1.
Introduction
“You know, those of us who leave our homes in the morning and expect to
find them there when we go back – its hard for us to understand what the
experience of a migrant might be” -
Naomi Shiheb Nye[1]
The above
quote by a novelist seems to be accusing us but the issue of migration[2]
is a burning issue internationally. When it comes to our country or our
continent it was not that much seriously debated whereas migration plays vital
role in our social, political, cultural and economic context. This migration course surely would help us to
think about migrations, migrant workers and issues related to that and move us
to take the first step to that issue. In that sense, this paper aims to see
migration through perspective from margin[3],
Gender[4]
perspective with a theological reflection at the end.
1.1.
Definition
Migration
does not refer to a single journey that begins with a specific departure and
ends with arrival, settlement, and supposed assimilation. According to UNESCO’s definition, migration
is:
The
crossing of
the boundary of a political or administrative unit for a certain minimum period
of time. It includes the movement of
refugees, displaced persons, uprooted people as well as economic migrants. Internal migration refers to a move from one
area to another within one country that can be as disruptive and traumatic the
passage across national borders.[5]
1.2. A brief history of
international migration
The history of migration begins
with the origins of humankind in the Rift valley in Africa, from where between
about 1.5 million and 5000 B.C Homo Erectus and Homo sapiens
spread initially into Europe and later into other continents. In the ancient world, Greek Colonization and Roman expansion
depended on migration, and outside Europe significant movements were also
associated with the Mesopotamian, Inca, Indus, and Zhou empires. Other significant migrations in early history
in include that of the Vikings and of the crusaders to the Holy Land.[6]
According to migration historian Robin Cohen. Probably the
predominant migration event in 18th and 19th centuries
was the forced transportation of slaves.
An estimated 12 million people were forced from mainly western Africa to
the New World, but also in lesser numbers across the Indian Ocean and
Mediterranean. Besides its scale, one of the reasons this migration is so
important is that it still resonates for descendants of slaves and among
African Americans in particular. After
the collapse of slavery, indentured labour from china, India and Japan moved in
significant numbers – some 1.5 million from India alone – continue working the
plantations of the European powers.[7]
The next period of migration was
marked by the rise of the United States of America (USA) as an industrial
power. Millions of workers from the
stagnant economic regions and repressive political regimes of Northern,
Southern, and Eastern Europe, not to mention those escaping the Irish famine,
went to the USA from the 1850s until the Great Depression of the 1930s. Some 12
million of these migrants landed at Ellis island in New York harbour for
immigration inspections.
The next major period of migration
was after the Second World war, when labour was needed to sustain booming
post-war economies in Europe, North America and Australia. This was the era when many Turkish migrants
arrived to work in Germany and North Africans in France and Belgium. It was also the period when about one million
Britons migrated to Australia as so-called “Ten Pound Poms”[8]. During the same era decolonization was still
having a migration impact in other parts of the world, most significantly in
the movement of millions of Hindus and Muslims as a result of the partition of
India in 1947 and of Jews and Palestinians after the creation of Israel.[9]
By the 1970s the international
migrant labour boom was over in Europe, although it continued into the early
1990s in the USA. The engine-room of the
global economy has begun to shift decisively to Asia, where labour migration
is, in contrast, still growing.[10]
1.2. Ancient
Migrations: in, out and within
The history of migration[11]
in ancient India from the middle of the first millennium BCE to circa 1300 CE,
covering nearly 2000 years, is one of immigration mainly from central Asia via
the north-western passes, instance of emigration to the west and the east, and
internal migration accompanying urbanization, colonization and
deportation. It is a complex history, of
a religion born in India – Buddhism – and exported, of another religion –
Jainism- circulating within, and of other faiths such as Christianity, Judaism,
Zorastrianism and Islam coming in. It is
also a history of the rise and fall of countless kingdoms, among which the
Mauryan and Gupta Empires stand out for their geographical extents.[12]
As per available historical
records, the centre of gravity in the political and urban sphere shifted
between 2000 BCE and 300 BCE, progressively eastwards from the Indus valley to
the Ganga-Yamuna doab and then to the region surrounding pataliputra or present
day Patna in Bihar[13],
eventually the seat of both the Mauryan and Gupta Empires. While their is evidence of human activity
throughout the Indo gangetic valley even before 2000 BCE, the limited evidence
on migration in the Vedic texts and other
sources do convey an eastward migratory movement.[14]
2. Gender Perspective
Migration viewed along the axis of
gender is the main focus of this paper, the aim is to address the issue in
terms of particular contexts like conflict, family and marriage, transnational,
work, poverty and to do justice to each.
Migration is often perceived as
being mainly a male movement, with women either being left behind or following
their men folk as dependents. However,
statistics suggest that women have migrated in almost the same numbers as men,
i.e., in the year 200, there were 85 million female migrants as compared to the
90 million male migrants. Women account
for 46 percent of the overall international migration from developing countries.[15]
In addition, as compared to other
continental regions, Asia has the maximum number of international
migrants. There exist, however
disparities within the region in the sense that countries in southeast Asia
allow greater mobility for women owing to relatively more liberal attitude than
other South Asian and Arab countries.[16]
Despite the rising number of female
migrants, women are not given equal importance as compared to men in migration,
since they are still not perceived as equal actors worthy of being accounted
for. According to the official records,
the majority of women migrate legally merely as a part of family reunions. Those who migrate for employment purposes,
thus find themselves doing so legally, considering the rigid cultural and state
ideologies.[17]
Women may migrate alone or along
with their families or communities.
Their migration may be associational (like marriage) or women may be
independent migrants. Women may be
compelled to migrate owing to their economic condition, in search of better
work opportunities, or they may opt to migrate as an escape from an oppressive
marriage and the traditional patriarchal
norms. They may be driven by individual needs an aspirations, which most often
coincide with the family or migration may be facilitated by the state. Whichever the case maybe, migration has
undeniably become a prominent reality in the Post-modern world and the
feminisation of migration is an even more significant although less explored
aspect of this reality.[18]
By knowing all these, women should
not be the object, rather they should be the subject especially towards
migration issue. Thus women’s experiences should be given importance. It also
raises a methodological issue in questioning the extent to which recording
women’s testimonies empowers them, or whether it is a traumatising
experience.
Migration may thus be either
voluntary or forced , may involve individuals or families and even whole
communities. One therefore needs to
consider the life choices and circumstances of all categories of migrant women
while simultaneously addressing the range of gender-specific types of work and
their impact on women.
3. Perspective from
margin
All through the history and place,
people are treated through their identity.
The concept of identity has long fascinated writers and scholars. Philosophers of the Western European
enlightenment such as Descartes, Locke, Kant, and Hegel all consider identity,
the mind, the self, or the ‘I’ in their writings.[19]
Especially, from the perspective of margin people suffer with various problems
including identity. They are treated lowly because of their identity and least
bothered.[20]
The reasons for migration may be
broadly categorized into two. One:
migration of the powerful, grab wealth; and two; distress-driven migration of
the destitute. The former category constitutes invaders, land-grabbers,
investors, professionals and the like like who may be called privileged
migrants. They are rich and privileged
both in their own place/country and in the country they migrate to. Second category consists of those driven away
from their place/country by natural calamities, war, economic distress to very
distant places in their own country or to other countries, to earn, shelter,
etc. They are under-privileged,
miserable people both in their own place/country and in the host place/country.
These under-privileged has to get humanitarian support as they are helpless and
unfortunate people. These
distress-driven migrants treated as bonded labours in their work place and are
sadly denied a life of dignity, humanity and labour rights and specially the
benefits from the social welfare schemes.[21]
I would like to give an example
through a interview with a migrant worker, Pankaj:
Pankaj, 23 years old –
married, his wife and kid (3 years) are in Orissa. Pankaj is from Orissa and now working in
Metro rail construct near Thiruvotriyur.
He has been working in Chennai metro for 2 years and worked in
central, koruukkupet and now in
Thiruvotriyur. He has been staying with his friends (also migrant workers) near
wall tax road and having food near road side shops. Pankaj is working for 12 hours a day, whereas
other tamil workers are working for only 8 hours (getting double the amount of
salary (Rs 1000 per day)). Of course, Pankaj gets leave during Diwali and similar
festivals which help him to see his wife, kid and family. Sometimes, people
used to come to their place and check as if they steal something but till now
they did not fight any thing, still they come and check now and then. Pankaj
finishes by saying “Chennai is more fashioned and advanced than his village
where he can earn a lot”.[22]
People like pankaj is all around
this India generally and metro cities like Chennai, particularly. They face various problems in their day to
day lives right from dawn to dusk. Of
course, they are tolerating this because they have to earn money for their
family. From the interview of pankaj we can see, they are earning better when
compared to their place because the cost of living in these metro cities are
higher than other villages.
Urban life style is totally
different from the life style of rural.
The current scenario in our country also turning into “Rich gets richer
and poor gets poorer”. The poor people are crushed by the dominant structure
with the help of caste, colour, creed, economic status, education status,
language, etc. This creates more and
more pankaj who struggles daily for his daily life and saves for his family,
whereas multimillionaire like Vijay Maliya happily lives in London even after
5000 crore debt.
4.
Theological reflection
‘People on the move’ is the natural
happening in human history. Historically its not a new phenomenon at all. In biblical history, we can see how the
patriarchs Abraham, Jacob and the Israelites moved in and out of Egypt, how the
Israelites were sent into Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, and about the
dispersion of the Jewish Diaspora in the Greek and Roman Empires, and the
missionary journeys of the early Church people.
The Biblical narratives portray various forms of migration – due to
economic reasons, drought, starvation,[23]
war[24]. The very identity of the people of Israel can be seen as Migrants,
Strangers, Wanderers who experienced oppression and liberation. Today, similar situations continue to threaten the lives of million of people in
the world. Million of people are forced
to leave their homes or countries in search of a safer and better life. Asia is not free from these problems,
especially migrants problems. Both the
Old Testament and New Testament teaches about the love. Mainly, Jesus teaches un not only to love
neighbour but also our ememies and pray for those who persecute us. Jesus is the complete identification with the
marginalized people. When a migrant is loved, Jesus is loved.[25] Christians are encouraged to extend hospitality to Migrants too.[26]
Therefore, our theological task is
to open the closely shut doors to embrace the migrants by making prophetic
witnessing in India. Missiologically, embracing the migrants has been taken as
one of the mission hermeneutical paradigms in the 21st century in
India and the world as well. Our
understanding of mission has been changing, widening and making shifts in
various contexts. If this shift taken
seriously as mission hermeneutics paradigm in the Indian Churches, it is hoped
that it will become a transforming mission in India. Contextually, the
re-interpretation towards ‘Embracing the migrants’ is not an option, but a
theological mandate to meet the needs of Indian Context. Nevertheless, it will
not be without problems.
5. Concluding remarks
In the last decade of the twentieth century
and into the twenty-first century the world faced huge movements of people,
both within and between countries, that means the largest level of migration
took place. The motive of these massive migration is primarily because of
economic considerations, the search of better life, etc. In addition to the economic movers are the
people who have been displaced by famine and war or those who seek political
system.
This paper atempts to draw a basic
information about the migration internationally and nationally. By understanding that, it tries to draw
perspective from margin by pointing out the struggles migrant workers face.
Also gender perspective gives a view of migration issue that it is not only
male centred issue but also women plays a prominent role in it. By seeing that, theological reflection was
given through biblical citations from ‘people on the move’.
Theology, in the most simple term
is the relationship between God, world and human beings. Based on that we can
divide as God, the migrant workers who are under privileged in this world and
human beings. Every social issue like
caste, class, ethnicity, gender, margins, etc can be fit into this pattern. We are always good with God but the good with
other being is always questionable. In a
multi cultural, multi religious country like India, it is always a challenge to
show the Christian love to the fullest.
In light to that, migrants should not be considered as objects rather
then they should be treated as subjects and this has to be feed in the minds
and hearts of the theological and ecclesial communities. This will make us to
move forward by taking our Migrant brothers and sisters from the margin to
centre, from object to subject, from unloved to more loved, from least bothered
to most cared, from disrespected to respect and from under-privileged to privileged.
6. Points to ponder
6.1. Migrant worker falls to death
from 9th floor in Chrompet, Chennai.[27]
6.2. Enumeration of migrant
labourers need of the hour[28]
6.3. Rohingya migrant crisis[29]
7. Bibliography
Chilosi, Alberto. Migrants, Migrations and the inequities of
the world. Della Porta Publishers, 2018.
Koser, Khalid. International Migration A Very Short
Introduction. UK: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Parsons, Tabea Linhard and Timothy
H. Mapping Migration, Identity and Space. St. Louis: Palgrave MacMillan, 2012.
Regan, Vera, Choloe Diskin and
Jennifer Martyn, eds., Language, Identity and Migration Voices from Transnational Speakers and Communities. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2016.
Tumbe, Chinmay. India Moving : A History of Migration.
India: Penguin Viking, 2018.
8. Webliography
www.timesofindia.com
www.thehindu.com
www.bbc.com
9. Interview
Pankaj, Migrant worker, Metro
Chennai. Interview. 25 August 2018.
10. Email
David, Christopher. “National
Consultation on ‘Embracing the Strangers and Prophetic Witnessing’” (21 June 2018), Few Notes on Migration (20 August
2018).
[27]https://m.timesofindia.com/city/chennai/migrant-worker-dies/articleshow/62531007.cms (accessed on 26 August 2018).
[28]https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/enumeration-of-migrant-labourers-need-of-the-hour (accessed on 26 August 2018).
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