A world on the move

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

by Sonia Shah.

Bloomsbury.

Pages 388.

Rs 599

Manu Moudgil

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.

Shah cites extensive research and anecdotes to build a solid response to xenophobia prevalent in the West. This book could not have come at a better time — when borders are closing down and new walls are coming up, historical 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. Traveling 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 and propagated such research and expeditions. Even after enduring the horrors of Nazi-led racism during World War II, prominent anthropologists and geneticists refused to sign a United Nation’s statement condemning race as an ideological concept with no basis in biology. 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 and cause of population explosion 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 hence make it universal, just like migration. Non-humans also cross borders and get labelled invasive even though they mostly enhance the ecosystem. In US, for instance, assimilation of migrant species over 400 years increased biodiversity by 18 per cent.

Thankfully, the book is not all science and tells stories of people. People forced to flee home because home, as the poet Warsan Shire says, is the mouth of a shark. Whether it’s a Haitian taking his wife and seven-year-old boy through life threatening wild trails to cross into the US, or an Afghan family guarding a German textbook for a new beginning in Europe — and later sharing it with other children at a refugee camp school — all of them enhance the scientific readings.

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 biological reasons for movement and predicts its future amid rising conflicts and climate crisis. While people are running away from violence, trees, 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.