An Overview of Cyclical Migration: Demographics, Policies, and Terminology

• In Event: Cyclical Migration and Education: Transborder Students and Families Between Korea, Mexico, Senegal, and the United States

Abstract

Objectives: This theoretical paper presents an overview of global migration patterns and the reasons people migrate as well as an analysis of the categories and terminology of return for those who leave the US .

Theoretical framework: Increases in migration are connected to poverty, persecution, environmental disasters, war, and an overall inability to survive with dignity. The impetus to migrate has been described as either voluntary or involuntary (Suárez-Orozco, 2019). However, this binary doesn’t reflect the complexity of the current context (Espindola & Jacobo-Suárez, 2018; Medina & Menjivar, 2015). A continuum lays out four categories that range from the most externally imposed to completely internal motivations to add nuance to the reasons families return to their country of origin (Author, 2022).

Deportation is the forcible removal of individuals from a country by direct governmental action. Coercion stems from the consequences of anti-immigrant polices that oppress undocumented immigrants, and disproportionally impact people of color. Refusal shares the same root causes as coercion, but it is a considered stance and conscious decision to remove oneself from oppressive forces. Finally, free will, or a choice that is made in the absence of external forces and policies. It is a personal decision based on future desires.

Although terms are limiting, they provide descriptions that extend beyond the individual to delineate shared group characteristics. “Transnational” is commonly used for people who have lived between countries (Despagne & Jacobo Suárez, 2016; Zúñiga & Hamann, 2009) as well as those who do not physically move but have social-emotional connections across borders. “Binational” (Gándara, 2016) centers the nations and passage between two countries. “Transborder” goes beyond geo-political boundaries to ways language, culture, and school systems create borders that students traverse as they search for new and hybrid ways of being (Anzaldúa 1987; Stephen, 2007).“Return migrant” captures the dynamic and cyclical nature of migration (Cassarino, 2004; Jensen et al., 2017). Cruz-Manjarrez and Baquedano-López (2020) use the term “new returnee” for US-born people who lived in their family’s country of origin for at least three years, and return to the US, essentially completing a full cycle.

Modes of Inquiry: This theoretical paper includes and builds on theoretical and empirical research in the fields of immigration, education, psychology, and law. It synthesizes the ideas of seminal scholars and extends them to fit within the current context of return and cyclical migration.

Conclusions: While there are differences across nations, the one constant is the mismatch between the relatively static nature of schools and the mobility of students (Zúñiga & Hamann, 2009). This results in an education that may be locally relevant, but inconsistent with the complex trajectories of students’ lives (Hamann & Zúñiga, 2021).

Scholarly Significance: Border crossings dramatically change schooling experiences, alter language practices, and build in-depth understanding of migration policies through the experiences of those who are directly impacted. Therefore, the way these cyclical migrations are theorized is critical to the direction of research, policy and pedagogy across borders in order for students to live their global lives.

Author

• Tatyana Kleyn, City College of New York - CUNY