Yugoslavia: Armed Conflict
Imagine the difficulty of traveling across thousands of miles in fear of danger ranging from armed conflict to political circumstances to environmental conditions. Even sometimes leaving family behind to try and seek opportunities for them in order to search and compete for a job that may or may not be there. Traveling by land and sea, looking for a way out of a country that is in poverty and or dangerous to live in. For example, “The dreadful conflict that engulfed the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s drove as many as 3 million people from their homes, mostly into western Europe” (Blij, Murphy, Fouberg p. 71). The closest country in western Europe is Austria which by getting there would have caused one to cross two countries. People are forced out of their homes that were once safe to benefit their family in the future. Fleeing must have not been easy considering how many were leaving. Busloads of people going out to countries they know might accept them is a scary thing to think about. Also, crossing international lines is difficult as well, bordering countries to Yugoslavia must’ve had to process these people that said were unfit to stay at their homes. Migration can prove to be difficult, for example, the people that were seeking refuge from Yugoslavia had to wait in order to try and receive citizenship which would take some time. Forced migration causes trouble and strain on a family or individual such as Yugoslavia.
Germany 1939-1945: Political Circumstance
There are two different types of migration which are voluntary or involuntary. Involuntary can involve being forced to migrate either internationally or internally. Almost all cases of involuntary migration sides with internationally moving. For example, A specific German party in which caused WWII forced Jewish people to fear for their lives and flee as quickly as they could so that their family name would live on. “In January of 1933, there were some 523,000 Jews in Germany, representing less than 1 percent of the country’s total population…the response to the Nazi takeover was a substantial wave of emigration (37,000-38,000). (Holocaust Encyclopedia). One of Ravensteins’s Laws of Migrations says, families are less likely to make international moves than young adults, but this did not apply to them because they were running from danger and they were running to stay in another country. France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland openly took Jews in with hospitality because of forced migration. “People who fear their culture and traditions will not survive a major political transition, and who are able to migrate to places they perceive as safer, will often do so” (Blij, Murphy, Fouberg p. 72).
New Orleans: Environmental Conditions
Environmental conditions can be one cause of forced migration. “These crises including earthquakes hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis also stimulate migrations” (Blij, Murphy, Fouberg p. 71). For instance, the population can completely decline which is what happened in the devastating hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. This massive hurricane was the cause of forced migration which wiped out most of everything in its path. “Hurricane Katrina caused $81 billion in property damages, but it is estimated that the total economic impact in Louisiana and Mississippi may exceed $150 billion, earning the title of the costliest hurricane ever in US history” (Facts about Hurricane Katrina). If this much property was destroyed by the hurricane then the people that evacuated the area and were forced to leave rather than face danger must have be plenty. “The population of New Orleans fell by 11 percent… the portion of children in New Orleans’ population also fell, from 27 percent in 2000 to 23 percent in 2007” (Blij Murphy, Fouberg p. 71). It is shown in many of these cases that the population declines because of danger within these subgroups of forced migration. Climate is one way of describing the reason of migration. There are many other instances where involuntary migration takes place and there will be more. “One report suggests that the world will see as many as 150 million climate refugees from 40 countries by 2050” (Blij, Murphy, Fouberg p. 72). The fact that climate could be the leading cause of refuges shows how much is out of our control and how much is.
- Hybrid/Digital Component:
- 1.4 Managing digital identity, privacy and security – we will discuss these issues when discussing online platforms such as blogging and using Twitter
- 2.1 Collaborative communication – we will be blogging and tweeting our blogs – and also communicating with our classmates through WordPress/Twitter as well as in other ways on Moodle
Course Components: Connecting geographic concepts and processes to real-life scenarios
