The Next Great Migration: The Story of Movement on a Changing Planet

Manu Moudgil

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There is a cartoon. A rich man and a poor man are dining while a distraught migrant in tatters looks on. The rich man has eaten most of the meal and is telling the poor guy that the migrant is trying to steal his crumbs. The political irony of this message never fails to elicit a few shares on social media. ‘The Next Great Migration: The Story of Movement on a Changing Planet’ by journalist Sonia Shah extends this thought. It examines the politics and science behind claims of “messy migrants”, mostly spread by the well-to-do. In India, this can be seen in depiction of Bangladeshi refugees as terror suspects instead of their actual occupations: house maids of Noida or sewerage cleaners of Bengaluru.

The book couldn’t have come at a better time — when borders are closing down, new walls are coming up and flag-bearers of racism are being toppled across the world.

Race remained the ground for opposing in-migration for a long time in the West, with scientists peddling wrong research to prove that non-whites are less evolved humans and engaging with them would disrupt the native superiority. Travelling shows displayed seemingly strange bodies of slaves while explorers cooked up stories of tailed monsters in faraway lands. Researchers fielded culturally distant questions to the newly arrived to prove they are dumber than the whites. Big names like Harvard University, MIT and New York Times aided such research. Even after enduring the horrors of Nazi-led racism during World War II, anthropologists and geneticists refused to sign a United Nations’ statement condemning race as an ideological concept. The author tracks the timeline of research in genetics to deflate the race theory.

The current post-truth world has devised new ways to detest migrants. False claims around migrants as security threats, carriers of diseases, burden on economy, etc, get rebutted in the book. The author instead illustrates how migrants enrich their new homes with skills, culture, hard work and genetic diversity, making the whole population more resilient to diseases. Shah draws parallels with plants and animals. Stories about checkerspot butterflies, Norway’s lemmings, wolves of Isle Royale and Polynesia’s sweet potato save the writing from being exclusively human-centric and make it universal, just like migration. Non-humans also cross borders and get labelled invasive even though they mostly enhance the ecosystem. In the US, for instance, migrant species increased biodiversity by 18 per cent over 400 years.

Thankfully, the book is not all science and tells stories of people. Only if there could be information about recent migrations into India. That could have offered a good contrast to European and American policies and public reaction.

The book maps historical migrations, examines reasons for movement and predicts its future amid rising conflicts and climate crisis. While people are running away from violence, marine creatures and terrestrial wildlife are moving towards cooler climes. Opposing migration is like working against a strong life force which will overcome all barriers and biases.