A Few Helpful Resources on Migration Issues 2

In this post, I want to share with you a few helpful books that I’ve come across in my research in the area of diaspora missiology.

To the majority of you reading this post, the words “diaspora missiology” are new.  This growing category of missiology is the study related to the intersection of the global movements of peoples and mission.  If you are interested in getting a better understanding of this field and its implications on the Church, I will direct you to my previous posts on the subject.

Interview with Enoch Wan, Professor, Intercultural Studies, Western Theological Seminary

Interview with Sadiri Joy Tira, Senior Associate for Diasporas, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization

What in the World is God Doing?

Students

Refugees

Immigration and North America

To date, very few Evangelicals have written on the topic of issues related to diaspora missiology.  However, things are slowly starting to change.  Enoch Wan and Sadiri Tira, among others, have been writing on this topic for a few years.  William Carey Publishers is planning a series on this matter (see interview withEnoch Wan above).  I am presently writing a book on this subject (specifically related to migrations to westerns countries) with Biblica.  My deadline is March 2011, so I would anticipate the book to be released by the publisher around March 2012 (I know, I know that’s a long time; but that’s publishing.).

While there are a few helpful evangelical writings available, some of the most significant literature on the topic of global migrations comes from outside the Church.  In fact, there is a great wealth of literature on the subject written by a multitude of scholars.

(I would like to add a note at this point.  It is a shame that the Church is woefully behind the times on understanding issues related to mission and migration.  Libraries are full of books and articles written on diasporic issues that contain a wealth of wisdom that needs to be applied for the advancement of the gospel.  However, a very small minority within evangelical circles are even aware of the matter at hand.  Okay. Enough on this note for the moment.  I’ll save the rest for a future post.)

In my own research, I have come across a few resources that I want to point out to you.  Unfortunately, some of these resources are expensive, so check with your public library or local college library.  Please understand, not all resources on migration studies are going to require that you sell a couple of pints of plasma to pay for them.  Also, I’m not saying that these are the best resources out there, just some of the best that I’ve discovered in my studies. 

My top recommendation to provide you with an excellent overview of the issue of global migrations is Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller, Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World, 4th ed. (New York: The Guilford Press, 2009).  If you are interested in reading my review of this book, you can find it HERE.  If you have some outstanding recommendations on the topic, I would love to know about your findings.  Until then, here are some of the most helpful books that I have found to date: 

• Uma A. Segal, Doreen Elliott, and Nazneen S. Mayadas, eds., Immigration Worldwide: Policies, Practices, and Trends (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010).
• Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller, Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World, 4th ed. (New York: The Guilford Press, 2009).
• Khalid Koser, ed., New African Diasporas (UK and NY: Routledge, 2007).
• Maura I. Toro-Morn and Marixsa Alicea, eds., Migration and Immigration: A Global View (Westport, CT and London, UK: Greenwood Press, 2004).
• Alejandro Portes and Josh DeWind, eds., Rethinking Migration: New Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives (New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2007).
• Matthew J. Gibney and Randall Hansen, eds., Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present, 3 Volumes (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005).
• Melvin Ember, Carol R. Ember, and Ian Skoggard, eds., Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World, 2 Volumes (New York: KluwerAcademic-Plenum Publishers, 2004).