Summary
Contents
Studies is an important, interdisciplinary thread which runs through contemporary debates on globalization, citizenship, community studies, political geography and identity. It has always represented a significant component of ethnic, multicultural and racial studies but the last few years have seen a steady increase in separate / autonomous courses and modules as students, lecturers and researchers engage with the field. This proposal looks to pull together the central themes of the field; its approach is logical and the three main themes the authors identify are a useful hook upon which to hang the text. International relevance and marketability is obviously important; the inclusion of a US and a UK author with such sympathetic expertise will help to maximise the appeal of the project. The authors are aware of the need to balance the needs of different markets and their willingness to develop the proposal in response to the reviewers' comments is encouraging.
Cumulative Causation
Cumulative Causation
Definition: The process by which existing migration flows result in future flows, leading to the self-perpetuation and continuous growth of immigration from particular origins to particular destinations.
The general concept of cumulative causation was introduced by the economist Gunnar Myrdal (1957) to explain increasing economic inequalities between industrialized and developing countries. It was then adapted by Douglas Massey (1990) for the field of migration studies to explain more specifically the density and geography of migration flows. Cumulative causation has been used mainly to analyse migration flows from Mexican rural areas to the United States. But the concept has a more general scope that helps explain mechanisms of migration processes more broadly, shedding light on certain patterns of migration from Latin American countries ...
