Migration & Refugee CH 1-4 key terms

agency

an individual's capacity to act upon their wishes and to negotiate options, opportunities, and constraints

dual labour market

primary and secondary markets - high-wage high-skilled vs low-wage low/unskilled - determined by social coding

employers want low wages and precarity for max profitemployers want low wages and precarity for max profit

asylum seeker

term in international law of a person crossing a border to formally request humanitarian protection, ie. refugee status

emigration

movement from one's national 'homeland' - restrictions by sending countries diminished

émigré

French term for emigrants

mobility

multiple forms of human movement and circulation within a single framework, move past government concepts/terminology to consider movement across political boundaries and through cities

gateway cities

cities and regions that draw clusters of immigrants in major receiving countries, global cities that are plugged into world economy and culturally diverse (London, NYC, Sydney, etc.)

net migration

difference between those migrating to and emigrating from a place

gross national income (GNI)

includes total monetary value of goods/services produced within a country's borders per year and income from overseas sources - GDP + remittances

remittances

money sent from migrants to home country for families, often depended on by sending countries/regions

illegal immigrant

improper entry by an alien to the US, highly problematic within immigration law, punishable by fine or prison sentence

transnationalism

ways that immigrant enterprises are connected to the wider global economy through social networks

immigration

movement to a destination country

international migration

movement from one country to another

internal migration

movement from one region to another in the same country

irregular/unauthorized migration

people who cross borders and/or reside in countries without formal state permission

civil violation, not breaking criminal laws by being present in US without legal documents, results in deportation

undocumented migration

moving illegally (trafficking, forced labor, smuggled)

visa overstayer

most unauthorized immigrants who entered legally and have overstayed their visas

chain migration

patterns of migration following family members and friends, building specific regional migration flows and particular occupational niches

coolies

derogatory term for Indian indentured workers, a major supplier from large landless peasant population

cottage industries

"proto-industries" - in cottages of landless peasants and tenant farmers that employed for spinning/dying yarn, garment production, metalworking, making uniforms/armaments for armies, etc.

guest workers

workers arrive outside formal channels and later regularized work/residency status

indentured servitude

combined workings of merchants, ship captains, and labour recruiters who enticed workers who were then bonded to their employer for a fixed number of years to repay the cost

knowledge workers

highly educated migrants in sectors like banking, finance, and high-tech

piece rates

highly exploitative compensation for workers for quantity of items rather than time worked

proletarianization

rural families that work multiple-income and wage-generating strategies during immense economic insecurity, where one or more family members migrate

stepwise migration

migrants engage in localized, rural-to-urban migration before longer-distance international migrations

deportation

a method of delimiting symbolic illegality rather than to reduce illegal migration - it is deportability that makes migrant labor a disposable commodity, not deportation itself

deskilling

inability to find employment equal to one's qualifications, credentials, experience

ethnic economy

sum total of group-specific economic relationships, networks, and niches - sometimes spatially concentrated in enclaves

H1B visa

allows employers to hire foreign workers with specialized skills on a short-term bassis, in engineering and other technical fields (MD/PHD)

human capital

recognizing differentiation of workers by skill and educational levels, an individual's marketable skills and abilities - become more valuable with more knowledge and skill but demand higher salary

immigrant entrepeneurism

self-employment and small business formation increase within migrant population, often clustered in certain economic sectors - not an evenly distributed drive, with some more entrepreneurial than others attributed to by social capital

kafala

tightly controlled sponsorship system in Saudi Arabia that ties migrant workers to employers and restricts their ability to change jobs

labour export policy

sending states' involvement in labour market segmentation by making agreements with affluent countries to encourage remittances and absorb surplus labour, ie. Bracero Programme

labour market segmentation

the division of jobs into categories with distinct working conditions through social coding, structural demand for low-skilled workers, and migrant/minority workers locked into low-end jobs

migration industry

private-sector recruiters, trainers, and labour brokers who match migrant workers to abroad jobs

precarity

chronic insecurity, uncertainty, and risk for many migrants of overstayed visas, unauthorized border crossings, etc.

regularization

paths to legal status and rights as workers and residents

skilled migration

forms of human capital that are especially valued and rewarded by employers who have specialized training and credentials

social capital

as well as human capital, job options and choices are also shaped by social networks where they acquire information on jobs, prospective employers, and engage in market-based exchange - relationships of obligation, reciprocity, mutuality, and trust based on ethnicity kinship and place of birth

trafficking

recruitment and transportation by means of force, abduction, fraud, and deception to control and exploit that person for economic gain, tied to forced labour and modern slavery by coercive labour practices

brain circulation/knowledge transfer

transfer of knowledge from highly-educated, foreign-born professionals to their origin country - ability of highly skilled migrants to participate in origin countries' economic/human capital development without permanently returning

brain drain

emigration of skilled professionals (doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, architects) from Global South for higher salaries and better working conditions in Global North, seen as an outcome of economic/political deficiencies in poor countries

diaspora

an émigré sense of community within a culturally cohesive social unit connected to their homeland

diaspora strategies

method to reconfigure sending states' relationships with émigré communities

hawala

money transfer system through a network of brokers, reducing the cost of transfer and untraceable, but govs concerned with money laundering

hometown associations (HTAs)

voluntary organizations of Mexican emigrants that pool money for specific projects in towns and regions of origin in collaboration with consulates and the state/fed government

migration-development nexus

complex relationships between sending and receiving societies, focusing on sending contexts - highlights linkage between human mobility and socioeconomic change in Global South

migration hump

shift from low-migration to high-migration to low-migration, where out-migration is highest from societies transforming into capitalistic market-based economy and lowest from the poorest least-developed and richest most industrialized societies

neoliberalism

promotion of free markets, free trade, private enterprise, and deregulation for sustainable development

non-resident Indians (NRI)

designation of abroad-living Indian citizens, giving them the abliity to invest in Indian businesses and offering tax relief on abroad-earned income, special bank accounts, and designated spaces at Indian universitiesd

social and political remittances

non-monetary transfers of potentially beneficial ideas and social/political practices to origin through home visits and communication

structural adjustment policies

Global South policy changes to avoid financial collapse, submitted to cutting social spending and privatizing state industries to keep receiving loans from IMF

Programa Tres-por-Uno para Migrantes

Three-for-One Programme for Migrants, matched migrant dollars with three dollars from the state and federal governments to go towards social development and public works