Crossing the Sahara to reach Libya for the purpose of onward migration across the Mediterranean to Italy is what in Gambia is called “The Back Way”. The aim of this study is to examine the ambitions and reasons behind a migratory project from The Gambia to Europe. By identifying the key constituents of a migration culture, I can get a broader insight into why the celebration of migration is evident, and how the ‘story of Europe’ is shaped. I have interviewed Gambians who are geographically in different places and who all find themselves in different life trajectories, most of them connected to migration. My conversations about migration, “The Back Way” and Europe stretches from interviews with repatriates, aspiring migrants and non-migrants. I have also interviewed Gambians in the Diaspora. In this study, I found a strong societal expectation and hope towards both migration and the diaspora which in return caused certain diasporic behavior that painted a misleading picture of Europe. I also found a strong hope and resilient aspirations in terms of social status and recognition believed to be attained easier as a migrant coming back from Europe.

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This paper examines the relation between internal migration and labour market outcomes among refugees in Sweden. Using longitudinal data, we find that refugees during their first nine years in Sweden migrate towards big cities and that migration within Sweden is: (i) more common among residents of smaller cities and especially rural areas; (ii) negatively related to marriage and children; (iii) positively related to unemployment and education; and (iv) most common in the first years after arrival. We can also conclude that internal migration alone does not improve the labour market situation for refugees in terms of income, whereas the chances for male refugees to obtain a job might increase. Integration signals, such as citizenship, seem to be of great importance for the refugee labour market integration.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Throughout the world, growing evidence suggests an increase of female migrants in migration streams. In the context of South Africa, women are not exempted from migration mechanisms. This new migration phenomenon is observed to influence housing accessibility among female migrants in the areas of destinations specifically in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas of South Africa. Yet, little is known about the forms of housing tenure female migrants use to acquire a place to live in. The methods of housing acquisition of female migrants are still imperfectly documented. Moreover, it is not clear of how housing tenure differs among female migrants between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Factors determining housing tenure and at what extent those factors are selective towards women in the places of destination are not properly elaborated in the existing body of knowledge. The aim of this research is to highlight the relationship between female migration and housing acquisition in South Africa by specifically looking at household headship in a gender perspective, and how housing acquisition differ between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas of South Africa. It is assumed that inasmuch as migration is selective, so is a really differentiated selectivity of such places as metropolises and non-metropolises. This research makes use of the 2007 Community Survey secondary data derived from Statistics South Africa. The data analysis was carried out, first, by means of univariate analysis, cross-tabulation, and Chi-square statistical test for association. Logistic regression analysis was used in order to identify the determining factors of housing tenure among female migrants. The two groups of female migrants were considered namely: female migrants heading households and those who were not heading households. The units of analysis were metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. This research focuses on internal female migration and housing in South Africa by examining different socio-demographic, socioeconomic, migratory, households, and housing attributes, by taking into account variables such as age, population group, marital status, level of education, just to name the few. By bringing together female migrants characteristics, migratory characteristics; and housing characteristics, the study found that female migrants heading households living in metropolitan areas are more likely to stay in rented dwellings, while those who were living in areas outside metropolitan (non-metropolitan areas) were highly represented in owned and fully paid dwellings. This study found further that, besides duration of residence, housing structure type, especially the availability of standalone housing type increases the likelihood of staying in owned and fully paid housing. This study concludes that, this new female migration stream creates more tension and pressure on housing provision in metropolitan areas in relation to non-metropolitan areas. Thus, policy makers should be aware of female migration and its impact in the housing sector in order to plan accordingly.

During C. elegans embryogenesis, myoblasts initially form two rows along the left and right lateral midlines and at ~290 min of development migrate dorsally and ventrally to form the four muscle quadrants present upon hatching (Sulston et al, 1983). As the myoblasts migrate they are still dividing, as are many other cells in their immediate environment. This means the cell-cell contact of cells during migration is dynamic and can vary from animal to animal (Schnabel et al, 1997). This situation creates an environment where the extracellular matrix (ECM) and cell surface contacts are in constant flux, which begs the questions as to how these cells navigate unerringly to their final destination. In an attempt to identify genes mediating these migrations, I performed an RNAi based screen targeting 776 genes predicted to be members of the extracellular matrix (ECM), or one of its receptors. Using both feeding and injection based RNAi, I was able to identify three genes of interest. Knockdowns of F56B3.2 resulted in paralyzed animals with detached muscle, making it a good candidate for a new component of the muscle attachment complex. F33G12.4 knockdowns resulted in an embryonic arrest phenotype with an abnormal muscle lineage, possibly stemming from polarity defects. The only knockdown that resulted in muscle migration defects was that for lam-2, which encodes for the laminin gamma subunit. Analysis of the lam-2 knockdown, as well as knockdowns for the other laminin subunits, revealed dorsal/ventral migration defects as well as a posterior displacement of the anterior-most ventral muscle cells. Investigation of this posterior displacement has led to the identification of a previously un-described anterior muscle migration event and its dependency upon the extension of muscle processes from the leading cells. / Medicine, Faculty of / Medical Genetics, Department of / Graduate

The preferred salinities of five Pacific salmon species were studied. Each species was shown to undergo a temporal sequence of preference changes. The sequence began with a preference for fresh water then changed in the direction of increasing seawater concentration, the terminal pattern indicating a preference for water of open ocean concentration. This preference sequence was shown to parallel closely the horizontal salinity gradients typical of estuaries through which juvenile salmon pass on their seaward migration. On the basis of this evidence the following orientation mechanism was postulated: that juvenile salmon are able to use estuarine salinity gradients as one of the directive cues in their seaward migration. Further study of this orientation mechanism showed that the initial part of the preference sequence develops unaffected by seawater exposure. By contrast the latter part of the sequence (corresponding to seaward end of the estuary) was found to depend on a period of exposure to seawater otherwise a regression to a premigratory freshwater preference took place. The sensory stimuli leading to the salinity preference response were shown to depend on a complex interaction of naturally occuring sea salts. Experimentally the simplest salt mixture which would elicit a normal response consisted of two cations (Na⁺ and Ca⁺⁺) and one anion (Cl¯). It was shown further that taste or the common chemical sense was the primary sensory modality underlying the response and that juvenile salmon have an ability approaching absolute salinity discrimination. Speculation concerning the evolution of the salinity preference orientation mechanism was presented. Published evidence favours the view that migratory salmonids evolved from nonmigratory forms with limited osmoregulatory abilities. On this basis it was proposed that originally the ability to orient with respect to seawater concentration was of direct survival value to the stenohaline ancestral salmonid. Later, as diadromous movements expanded along with euryhalinity, salinity preference became integrated into a temporal sequence of changes and thereby an orientation device useful for migration. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

The seasonal salinity preference of four species of Pacific salmon was examined. Each species showed a strong preference for hypertonic seawater during the normal period of migration. Pink fry (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) and coho yearlings (O. kisutch) lost this preference during the summer in contrast to Chum fry (O. keta) and sockeye yearlings (O. nerka). Three other types of behaviour showed seasonal changes consistent with a transitory "migration disposition". A preference for hypertonic seawater was associated with high levels of activity, strong schooling tendencies and depressed aggressive behaviour. Subsequent seasonal changes showed a marked increase in aggressive behaviour accompanied by decreased levels of activity and group behaviour. A long daily photoperiod (16 hours) prolonged the behaviour complex associated with seaward migration. A short daily photoperiod (8 hours) delayed but did not totally inhibit the development of a hypertonic salinity preference and associated behaviour. The preference of chum salmon fry for a series of seawater concentration indicated an all-or-none type response. A consistently strong preference was shown for seawater hypertonic to plasma chloride levels as reported in the literature. No preference was shown for hypotonic seawater. A series of experiments in which the composition of an artificial seawater was altered indicated that under natural conditions the expression of a preference for salt water probably depends on the concentration of sodium chloride. The swiftness of the response (chum and sockeye) indicated stimulation of a peripheral salinity receptor. Coho underyearlings injected with mammalian somatatropin showed an increased although not statistically significant preference for hypertonic sea water. Both activity and aggressive behaviour were depressed in comparison to control fish. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

A number of international documents, NGOs and scholars have predicted that due to global environmental/climate change, the increased frequency and intensity of phenomena such as natural disasters, flooding, sea-level rise, pollution, and drought will be felt particularly in less developed regions of the world, and may force millions of people to leave their homelands. Given the far-reaching humanitarian and security concerns that have arisen with regard to the issue of environmentally-motivated migration, there have been calls for more empirical work to investigate this phenomenon, and particularly with respect to international movement. This thesis project takes a qualitative approach to investigating how environmental conditions in the Philippines are influencing migration to Ottawa, Canada. Using semi-structured focus group and personal interviews, it contributes some of the first ever empirical research on the links between environment and international migration to Canada. In taking a qualitative approach, it focuses on the perceptions and experiences of migrants themselves, and suggests that an emphasis on personal agency should be privileged to a greater extent in the environmental migration field. Additionally, by conducting research from a “receiving” country in the Global North, this research separates itself from the majority of previous empirical work in its field which has primarily been conducted in environmentally marginal areas in the Global South. In so doing, it provides a novel perspective particular to the experiences of long-distance and more permanent migrants. The results show that environmental factors are not currently perceived as migration influences for Filipino newcomers in Ottawa, although environmental factors do interact with political and economic factors in complex ways to influence migration decisions. This paper utilizes a transnational lens to demonstrate that environmental conditions in the Philippines may not act as direct migration influences, but they do impact migrants and their families through the social fields that are created between the Philippines and Canada. Previous work has primarily investigated the environment as a “push” factor of migration, making the transnational perspective an important theoretical contribution for addressing links between environmental change and remittances, family separation, and agency and power in relation to (im)mobility.

Current studies on international migration often focus on transnational processes and networks conducted across borders. While states increasingly engage with their overseas populations, their strategies are becoming ever more creative. As such, we see the development of state diaspora strategies emerging that aim to connect with diaspora to influence their economic, political, social and cultural activities. One particular state strategy that is receiving increasing attention is the strategy of extending dual citizenship to overseas populations in order to create national solidarity and to promote investment and remittances back home. While the existing literature is comprehensive, there is a significant lack of research that aims to determine if these strategies have a real influence over diaspora activities and performance. As such, this thesis aims to determine whether dual citizenship facilitates home engagement. Using a transnational perspective, this research explores the relationship between citizenship, diaspora and transnational engagements within the context of Philippines by conducting semi-structured interviews to better understand how individuals perceive and engage in the policies that are targeted towards them.

Rural-urban migration is fundamentally a demographic phenomenon. It should be also open to analysis at the level of individual decision making as well as the demographic level so common in the literature. The individual acts or operates within a social and physical environment. He perceives some of the information available to him concerning the various dimensions of his environment. He acts with reference to his perception and his manipulation of that information. An observer cannot directly perceive the process of a West African making decisions. However he could note relevant information which may be available to a migrant. The observer could then note the migrant's actions. From these two sets of data the observer might surmise about the intermediate decision making process. This might be called the Information-decision-action perspective. From this perspective of the individual level a set of axioms can be constructed to generate a number of hypotheses concerning migration. Available literature on rural-urban migration in Africa, plus some from other geographic areas for comparison, is examined with respect to the hypotheses generated. As most of the data refer to overall movements, a certain transformation of the data is required to make them useful to the individual level of analysis attempted in this thesis. Most of the source data support the four categories of hypotheses I have developed but a few notable exceptions provide a useful reexamination of the formal approach of this thesis. After outlining the perspective and applying it to migration literature I turned to study a localised setting in West Africa. The ethnographic environment of Kwawu migrants is described from census data and personal recollection. The social and physical environments of the Kwawu traditional area and of Accra, the capital city to which most Kwawu migrate are described as information available to a hypothetical individual. This is followed by an example of a particular individual in a transitory state. The aggregate data related to the differential migration of Kwawu are examined and a demonstration model is generated from the Information-decision-action perspective to indicate the extent to which this approach is predictive. The individual's decision making process, or Information-decision-action perspective is outlined in Chapter One and is related in Chapter Two to relevant literature. Chapters Three, Four, and Five parallel the Information-decision-action perspective; Chapter Three deals with Kwawu ethnographic information; Chapter Four is a description of one Kwawu individual's decisions; and Chapter Five relates the resulting actions of Kwawu migrants. The problems of relating aggregate data to individual experiences and the problems of integrating personal and library sources of information are briefly examined in a summary chapter. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate