Assistant Professor, Population Program
Institute of Behavioral Science (IBS)

GEOG-4292/5292 - Migration, Immigrant Adaptation, and Development

This course is an overview of several aspects of the migration process with an emphasis in international movement between developing and developed countries, the U.S. in particular. We will first study migration on a global scale and from both historical and current perspectives in order to identify the evolution of the different regional migration systems and will cover some aspects of internal migration in the U.S., including that of the foreign-born. We next cover migration theories that attempt to explain the regularities learned in the first, more empirical part, including both origin- and destination-based (a.k.a. push and pull) explanations of why people move. We will specifically look at and critically examine the role of development in the migration process as potential cause and consequence of population movement in origins and will discuss the economic consequences of migration in destinations more in general. Finally, we will study some aspects of immigrants' social and economic adaptation to their host society while taking into consideration the importance of the context of reception in which they have immigrated.

Class materials are available on Desire2Learn during the semester when the class is being taught.