People migrate for various reasons. Asian Americans in particular migrate for a variety of reasons depending on which region of the asian continent the originate from. For example, many of my South Korean and Chinese friends migrated her for educational purposes. A large portion of them actually came here by themselves on a. student visa or is staying with a relative who currently lives in the United states. Them staying also depends on the reason for why they decided to study here. Many have expressed graduating and then moving back home while others have decided to graduate and attempt to make a living here. Other reasons I have heard for migration to the united states are more ominous such as refugees escaping to achieve political asylum, or escaping a famine, or an ongoing war. Like my high school classmate whose father was a diplomat from Pakistan and moved to New York for political reasons. Outside of the Asian American experience, others may migrate for other reason but the base reason I often hear is to achieve a better standard of living that they might not have obtained in their home country.
Movies often portray migrants as aloof, naive, or escaping poverty and war torn countries. While some of these stereotypes might have evolved from general purposes, I suppose the reasons are more multi-faceted than that (take the popular tv show “Fresh Off The Boat”). So Yang explained a theory called the “push/pull” factor which is basically the impetus for why people migrate. He explains how man immigrants from countries not “poor”tend to migrate more in comparison those countries poorer (the example he used was “Nonetheless, many African countries, the poorest in
the world, have very low levels of immigration to the United States” in comparison to countries like Korea, Mexico, India, China, etc which send many for emigration which aren’t poor at all. So here we also have economic models for emigration as well.
While reading this, there was no mention of gender motivated migration. I bring this up because many migrants (I will be using my grandmother as an example) who live in countries where gender dynamics are patriarchal led could influence migration. Take countries where women are expected to fulfill domestic task instead of going to school (even forbid from attending school such as the amazing Malala Yousafzai who was literally almost killed for attempting to obtain an education in her homeland of Pakistan (she eventually migrated to the United Kingdom for an education and made it her permanent residence. I think this should be an important factor to add to Yang’s theory because it’s a driving force for many women migrants who make the decision to leave their home in search of a environment with politics that reflect them as women and to escape gender based violence against them in their home countries. This is especially important (in my opinion) in countries where this exist to the maximum.
I watched a few episodes of “Fresh off the Boat” before it is a refreshing show that tells the audience about Asian Americans experience. I agree that mostly underprivileged groups such as women, people of color, and more are likely to migrate to other countries like the United States in order to live a better life because of the unfortunate situations they had to endure back in their home country. When I first heard about the story of Malala Yousafzai it made me shocked but grateful to live in a country where I do not have to worry about gender based violence as much and it gives other women and girls hope that they can overcome difficult circumstances. There are more privileged people such as highly influential political diplomats from foreign countries that have the luxury to send their children to top schools overboard so that may be one reason why people from richer countries are more likely to immigrate than somebody from a poorer country.
Hi Nina,
I agree. Gender should be added to one of the Push and Pull factors in Yang’s theory. I think many women migrants come to well developed countries in search for academic and even general freedom from men. I think it fresh off the boat showcases the obstacles Asian immigrant families face along with some comedy. Movies have a lasting effect on people. Many movies showcase asians as naive and almost clueless people.
I do agree with you Nina about how most escape from war countries. In the Philippines,many people left in the 60s or 70s due to Prime minsters Marcos tyrant. Also, many Filipinos left their country due the poor economy after the dictatorship.
Wonderful discussion, Nina- thank you for these insights and critiques!