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.
Forced Migration
Forced Migration
Definition: Migration that results from some sort of compulsion or threat to well-being or survival, emerging in conditions ranging from violent conflict to severe economic hardship.
Initially, the notion of forced migration might seem relatively straightforward, referring to instances of migration that are not chosen freely but are instead the consequence of compulsion. The difficulty, however, is in determining what to count as compulsion, and a significant amount of scholarly effort has been devoted in recent years to clarification – and extension – of the forced migration concept (see Castles 2003a). One result is that many migration scholars no longer believe that a conventional dichotomy between economic migrants and refugees is cogent or persuasive. ‘Economic migration’, rather than being entirely voluntary, is ...
