The challenge facing migration research: the case for a biographical approach

"This article argues for an alternative conceptualization of migration which emphasizes its situatedness within everyday life. Our argument is constructed largely with the use of studies of internal migration from the developed world, but it must be stressed that the general theoretical argument could be extended to the study of migration in the developing world. Furthermore, our criticisms of current conceptualizations apply primarily to research into present-day migration rather than to more historical studies."     

The challenge facing population geography

The current status of the study of population geography is examined, with some reference to the situation in the United Kingdom. The authors note that whereas the volume of studies in this area indicate its healthy growth, the subdiscipline has become increasingly distant from mainstream geography and runs the risk of being absorbed into general demography. The authors suggest that "population geographers, while taking a serious interest in the methods and philosophy of the neighbouring discipline of demography, should look elsewhere to find direction for their subdiscipline."     

The perineuronal net: a weapon for a challenge

Theories and data do not always fit and sometimes are sources of conflicts among scientists. This is the case of a morphological structure, the perineuronal net, which was denied on the basis of an ideological conflict between two giants of neurosciences: Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramon y Cajal. The perineuronal net is a reticular structure enveloping many neurons. Orginally reported by Golgi in 1893 and 1898 and confirmed by several authors before the turn of the century, the perineuronal net was used by Golgi to support the reticular theory of the organization of the nervous system. Ramon y Cajal, the paladin of the neuronal theory who had also observed this anatomical structure, denied its existence suggesting that it was a fixation artifact. After Cajal's statements, only a few Italian scientists continued to work in this field, and after the 1930s the perineuronal net was forgotten. Only the recent advances in histochemical and immunocytochemical technology confirmed the existence of this structure opening new fields in functional neuroanatomy and neuropathology.     

Australia's relationship with the United States: the case for greater independence

A number of recent events—especially attempts to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement and Australia's participation in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq—have thrown Australia's relationship with the United States into sharp relief. While this relationship has historically enjoyed strong bilateral endorsement, such uncritical support is beginning to unravel. At the very least, the relationship is being subjected to a renewed, more critical scrutiny. This paper argues that a dispassionate analysis of the relationship is appropriate and overdue. Not only are the benefits that accrue to ‘Australia’ from the relationship debateable, even when judged within the limited calculus of the ‘national interest’, but Australia's uncritical support for US foreign policy is also helping to entrench potentially damaging aspects of American foreign policy and— somewhat ironically—undermining the legitimacy of its pre-eminent ‘hege monic’ position.     

Community-based Heritage Management: a case study and agenda for research

Heritage sites regarded as important are safely managed by the state, voluntary or private sectors but the majority of sites, despite statutory protection, remain unrecognised and without a role in their host communities. New schemes such as the Local Heritage Initiative in the UK aim to encourage communities to recognise their heritage assets and in managing them effectively to contribute to their preservation. With reference to the case of Nether Poppleton near York (UK), the present study explores the factors and conditions for effective community management displayed in one locality by groups who are successfully conserving and managing a diverse set of local heritage sites. Interviews and joint tasks enabled an analysis of the complex range of factors and conditions that can lead to a successful community-based initiative. Future research will determine the extent to which these factors, if applied to other sites, might produce the same results. The importance of this agenda is underscored by the increasing reliance on community-based heritage management in the UK and elsewhere.     

Paradigms in migration research: exploring "moorings" as a schema

"When considering where migration research interests may proceed, this article suggests much could be gained by considering theories of human motivation which, in the field of social psychology, represents a theoretical progression from the behavioural and cognitive approaches. The article suggests that combining theories of human motivation with the developing understanding of cultural influences may provide linkages between, on the one hand, the personal realm of migration and, on the other, the regional institutional framework of politicoeconomic structure within which people make their decisions.... The focus is on the migrant who remains within the same broad cultural context (such as within the same nation or ethnic group), but travels away from the confines of the general area in which he or she previously resided. Thus a person undertaking intraurban relocation is not regarded here as a 'migrant', and the schema proposed will probably not apply to international migration."     

Challenging the discipline of migration: militant research in migration studies,an introduction

Abstract

In the last two decades, we have witnessed a proliferation of studies on migrations that, taking human mobility as their focus, contributed to the profiling of migrations as an object of research and to the institutionalization of its stakes. While, on the one hand, this has coincided with the becoming a discipline of migrations (i.e. their acquiring the status of a specific field of scholarly knowledge), it has, on the other hand, coincided with a disciplinarization of migrations themselves, a sort of disciplining effect of migrations' contested politics at the very moment of their academic heyday. This contribution interrogates the discipline of migrations as an academic domain of knowledge, as the governmental conduct of mobility, and as the governmentality at the intersection of these two layers.     

Hierarchical households and gendered migration in Latin America: feminist extensions to migration research

In this review essay, the author argues that migration theory can be advanced by analyzing gender differences in migration processes. The author brings together feminist empirical work from diverse settings within Latin America in order to illustrate and discuss theoretical extensions to migration research. In particular, the discussion focuses on the centrality of intra-household power relations and dynamics for understanding who migrates, and with what consequences. The author further argues that these theoretical understandings emerge from the culturally and historically specific operation of processes in particular places within Latin America.     

Return migration in China: a case study of Zhumadian in Henan province

This paper examines the causes and process of return migration from the coastal region to the inland provinces in China since the early 2010s, based on the case study of Zhumadian city in Henan Province. Surveys administered to both rural migrants from Zhumadian to Shenzhen and recent returnees to Zhumadian are presented. Industrial relocation and the development of inland provinces trigger the current wave of return migration. Family obligations, better prospects of the hometown, and barriers to settle in Shenzhen because of the hukou system are the principal reasons to return. Most of the migrants return to work in a factory or start a business. Some migrants purchase apartments in Zhumadian as a prelude to returning and starting a business at a future date. Returnees prefer settling down in urban areas rather than in their rural origins. In light of the empirical findings, the authors argue that return migration will ease the mismatch of labor supply and demand between the inland and coastal provinces, such that the Lewis Turning Point has not been reached yet. The continuing process of rural migrants returning to and settling down in Zhumadian suggests a way to achieve some of the goals in China’s new-type urbanization plan, as local governments may address the two major challenges of the plan, namely, local job creation and financing for increased demand for public services.     

The assumption of equilibrium in the analysis of migration and interregional differences: a review of some recent research

"This paper questions the plausibility of the assumption of interregional equilibrium in recent research into migration and the valuation of amenities in the United States. It is shown that it is difficult to develop a satisfactory explanation for continuing net migration which is compatible with the equilibrium assumption, and that recent relevant research generally fails to support the idea that the U.S. economy is in equilibrium. The association of higher rent levels with in-migration is explained as a short-run phenomenon. If the spatial economy is in disequilibrium, then the valuations of amenities assuming equilibrium will be biased, being probably too low in areas of net in-migration and too high in areas of net out-migration."     

The direction of migration: a dynamic general equilibrium model

A two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model is developed "to investigate the direction of migration in response to differing demographic and consumption demand behavior, as well as variations in production conditions." The model, which involves a rural sector and an urban sector, incorporates "returns to scale and the natural rate of sectoral population growth as important determinants of the direction of migration, in addition to price and income elasticities, and the sectoral technical change rate with which...previous studies dealt."     

Three problems without a solution: the militant research conundrum and the social condition of migration

Abstract

The article deals with the relation between research and militancy considering migration as a total social fact, employing different theoretical tools coming from the autonomy of migration theory, migrant labour studies and postcolonial critique. By posing to the reader three problems without a solution, the article frames the main features of what the author calls the migration and militant research conundrum. The essay briefly defines the three problems as the problem of the researcher, the problem of militancy in migration research and the problem of politics and migration. The article argues that if it is true that migration is a social relation mediated by different statuses/documents/definitions in the transnational space, it is thus fundamental both for the researcher and for the militant to critically analyze what does it means to be part of this social relation in postcolonial capitalism conditions. The institutional racism produced by different authorities, from the States to international assemblages, and the transnational labour market must be taken into account. Therefore, in order to address the migration and militant research conundrum in a productive manner, it is crucial to understand the specific position of the militant and the researcher vis-à-vis the materiality of rule and the larger political dimension of migration.     

Lorenz Heister and the challenge of trepanation: a neurosurgical case study from the 18th century

In the 18th century, medical practice was essentially based on communication. Cranial trepanation, however, was usually performed on an unconscious person. Here the dialogue ceased. It was the only operation which had to be attempted without the positive consent of the patient. Thus trepanation challenged the surgeon's skill not only with its intricate surgical practice, but also with its unusual social setting. The present paper illustrates possible ways out of the "trap of trepanation" by interweaving two points of view. On the one hand, a general account is given on the basis of surgical publications written by Lorenz Heister and his contemporaries. On the other, the unpublished sources of the Heister correspondence serve to reconstruct the case of Heinrich Wilhelm Bachmann, a German merchant who fell victim to a traffic accident and underwent trepanation in 1753. The case study shows how the physician in charge counterbalanced the patient's inability to communicate by strengthening the remaining network of professionals, and ultimately confirming his decisions by use of the post-mortem.     

Rethinking representation: The challenge of non-humans

This article argues that the standard model of political representation mischaracterises the structure of representation. After surveying the classical types of representation and their application to non-humans, the basic nature of representation is shown to have been unduly centred on interests, responsiveness and unidirectional protocols. It proposes a different structure by drawing inspiration from recent scholarship and developments in political philosophy, as well as the representation of non-human actors. It proposes an ontological grounding of representation in ‘irreducible multiplicity’, and a structural analysis based on the concepts of claim and relation. This abstract form of representation can take into account both human and non-human cases, and works to ground different typologies. The relational structure of representation creates interests and preferences, subjects and actors, power dynamics and seemingly immutable identities.

作者认为,标准的政治代表模式错误地勾画了代表的结构。作者首先考察了代表的经典类型并将其应用于非人类,指出关于代表的本质,以往过多强调利益、反应、单向协议等等。作者根据从近年学术研究、政治哲学以及非人类主体的代表性那里得到的灵感,提出了另一种结构。文章指出代表的本体论根据在于不可简化的多重性。作者还提出了一种基于诉求和关系概念的结构分析。这种抽象代表形式既考虑了人类也考虑非人类的情况,并为不同的类型提供了根据。代表的关系结构造就了利益和偏好、对象和主体、权力的动态以及看似不变的身份。     

Urban bound migration and rural investment: the case of Mexico

The authors investigate an agriculturally based policy for improving rural incomes and for retarding the rural-urban migration flow. The production of agricultural goods is characterized by a production function in which output increases with increases in agricultural labor inputs, capital, public infrastructure, land, and technology. Differences among regions in agricultural technology will reflect regional differences in education, the institutionalized form of productive organization, and differences in access to technological information channeled through more technically advanced cities. To pick up the effect of out-migration changes in state agricultural labor supply and upon agricultural output, the state's agricultural out-migration rate is included together with the agricultural labor force. The gross migrant flow between 2 locations is hypothesized to depend upon a set of variables influencing the individual's perception of the economic rate of return to be gained by moving, a set of variables reflecting the individual's propensity to relocate, the labor displacement effects of investments, and the at risk population at 1 location available to migrate. It is also taken into account that individuals differ in their response to information about origin and destination wage differentials and that individuals may or may not perceive a new ecnomic gain from migration but may base the decision on other considerations. Results of a statistical analysis using data from the Mexican census of population for 1960 and 1970 are: 1) size of the rural labor force was negatively associated with agricultural wages, contrary to expectations; 2) small farmers have benefited from the expansion of irrigation in Mexico; and 3) higher urban wages attract migration, and higher growth rate of agricultural income retards rural-urban migration. With respect to the 1950-60 decade both agricultural income and rural out-migration impacts could have been substantial but both the impact on local urban growth and on the rate of in-migration to the primate city would have been slight.