Although globalization seems like a recent phenomenon linked to migration, some groups have used social networks to migrate great distances for centuries. To gain new insights into migration today, Modern Migrations takes a closer look at the historical presence of globalization and how it has organized migration and social networks. With a focus on the lives of Gujarati Indians in New York and London, this book explains migration patterns through different kinds of social networks and relations. Gujarati migration flows span four continents, across several centuries. Maritsa Poros reveals the inner workings of their social networks and how these networks relate to migration flows. Championing a relational view, she examines which kinds of ties result in dead-end jobs, and which, conversely, lead to economic mobility. In the process, she speaks to central debates in the field about the economic and cultural roots of migration's causes and its surprising consequences.
"This outstanding book on the migrations of Gujaratis from India to Africa, Europe, and America, opens a new window on the population movements currently crossing the globe. Reaching back into history and spanning the divides between the mass migrations of the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, Poros tells a compelling story, one that will interest established scholars and new students of migrat
Los Angeles
"Modern Migrations adds significantly to our understanding of immigration processes in general, and the Indian diaspora in particular. Illuminating existing links and flows in the U.S., the U.K., East Africa, and India, Poros uses the relational perspective very effectively and offers a clear, valuable look at migration today."
