Elizabeth Mavroudi - Global Migration: Patterns, processes, and politics

This book has its roots in the classroom. We had been teaching courses on global migration for several years at our respective universities when Routledge asked if we might be interested in producing an introductory text on migration. Being familiar with each others research and teaching, we had spoken now and again about writing a book together. Now the opportunity had presented itself to us. We set out to write a book that would explain human migration clearly and concisely to undergraduate students and others new to the field. We have generally followed the order of topics in our course syllabi, and many of the sources cited in the book have been assigned as readings at one time or another to our students. Because this book is so closely tied to our teaching, it seems fitting that we begin by acknowledging the hundreds of students whom we have taughtand who have taught usthrough the years. Our students have typically come to us with no formal background in migration studies, but with a recognition that there is more to migration than what they hear in public discourse. Our students have challenged us when our explanations are unclear and our arguments unconvincing; and they have told us when we have assumed too much or too little about what they know. They have also shared their own migration stories with us. In these ways, our students have made us better teachers and scholars. We hope that our years of student feedback will be apparent in the comprehensiveness and accessibility of this book.

There are many others to whom we owe a debt of gratitude, including those who mentored us in our academic careers and who introduced us to many of the themes and topics addressed in this book. It is not possible for us to provide an exhaustive list here of the scholars who gave us advice, training, and guidance early in our careers, but we would like to recognize Lynn Staeheli and Cheryl McEwan. We would also like to thank our academic colleagues at Loughborough University, the University of South Carolina, and other institutions who have given us feedback on our work over the years and who have developed a good deal of the scholarship that we cite in this book. We give special thanks to Heike Jns, Marco Antonsich, Jon Beaverstock, Tracey Skelton, Anastasia Christou, and Patricia Ehrkamp. Thanks are owed, as well, to the graduate assistants at the University of South CarolinaCatherine Cottrell, Amelia Ayoob, Alysha Baratta, and Beth Nelsonwho assisted with data collection, editing, and the production of tables and graphs, and to Aga Szewczyk, who provided . Caroline would be remiss if she did not thank Sean McCrossin, the owner of Drip Coffee in Columbia, South Carolina, for providing a much-needed refuge from the office and an ideal space for writing.

Special thanks go to Routledge both for inviting us to write this book and for helping to make it a reality. Egle Zigaite and her predecessor, Sarah Gilkes, demonstrated immense patience with us and were always responsive to our queries. We appreciate the faith they placed in us to complete this project.

While we approach migration as scholars, migration is an important part of our own biographies and the biographies of our parents and grandparents. Migration experiencesthe crossing of borders, the maintenance of ties with places of origin, the negotiation of membership in places of settlementare not abstractions to us. Rather, they are woven into the memories and identities of our families. We give thanks to our family members who have shared their stories with us over the years about starting new lives in faraway places.