Race Ethnicity Migration and Nationalism

Running head: Race, Ethnicity, Migration, and Nationalism
Race, Ethnicity, Migration, and Nationalism
Name of the student
Name of the University

2Race, Ethnicity, Migration, and Nationalism
Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................7
References:.................................................................................................................................8

3Race, Ethnicity, Migration, and Nationalism
Race, Ethnicity, Migration and Nationalism
Introduction:
Migration has been the defining issue of our age with people crossing borders and
boundaries that have resulted in the major crises of our times. As one writer who wrote a
book on life in the margins of America about a Chinese immigrant said of the migrant’s view
of the world :
“ – walking on the highways, taking busses, crossing the border – from one country to the
next, from rural to urban, mountain to desert , life to death “
Migration interacts with nationalism when a people for their difficult circumstances
have to move from their native land, native cultures to a different countries, different cultures
in faraway places. And the resistance they face in their new circumstances ranging from
adaptation to a new way of living to hostilities from the local crowd of the new place is how
nationalism and migration interact. In this essay it will be explored how the realities of
migration and nationalism have changed and remained same over the years, as the conflicts
have been here in the human world from ancient times.
Discussion:
The concept of liminality (the word comes from latin limen meaning a threshold)
originated in the field of anthropology and it means the lack of direction or disorientation that
happens in the middle stage of a rite of passage. It happens when a people lose their
traditional bearings of being in the earth but have not yet adapted into a new way of living.
The usage of the term has extended in recent times to describe cultural and political change as
well. During liminal periods, all kinds of social hierarchies may be temporarily suspended ,

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continuity of tradition may stall , and future outcomes once taken for granted may become
uncertain.
Leanor Paynter in her paper writes about the migrant crises in unfolding in EU:
“ Since 2015, Europe’s migration crisis has garnered global attention. On the nightly
news, we see countless images of fishing boats and rubber dinghies filled well past capacity
with men, women, and children traveling towards the coastlines of Southern Europe, or
groups of people walking along barbed wire fences at the Hungarian border. These migrants
are often described as “in transit,” as their migration is ongoing; they have yet to arrive”.
Transit migrants are therefore in a state of arriving as they haven’t found a home or
place to belong. Their predicament shows us that the risk of migration does not end with
crossing a border. There have been endless stories of apathy and violence towards the
immigrants in new countries as a result of scapegoating by opportunist politicians. In Italy
new conflicts are emerging with volunteers of first and second generation migrants and
human rights activists working towards helping the newly arrived refugees find housing and
other basic amenities and the local authorities. But their efforts have often been met with
hostility from local authorities and anti-immigrant groups who lead demonstrations with
slogans like “Rome for romans”. One such collective called the Baobab Experience who
work with ‘migrant transitanti’ have illuminated the problems they face when working.
Ironically the circumstances that cause the phenomenon of in transit migration can be linked
to the authorities that try to restrict mobility of the people. The people in Italy were mostly
people who fled civil war in Somalia or famine in Sudan or their repressive government in
their countries. In case of rising social tension and distrust of migrants because of the already
difficult economic condition of the countries and scapegoating by the politicians, immigrants

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not only face challenges in fighting for their right to stay in Europe but they are also
struggling to survive materially.
The spectre of the major humanitarian crisis is not just a European phenomenon. The
persecution of Uighurs in China by the authorities in order to create a homogenous political
identity has created grim realities for the communities resulting in a few cases of ethnic
cleansing. In Myanmar, the burning of villages of the Rohingya’s and terrorising and killing
them, have resulted in one of the largest exoduses of our times. The Rohingya’s fleeing to
India and Bangladesh face more racism by the people of the economically impoverished
countries. In India, the ruling right wing government have brought into effect a contentious
bill that has resulted in creating new immigrants from the people who have been living in the
country for decades along with creating new fault lines and hostility between the many
different communities living in the country. It is not surprising that such division of countries
in ethnic and racial lines has been occurring all across the world from minor to macro level.
The major massacres that has shaped the history of 20 th century were often due to racial or
ethnic divide. The holocaust or the Bosnian genocides are some of the worst horrors from that
century.
And the scapegoating of migrants is also common in all countries as well. Despite
there being studies by economists that immigration in the long run positively impacts a
countries economy, despite knowing that the immigrant class accounts for working jobs that
are the most difficult and unwanted in a nation, the demonization of these people has not
stopped and has banally retained the same character over the ages. The scapegoating often
masks the real issues that are responsible for the social and economic realities that make life
so difficult for people of a country unwilling to accept the migrants. Unemployment,
inequality of wealth, corruption in social institutions, are the issues that are ignored or hid so

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well by the ruling class and the narrative is set so that the new migrants coming into the land
are the cause of all troubles.
Also in case of the refugee crisis in the Middle east and Asia, a large part of the
responsibility can be traced back to the colonial history of major western powers like
America, France, England and the like who had colonies all over the world and controlled
most of the world’s wealth often ruthlessly. The resulting violence and displacement caused
by such imperialistic tendencies often create a turbulence that keeps going for centuries. For
example The communal bill passed in India that seeks to discriminate against Muslims has its
roots in the partitioning of the country by the British. The holocaust happened because Hitler
sold the Germans that their race was superior to the other Jews and had a right to be
dominated. Even in America the concept of manifest destiny held that the white race had a
divine right to settle the entire continent of North America. Western imperialism also
operated by legitimizing the idea the colonial powers were superior to the colonized and
therefore deserved to ruled and controlled. Fanon wrote about the dehumanizing effects of
colonization brilliantly in his books The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks.
He also noted how the colonized instead of rebelling against the injustices accepts the
colonizers beliefs internally that he is inferior and therefore tries to be more like the
colonizer. When Fanon was serving in the French army he saw first hand how women
liberated in war danced with white soldiers despite being liberated by the black soldiers. A
colonized mind results in having even their internal desires distorted.
Whole of human history is one of migration. People moved from place to place in
search of a better life, or trying to escape unfavourable climate, or danger. The American
government that is so bent on demonizing immigrants is itself a country of immigrants. It has
been seen that multiculturalism can exist and cosmopolitan cities like New York and Paris or
Mumbai are examples of people from so many different backgrounds working and living

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together. Gregory Bateson, an anthropologist, used the term schismogenesis that means
“creation of division” to explain certain behavioural traits of a tribe he was studying. In our
modern context this can be seen as groups with opposing views working against each other
and escalating violence without looking to negotiate or compromise. Creating divisions in a
society happens in many ways. It happens when people identify with their religion or when
people take their national or ethnic identities too seriously. Human beings are social animals
and with people organizing with a common belief which are later identified by their religion,
nationality or ethnicity, it otherizes the people who are not in that social group.
Conclusion:
However all is not dark. People all across the world are working against these divisive
forces that be and extending solidarities towards people who come from a different
backgrounds. And new narratives are being shaped by the migrants themselves who are
challenging the way they are portrayed and writing their own stories. They are for the first
time representing themselves.

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References:
Agnes Horvath, Bjørn Thomassen, and Harald Wydra, Introduction: Liminality and Cultures
of Change (International Political Anthropology 2014)
Greenhill, K.M., 2016. Open arms behind barred doors: fear, hypocrisy and policy
schizophrenia in the European migration crisis. European Law Journal, 22(3), pp.317-332.
Park, J., 2015. Europe’s migration crisis. New York: Council of Foreign Relations, pp.311-
325.
Thomassen, B., 2016. Liminality and the modern: Living through the in-between. Routledge.