notes about adaptation

1. Week 9: Migration and
adaptation (Part 2)

2. Admin
• Assignment 7 marked and ready for collection
• Marking assignment 5 and 6
• No weekly assignment this week (test next
week)
• Oral History of a migrant due 3 Oct by 13:00 at
Anthropology window and email to
mymigrantnarrative@gmail.com

3. Term 3 marks
• Term 3 = 30/100 (30%)
– In class activities 5%
– Weekly assignments 10%
– Test 15%
• Term 4 will be out of 70 (70%)
• Any queries you are welcome to contact / see
me

4. Test 2 (25%)
• Week 10 (next week) during Tuesday class
(short lecture and then test)
• Clash (Tuesday clash students) / sick test
– 3 October
– 13:00- 13:45
– D LES 204
• Test prep tomorrow (Wednesday seminar)

5. Assignment 7
Feedback
• Five journal articles (Why people migrate?)
• Reference five journal articles using Harvard
short style (no commas, full stops)
• Overall fine- many of you did not follow the
instructions!!!
– Marks illustrate this
• Exercise practice different methods of
referencing based on the Harvard style

6. Today we are focusing on…
• Part Two Migration and Adaptation part 2
– Follow on from last weeks lecture (video clip-
Genographic project) focusing on how ‘we’ all got
to where we did/ have (Early migrations)
– Reasons why people migrate
– Various kinds of migrations
• Climate change
– Refugee- what does it mean?
– Migrants stories

7. Early Human Migrations

8. • From Africa around the world (Homo erectus)
• Homo sapiens evolved (Homo erectus) 60 000
years ago ‘broke out of Africa’ and migrated
around the world
• From Africa where did (they) spread around
the world – Middle East, Europe, New world
– Various migrations throughout history

9. World migrations

10. “Barbarian” invasions

11. Modern Migrations
• Industrialisation in 18th century - from rural to urban in Europe
• WWI 1914-1918
– Ottoman Empire collapsed. The Russian Civil
War caused some three million Russians, Poles and
Germans to migrate out of the Soviet Union.
• WWII 1939-1945
– World War II and decolonization also caused migrations
• In the 19th century, over 50 million people left Europe for the Americas
• Partitioning of India in 1947
– Modern India and Pakistan – over 12 million people
displaced

12. Why do people migrate?
• People migrate for many different reasons. These reasons
can be classified as economic, social, political or
environmental:
– economic migration - moving to find work or follow a particular
career path
– social migration - moving somewhere for a better quality of life or
to be closer to family or friends
– political migration - moving to escape political persecution or war
– environmental causes of migration include natural disasters such
as flooding

13. Why do people migrate?
• Some people choose to migrate, eg someone who
moves to another country to enhance their career
opportunities (voluntary migration)
• Some people are forced to migrate, eg someone who
moves due to war or famine (forced migration)
• A refugee is someone who has left their home and
does not have a new home to go to
• Often refugees do not carry many possessions with
them and do not have a clear idea of where they may
finally settle

14. Push factors are the reasons why
people leave an area.
• They include:
– lack of services
– lack of safety
– high crime
– crop failure
– drought
– flooding
– poverty
– war

15. Pull factors are the reasons why
people move to a particular area.
• They include:
– higher employment
– more wealth
– better services
– good climate
– safer, less crime
– political stability
– more fertile land
– lower risk from natural hazards

16. Why do people migrate?
• “…migration must be viewed as a process in which
individuals consciously change their own
situations in search of a more rewarding life. Only
in extreme cases of hardship such as famine or
war (e.g. genocide in Darfur, civil war in
Afganistan and Iraq, natural disasters in New
Orleans and along the Gulf Coast) is migration
motivated by a single factor” (Gmelch, Kemper &
Zenner 2010:282)
– Migration is a process
– Migration usually happens as a result of a combination of these
push and pull factors

17. Forced migration
• “Forced migration can be defined as the
movements of refugees and internally
displaced people as well as people displaced
by natural or environmental
disasters, chemical or nuclear
disasters, famine, or development projects”
(Mukherjee & Saraswati n.d)
– War, genocide, weather (climate) etc

18. • Forced displacements (movements) of population
may also occur due to other factors
– social
– ethnic
– political conflicts
– weak states
– Inequitable distribution of resources
High levels of unpredictability

19. • High vulnerability associated with forced
migration. According to Human Development
Report 2009, “those who are forced to flee and
leave behind their homes and belongings often
go into the process with limited freedom and
very few resources. Likewise, those who are
moving in the face of local economic
crisis, drought or other causes of desperate
poverty, may not know what capabilities they will
have; they only know that they cannot remain.
Even migrants who end up well off after a move
often start out with very restricted capabilities
and high uncertainty” (Mukherjee & Saraswati
nd:2)

20. Other factors…
Climate migrants
• Environmental degradation and climate change =
seen as (future and now) major driver of
population displacement—a crisis in the making
• People have ALWAYS moved around in search of
greater opportunities… BUT climate change is
expected to ‘trigger’ larger patterns of human
migration
• Weather and climate (droughts and floods…)
• Disruption of the ecosytem
– Estimates of future “climate migrants” range from 200
million to 1 billion by 2050

21. • Displacement due to weather- Hurricane Katrina
(displaced over 1 million people)
• The damage it caused was a product of poor
disaster planning
– “consistent underinvestment in the city’s protective
levees as well the systematic destruction of the
wetlands in the Mississippi delta that might have
lessened the force of the storm. Labelling it a “climate
change event” over-simplifies both its causes and its
effects”(Brown, 2008)

22. Migration- not always easy…
• People’s decisions to migrate typically result from
linked environmental, social, and economic
factors
• Impaired access to food and water and severe
weather are challenges that have historically led
to tension and conflict. As more and more people
are displaced or compelled to migrate in the face
of these challenges, political, ethnic and religious
tensions may result.

23. • Those displaced by climate change lack legal
status as “refugees.”
• Climate migrants often referred to as “climate
refugees,” people displaced by climate change
(not formally recognized as refugees)
• The term refugee legally applies only to
people who leave their home countries due to
fear of persecution, war, or violence

24. • Those who migrate due to climatic factors
often relocate within their own countries, or
cross borders due to a combination of
environmental, social, political and economic
factors = tricky to pinpoint climate as a single
‘driver’ of migration

25. • Movement due to climate change various
forms and responses
– Forced movement due to floods, extreme
weather, and rising sea levels
– Migration due to more gradual changes associated
with climate processes (shifting temperature and
rainfall patterns- affect water supply and
agricultural production
• The characteristics and needs of these different
categories of migrants are likely to vary
widely, requiring a range of humanitarian and
political responses

26. Climate migration NOT new
• Archaeological evidence suggests that human
settlement patterns have Archaeological
evidence suggests that human settlement
patterns have responded repeatedly to
changes in the ate stress.

27. Case study: Migration pressures in
Bangladesh
• Densely populated and highly vulnerable
– Located in the low-lying Ganges-Brahmaputra
river delta (vulnerable to flooding, sea level
rise, cyclones, and storm surges )
– more than 1000 residents per square kilometre
• Flooding and extreme weather already
contribute to increased domestic migration

28. • Climate change is also expected to increase
the flow of cross-border migration into India
– “Bangladesh’s Finance Minister, Abul Maal Abdul
Muhith, expects 20 million environmental
refugees to be fleeing his country by 2050.18 In
response, India began a $1.2 billion project in
1999 to build a 2,500 mile-long, 12 foot-high steel
fence along the border, and has amassed
thousands of troops there” (Population action
international)

29. Taking action…
• Population growth (Meeting Needs for Family
Planning Can Reduce Migration Pressures)
• Population and Migration Need a Place in
Adaptation Plans
– Tree-planting, providing reliable sources of
drinking water, and improving agricultural
techniques in areas impacted by salinization and
flash flooding

30. BUT…
• The NAPA states that these efforts may help to
reduce the “social problem of migration,” but it
does not include actions to address population
pressures or plan for the continuing and
inevitable flow of in-country or cross-border
migrants
• Need to understand the relationship between the
population growth and climate change = aid
planning
– Planning could both reduce migration pressures and
prepare for a degree of migration that minimizes
impacts on communities that receive migrants, and on
the migrants themselves (Population action
international)

31. • Flood-affected people wait for relief in the form of food and fresh drinking water in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Credit: ©
2007 Monirul Alam, Courtesy of photoshare

32. • Climate change will contribute to food and water
scarcity, will increase the spread of disease, and
may spur or exacerbate mass migration. While
climate change alone does not cause conflict, it
may act as an accelerant of instability or
conflict, placing a burden to respond on civilian
institutions and militaries around the world.
— QUADRENNIAL DEFENSE REVIEW REPORT, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, 2010. P 85.

33. Migration at a local level (South Africa)
• Local institutions often don’t address or
acknowledge human mobility why?
– Belief among policy makers that immigration and
migration are exclusively matters of national
policy concern

34. Some ideas…
• A migration policy framework should be seen as a
tool for strategic development, RATHER than
being viewed as a negative issue that needs to be
reversed (Brown, 2008)
• Urbanisation is a global phenomenon with
specific local effects (should be factored into
policy and planning processes at all levels in order
for it to be effectively managed- including
managing the interface and relationships
between urban and rural municipalities
(Brown, 2008)

35. Cont.
• An effective response to human mobility and
poverty reduction requires the ongoing
cooperation of all relevant
partners, including, among others, civil
society, faith-based institutions, the private
sector, research agencies and academic
institutions (Brown, 2008)
• Local government responses to migration must
be supported by improved communication
between municipalities and migrant communities
(for example, municipalities may consider the
establishment of migrant desks or other inclusive
means of engagement) (Brown, 2008)

36. Migration at a local level
Zimbabwe to South Africa
• "As to this... inflow of illegal people, I
personally think that it's something we have
to live with... it's difficult; you can't put a
Great Wall of China between South Africa and
Zimbabwe to stop people walking across."
President Thabo Mbeki, speech to
Parliament, 17 May 2007

37. • Large numbers of Zimbabwean migrants in
South Africa
• Humanitarian crisis (it is increasingly clear that
there are severe humanitarian implications of
the Zimbabwean migration)
• The key humanitarian needs experienced by
Zimbabweans are accommodation, food and
access to health care

38. • Lack of documentation makes it tough to find
work or start a business (even for those with
‘papers’ - asylum or refugee documents
• Dispersed settlement
• Mixed migration (various reasons for
migrating)
– Shoppers, Economic migrants, Traders, Transit
migrants, Humanitarian migrants etc…

39. Process
• Migration= process
• Migration often takes place due a variety of
push and pull factors – no single factor
• Social networks = important
– Link multiple destinations rather than one
(reduces costs per migrant- next person used their
already built network- transnationalism (identity)
and social connections and social capital
– Reciprocity

40. Stories of a migrant- leaving my home
for another ‘home’
"Sometimes my mom says, 'Maybe we should go back,' and I
tell her I don’t want to go. I want to stay here. America truly is
a melting spot, especially in the Bay Area.“
Story of Thais Da Costa by Kaeleigh Thorp
My name is Thais Da Costa and came from Brazil. I lived in Brazil until I was 12
years old, and then I left my homeland for the greener pastures of the United
States of America. Now I am 17, so I have been here for five years. I
remember my childhood in Brazil very well. My family lived on my
grandfather’s farm. It was really fun. We had contact with all the farm animals
and I could run around and play. They had all sorts of farm animals:
cows, pigs, chickens, dogs, and cats., The farm also had a lot of different fruit
trees that were really good. I lived with my parents and my brother, Jerome.
We had our own house on the property. My father took care of the farm
while my mother was a high school teacher. She taught
Portuguese, English, math, and biology.

41. • When I got here, initially I was treated very
well. It was hard for me because I didn’t speak
or understand English. It was complicated. But
everyone turned out to be really nice and
understanding. They were more
understanding because they realized I didn’t
speak English, so they were willing to help me.
• Long immigration process- took years

42. Migration stories
• http://www.migrationstory.org/

43. To conclude…
• Migration takes place for many reasons
(voluntary and forced)
– Many types of migration and reasons
– Push and Pull factors
• Migration has always taken place – NOT a new
phenomenon
• Been described as a process (social networks and
notion of transnationalism have implications for
adaptation and settlement
– Communities = development of migration (‘Little
Istanbul’) rebuilding of identity

44. In class activity
• What can give migrants a sense of belonging
and identity within their new ‘home’?
– Think about migration as a process and the
making of a community etc
– Think about the notion of a hybrid identity?
Adopting others cultures/ ways of living- does one
‘forget’ their own?