Book Description

"Voluntary and involuntary human mobility in the form of migration is a natural human phenomenon which has been a central feature from the ancient times into the modern times. While the boundaries between voluntary and involuntary migrants are blurred, voluntary migrants in the context of this book refer to those who migrate out of their own free choice based on socioeconomic considerations while involuntary migrants are forced to leave their country out of fear of persecution or insecurity caused by political violence or civil and military strife. In this book, the terms, 'newcomer', 'foreign born' and 'migrant' and 'immigrant' are used interchangeably and refer to those who were born in another country and later emigrated to another country as permanent residents (later becoming citizens), asylum seekers and refugees. Migration is an increasing challenge faced by countries, institutions and individuals in both sending and receiving countries. In countries where there is a large inflow of immigrants, migration has created a multiple-origin, transnationally connected, socio-economically differentiated and legally stratified demographic landscape which lends itself to a description of superdiverse societies (Jensen & Gidley, 2014; Vertovec, 2007). Most industrialized countries - mostly in the Global North - are experiencing low birth rates and are dependent on immigrants to satisfy their job market and population growth while less developed nations - mostly in the Global South - are experiencing low economic growth, inadequate socioeconomic opportunities. These social and economic challenges are presently the cornerstone of migration, transnationalism and transnationality"--