. These activists against "human trafficking" depict migrant prostitution as involving coercion, deception, abduction, and exploitation. This view stresses the involuntary or forced nature of migration and sexual practices; women migrants are depicted as victims of violence and in need of saving by government intervention and international organizations. Others, however, utilize the term "sex worker" to focus on migrant prostitution as a form of employment, in which money is exchanged for a service rendered. Condemning the public stigmatization of sex workers, such advocates depict sex workers as agents, while emphasizing the right of women migrant to control both their own bodies and employment decisions. They call on the public and governments to secure safe labor conditions and legal protection for migrant sex workers.

The following resources provide two different perspectives on the "human trafficking"/"sex worker" debate. In 2006, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) prepared a handbook on connections between prostitution and sex trafficking to promote awareness about migrant prostitution. The second document is an excerpt from the Sex Workers in Europe Manifesto, written and endorsed by sex workers from 26 countries at the European Conference on Sex Work, Human Rights, Labour and Migration in Belgium in 2005.

Sources

Source One

Monica O'Connor and Grainne Healy. 2006. Excerpt, The Links Between Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: A Handbook.

Citation: O’Connor, Monica and Grainne Healy. 2006. The Links Between Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: A Brief Handbook. Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) and the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) on Promoting Preventative Measures to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings for Sexual Exploitation: A Swedish and United States Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisation Partnership, p. 1-40.

Source Two
International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe. 2005. Excerpt, Sex Workers in Europe Manifesto.

Citation: International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe. 2005. The Sex Workers in Europe Manifesto. Elaborated and Endorsed by 120 sex workers from 26 countries at the European Conference on Sex Work, Human Rights, Labour and Migration. 15 &16 October, p. 1-11.

Discussion Questions

(1) How do the documents approach the debate over women migrants and sex differently? What arguments do they use to justify their positions? In what ways do these organizations utilize the term "human rights" to discussion migration and sex?

(2) What stereotypes about men, women, and migration for sex do you see the documents challenging or supporting?

(3) How might we use these documents to complicate the divide between activists who view these women as either victims or agents? Can they be both at the same time? How does the debate over sex workers shed light on disparities between economically advantaged and disadvantaged countries?

Suggested Readings

Beeks, Karen and Delila Amir. 2006. Trafficking and the Global Sex Industry. Lanham: Lexington Books.

Brennan, Denise. 2004. What's Love Got to do With it? Transnational Desires and Sex Tourism in the Dominican Republic. Durham: Duke University Press.

Kempadoo, Kamala, Jyoti Sanghera and Bandana Pattanaik. 2005. Trafficking and Prostitution Reconsidered: New Perspectives on Migration, Sex Work, and Human Rights. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.

Samarasinghe, Vidyamali. 2008. Female Sex Trafficking in Asia: the Resilience of Patriarchy in a Changing World. New York: Routledge.