Editorial commentary: migration, a paradox of American human drama
✍ Scribed by Shrestha, Nanda R.
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2003
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 84 KB
- Volume
- 9
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1077-3495
- DOI
- 10.1002/ijpg.293
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Nowhere is the human drama of migration greater than in the grand theatre of America, a land of migrants from all corners of the world. But the migration current that America is experiencing today is vastly different than the one a century ago. With migrants of colour dominating the new waves of human flows, America is undergoing a visible transformation of its demographic landscape. In other words, the “whiteness” that once was the predominant feature of this landscape has turned into a rainbow of colours. Consequently, the running immigration debate in the country has gone beyond the realm of economic costs and benefits of foreign migration. It has become – explicitly as well as implicitly – racialised, as it is increasingly centered on racial and ethnic demographic shifts caused by growing migration. What lies at the core of this debate is the age‐old and most haunting question of the American paradox, the question of ‘Who is “American”?’ This is a painful question that few migrants of colour can avoid whether their migration to America fails them or bestows them with great success, however defined. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.