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Migration: A World History
Migration began with our origin as the human species and continues today. Each chapter of world history features distinct types of migration. The earliest migrations spread humans across the globe. Over the centuries, as our cultures, societies, and technologies evolved in different material environments, migrants conflicted, merged, and cohabited with each other, creating, entering, and leaving various city-states, kingdoms, empires, and nations. During the early modern period, migrations reconnected the continents, including through colonization and forced migrations of subject peoples, while political concepts like "citizen" and "alien" developed. In recent history, migrations changed their character as nation-states and transnational unions sought in new ways to control the peoples who migrated across their borders.
This volume will explore the process of migration chronologically and also at several levels, from the illuminating example of the migration of a individual community, to larger patterns of the collective movements of major ethnic groups, to the more abstract study of the processes of emigration, migration, and immigration. This book will concentrate on substantial migrations covering long distances and involving large numbers of people. It will intentionally balance evidence from the now diverse people's of the world, for example, by highlighting an exemplary migration for each of the six chapters that highlights different trajectories and by keeping issues of gender and socio-economic class salient wherever appropriate. Further, as a major theme, the volume will consider how technology, the environment, and various polities have historically shaped human migration. Exciting new scholarship in the several fields inherent in this topic make it a particularly valuable and timely
project.
This volume will explore the process of migration chronologically and also at several levels, from the illuminating example of the migration of a individual community, to larger patterns of the collective movements of major ethnic groups, to the more abstract study of the processes of emigration, migration, and immigration. This book will concentrate on substantial migrations covering long distances and involving large numbers of people. It will intentionally balance evidence from the now diverse people's of the world, for example, by highlighting an exemplary migration for each of the six chapters that highlights different trajectories and by keeping issues of gender and socio-economic class salient wherever appropriate. Further, as a major theme, the volume will consider how technology, the environment, and various polities have historically shaped human migration. Exciting new scholarship in the several fields inherent in this topic make it a particularly valuable and timely
project.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
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72 people want to read
About the author
Michael H. Fisher
18 books16 followersDr. Michael H. Fisher is the Robert S. Danforth Professor of History at Oberlin College, where he offers a range of courses on the history of South Asia, the environmental history of the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan, Mahatma Gandhi, and early travel narratives about India. He earned his M.A. and his Ph.D. in History with a concentration on South Asia from the University of Chicago. He also holds a B.A. in English from Trinity College.
Professor Fisher has published 12 books and more than 50 articles on aspects of Indian history. His special interests include the interactions between Indians and Europeans, both in India and in Europe, from the 16th century onward. His books include biographies of Indian settlers and visitors to Britain and histories of the British Empire as it originated and developed in India. His most recent book is A Short History of the Mughal Empire.
Since 1971, Professor Fisher has lived, researched, and taught for long periods in India, with briefer trips to Pakistan and Bangladesh. He has been a visiting faculty fellow at the University of Delhi, University of Hyderabad, University of Allahabad, Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, and the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Professor Fisher has also served on the major committees of the American Historical Association and the American Institute of Indian Studies, among others.
Professor Fisher has published 12 books and more than 50 articles on aspects of Indian history. His special interests include the interactions between Indians and Europeans, both in India and in Europe, from the 16th century onward. His books include biographies of Indian settlers and visitors to Britain and histories of the British Empire as it originated and developed in India. His most recent book is A Short History of the Mughal Empire.
Since 1971, Professor Fisher has lived, researched, and taught for long periods in India, with briefer trips to Pakistan and Bangladesh. He has been a visiting faculty fellow at the University of Delhi, University of Hyderabad, University of Allahabad, Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, and the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Professor Fisher has also served on the major committees of the American Historical Association and the American Institute of Indian Studies, among others.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 2, 2025
A short and sweet introduction to the history of human migration, Migration: A World History offers a look at the migration patterns that have characterized our history as a species from 200,000 B.C. to the present.
I must stress however that this book serves merely as an introduction to anyone interested in the movements of people across world history, it sadly doesn't go into detail on the more prominent patterns of migration like the Great Migration or the Ostsiedlung.
Still, as a general introduction to the various movements of populations across world history, Migration: A World History is a fantastic book.
I must stress however that this book serves merely as an introduction to anyone interested in the movements of people across world history, it sadly doesn't go into detail on the more prominent patterns of migration like the Great Migration or the Ostsiedlung.
Still, as a general introduction to the various movements of populations across world history, Migration: A World History is a fantastic book.
March 22, 2023
The book was quite disorganized. It did have a great explanation of migration, but it was all over the place.
June 20, 2015
Dry, but has a lot of info.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews