Redefining Migration: A Quick Guide on Migration Terminology
Who is a Migrant? And who is an Expatriate? Putting the Migrant Vs Expatriate discourse to bed once for all
Migration
The Oxford English Dictionary defines Migration as the movement of a person or people from one country, locality, place of residence, etc., to settle in another.
I really like this definition because it emphasises migration as both internal and external (or more aptly, international) movement and settlement; something I have found myself repeating more often lately, even to the point of sounding like a broken record.
Then there is the Immigrant/Immigration Vs Emigrant/Emigration variant which defines the perspective of migration depending on the viewpoint of the person who's engaging with it.
An Immigrant is a person who comes to settle permanently in another country or region, as observed by those already living there, while an Emigrant is a person who leaves their own country or region for another, as observed by those they have left.
And as has been established above, this can happen both within the same geographical boundary or outside of it.
From my research, these definitions seem pretty standard and agreed upon, and I have included them first because as we begin to look at defining who a migrant and expatriate are, things begin to get very interesting.
Migrant
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a migrant as;
a person who moves temporarily or seasonally from place to place; and also
a person who moves permanently to live in a new country, town, etc., especially to look for work, or to take up a post.
However, the IOM Definition of "Migrant” says it is;
an umbrella term, not defined under international law, reflecting the common lay understanding of a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons.
It then adds a caveat that; at the international level, no universally accepted definition for “migrant” exists.
Curious, but unsurprising, and as you keep reading you will understand why.
Expatriate
The noun, expatriate, is defined quite widely as;
A person who lives in a foreign country.
Most definitions go ahead to specify that the reasons could range from a temporary living to a temporary working situation, and that these individuals primarily maintain citizenship from their country of origin even while living in another country.
But the Oxford English Dictionary, has a second definition I found quite interesting;
Of, pertaining to, or being an expatriate; living in a foreign country esp. by choice.
I like that; “by choice”. And I want you to hold on to that, because in my deep dive into the scholarly research for definitions of migrant and expatriate, I discovered an interesting dynamic.
A qualitative study of Italian migrants who had newly settled in Toronto and London, aimed to investigate these definitions by looking at how migrants position themselves in the host country.
They conducted interviews with both skilled and unskilled migrants and the results confirmed everything the literature says about the characteristics of both migrants and expatriates and how these distinctions are embedded in the way the two groups identify themselves.
The thing I found unsurprising about this study is the fact that the respondents confirmed the preconceived biases already held about who migrants and expatriates are.
The respondents who considered themselves as expatriates exhibited identity markers in their interviews that was typical of skilled migration (level of education, social status, use of English).
The others who considered themselves as migrants used specific markers commonly associated with unskilled migrants (poor use of English, the low level of education and the temporary job).
However, if according to this paper on migration categories, “the way in which a migrant is distinguished from an expatriate is the question of return—the migrant is expected to stay, while an expatriate is expected to return to their home country”, should the unskilled Italians not still be defined as expatriates since they fall under the temporary job category?
It is evident, then, that over time and as a result of what Rogaly and Taylor describe as the ‘racialisation evident in discussions of migration’1, what determines the use of the terms, migrant or expatriate, is not based on the duration of stay (either for work or play), but on Class and Race.
As Cranston (2017) explains further;
“…despite evidence to suggest that temporary migration is becoming more common, the term expatriate isn’t applied to all people who migrate temporarily for work or leisure. It is a category of migration that is often seen to be imbued with a ‘Western and national baggage’ (Fechter & Walsh, 2010, p. 1190) ... It is through these associations that we see the term expatriate as being racialized (Fechter & Walsh, 2010; Knowles & Harper, 2009; Leonard, 2010). The term ‘expatriate’ is often used without reflection as a way to describe white Western nationals abroad, excluding other groups of migrants who fit within this technical description.”
But what does this mean? And why should anyone care about it?
First, one thing that must be made clear is that all expatriates are migrants. Placing the term, expatriates as separate from migrants is like placing the ovaries separate from the reproductive system; they're all parts of the whole, and in this case the whole is a broader term known as migrants.
The inconsistencies in the use of both terms shows a deeper problem in the way certain groups of migrants have been and are being perceived, particularly by the media and in most cases, as a result of researchers' own flawed references.
Now, there are different categories of migrants, each one valid and “legal” in their own right - the reference to illegal migrants is one that humanitarians are fighting to eradicate from public discourse. Therefore it is important, imperative even, for us to ensure that the correct categories and references are used for each group of migrants.
According to the IOM, one in thirty people are migrants, so using the correct terminology is more than attempting to be politically correct. It has a significant impact on an individuals’ psyche and identity. It almost determines how they show up for themselves in the world.
Consider the unskilled Italians in the study above, they saw themselves as a different class of migrants from their skilled counterparts. A categorisation that is just not true, but one that has unfortunately been peddled as the norm. That doesn't have to always be the case.
We live in an Information Age, and we no longer have to buy into faulty narratives in the name of popular opinion. As Ronald Reagan said, “Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders.”
And when it comes to the Migration discourse, we know all about these borders.
In Part 2 of this newsletter, I will be expanding on why using the correct migration terminology matters and then, what you can do to support it.
Rogaly, B. & Taylor, B., 2010. 'They Called Them Communists Then: What D'You Call 'Em Now?....Insurgents? Narratives of British Military Expatriates in the Context of New Imperialism. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(8), pp. 1335-1352.