Migration Stories | Koerner Library

The United Nations International Migrants Day on December 18th aims to raise awareness about the challenges and difficulties of international migration as well as recognize the rights of migrants throughout the world. This year’s observance of International Migrants Day focuses on the stories of social cohesion, which are as varied and unique as each of the 272 million migrants living new lives and building new communities in every corner of the globe.

2020 also marks the inauguration of the UBC Centre for Migration Studies. As an independent institutional unit within the Faculty of Arts—and as the only centre of its kind in Western Canada—the Centre for Migration Studies promotes cutting-edge research, interdisciplinary collaborations between researchers, community partners and policy makers in order to advance our understanding of global migration and to mobilize knowledge for evidence-informed policies and practices.

Check out these examples of publications from UBC Centre for Migration Studies collaborators below to learn more about stories of migration, and the complex contexts in which they occur.

	Sex, Love, and Migration: Postsocialism, Modernity, and Intimacy from Istanbul to the Arctic by Alexia Block \| E-book Link This book examines global inequality beyond familiar discussions of exploitative relationships that divide the world between the “Third/First World” or “Global South/North” by looking at the way that post-Soviet women have crossed borders between the former Soviet Union and Turkey as labor migrants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, it considers how they negotiate emotion, intimate relationships, and unpredictable state powers shaping their lives.
	Gender in Refugee Law: From the Margins to the Centre edited by Efrat Arbel, Catherine Dauvergne, and Jenni Millbank \| E-book Link Questions of gender have strongly influenced the development of international refugee law over the last few decades. This volume edited by UBC Centre for Migration Studies collaborator Efrat Arbel assesses the progress toward appropriate recognition of gender-related persecution in refugee law.
	Migration in Performance: Crossing the Colonial Present by Caleb Johnston and Geraldine Pratt \| E-book Link Co-written by Geraldine Pratt, a collaborator with the UBC Centre for Migration Studies, this book follows the travels of Nanay, a testimonial theatre play developed from research with migrant domestic workers in Canada, as it was recreated and restaged in different places around the globe. This work examines how Canadian migration policy is embedded across and within histories of colonialism in the Philippines and settler colonialism in Canada.
	New Chinese Migrations: Mobility, Home, Inspirations edited by Yuk Wah Chan and Sin Yee Koh \| E-Book Link This book identifies and examines new forms and paths of Chinese migration since the 1980s, and includes a chapter by UBC Centre for Migration Studies collaborator Amanda Cheong entitled “Immigration and Shifting Conceptions of Citizenship.”
	Policy Transformation in Canada: Is the Past Prologue? edited by Carolyn Luges Tuohy, Sophie Borwein, Peter John Loewen and Andrew Potter \| E-Book Link UBC Centre for Migration Studies faculty Antje Ellerman has contributed an essay on Canadian immigration policy to this edited volume that explores the past, present, and future of Canadian policymaking.
	Exchanges and Parallels Between Italy and East Asian edited by Gaoheng Zhang and Mario Mignone \| E-book Link This collection of essays co-edited by UBC Centre for Migration Studies faculty member Gaoheng Zhang is the first English-language study to present the latest research on Italy’s cultural relationships with China and Japan across the centuries. It explores topics ranging from travel writing to creative arts, from translation to religious accommodation, and from Cold War politics to Chinese American cuisine.

	Sex, Love, and Migration: Postsocialism, Modernity, and Intimacy from Istanbul to the Arctic by Alexia Block \| E-book Link This book examines global inequality beyond familiar discussions of exploitative relationships that divide the world between the “Third/First World” or “Global South/North” by looking at the way that post-Soviet women have crossed borders between the former Soviet Union and Turkey as labor migrants. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, it considers how they negotiate emotion, intimate relationships, and unpredictable state powers shaping their lives.
	Gender in Refugee Law: From the Margins to the Centre edited by Efrat Arbel, Catherine Dauvergne, and Jenni Millbank \| E-book Link Questions of gender have strongly influenced the development of international refugee law over the last few decades. This volume edited by UBC Centre for Migration Studies collaborator Efrat Arbel assesses the progress toward appropriate recognition of gender-related persecution in refugee law.
	Migration in Performance: Crossing the Colonial Present by Caleb Johnston and Geraldine Pratt \| E-book Link Co-written by Geraldine Pratt, a collaborator with the UBC Centre for Migration Studies, this book follows the travels of Nanay, a testimonial theatre play developed from research with migrant domestic workers in Canada, as it was recreated and restaged in different places around the globe. This work examines how Canadian migration policy is embedded across and within histories of colonialism in the Philippines and settler colonialism in Canada.
	New Chinese Migrations: Mobility, Home, Inspirations edited by Yuk Wah Chan and Sin Yee Koh \| E-Book Link This book identifies and examines new forms and paths of Chinese migration since the 1980s, and includes a chapter by UBC Centre for Migration Studies collaborator Amanda Cheong entitled “Immigration and Shifting Conceptions of Citizenship.”
	Policy Transformation in Canada: Is the Past Prologue? edited by Carolyn Luges Tuohy, Sophie Borwein, Peter John Loewen and Andrew Potter \| E-Book Link UBC Centre for Migration Studies faculty Antje Ellerman has contributed an essay on Canadian immigration policy to this edited volume that explores the past, present, and future of Canadian policymaking.
	Exchanges and Parallels Between Italy and East Asian edited by Gaoheng Zhang and Mario Mignone \| E-book Link This collection of essays co-edited by UBC Centre for Migration Studies faculty member Gaoheng Zhang is the first English-language study to present the latest research on Italy’s cultural relationships with China and Japan across the centuries. It explores topics ranging from travel writing to creative arts, from translation to religious accommodation, and from Cold War politics to Chinese American cuisine.