Migration and The Current Developments of Xenophobia in America
A foundational explanation of migration into America. How this newly trended term “Xenophobia” has been embedded in civilization for centuries. The way to act upon political arguments.
Painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, 1851. Image Wikimedia Commons.
Xenophobia is an underlying concept of fear and hate for people who are immigrating into another land. We are unable to eliminate this phenomenon, thus the outcome: war, hate protests, violence, and segregation of races. America is one of the best examples. Currently there are two sides to the argument: 1. We should eliminate our fear of immigrants and tolerate immigration. 2. We should be skeptical and cautious before allowing immigrants into our land.
Although America is known as the most diverse country in the world, the problem with being so diverse is that people will gravitate towards sections of the land popular by their race. Therefore, America can also be seen as one of most segregated countries in the world. While many label it as racism, or designed systematic segregation, xenophobia can actually be seen as a natural concept that civilization holds within itself. Merriam-Webster defines ‘xenophobia’ as “fear and hatred of strangers and foreigners” (Merriam-Webster). The developments of xenophobia throughout historical events, such as war and colonization, have conditioned people to be mindful of their own race.
We feel a sense of safety and security, when we are with the people who are most like us. All of civilization is born into a genealogical family; family members are here to guide and protect the person when they are young. These people are usually the most trusted in one’s life. The individual depends on family members to feed, shelter, and guide them through life’s obstacles and dangers.
Migration occurs once an individual leaves the family home, whether they move to another country or a different part of the country. The migration process and relocation of one’s home causes shifts in civilization as a whole. Since America has a rich history where many of the world’s migrants settled to, and continue to do so, I’ll continue to use America as an example.
Currently xenophobia has become an argument, rather than a studied phenomenon. An article by Ron Hayduk, “Xenophobia, Belonging and Agency: Citizenship in Immigrant America,” discusses the contemporary arguments:
“The intersection of this anti-immigrant rhetoric with the Trump presidency, which is deeply enmeshed in the language of misogyny and racism, has given these traditions a sharper edge and urgency, and exposed the open and persistent wound that xenophobia inflicts upon the national identity and collective psyche of the American electorate” (309).
Just as President Donald Trump supports argument two –the skeptical threat of immigrants — many past presidents and government officials had to address the issue of xenophobia and border security, whether it was tolerating more immigrants into America, or blocking immigrants and making deportations.
Currently many people argue with the president’s policy on migration since he supports a less open border, ultimately limiting the migration of immigrants into the country. Argument two specifically deals with a threat, or negative impact resulting from immigration. At times immigrants can bring chaos, violent intent or disease to a country. While many immigrants migrate in order to find better opportunities for themselves and their families, locals often perceive the immigrants as a threat. Due to the course of history, some immigrants have exploited land, opportunities, and destroyed the local families and homeland, while in other cases immigrants have settled peacefully.
Gerda Villiers writes, in “The ‘Foreigner in Our Midst’ and the Hebrew Bible,” why there is hostility and prejudice towards foreigners:
“Racial hatred and suspicion of foreigners are attested worldwide, and since the beginning of civilisation groups have tended to favour their own kind rather than welcoming foreigners. One has to acknowledge the fact that it is part of human nature to be suspicious about strangers, not to trust them with a glad heart, and to be rather sceptical about ‘the other’” (1).
America deals with the same issues, terrorism being one of them. Villiers’ article finishes with a neutral argument to the issue of xenophobia, “Most local populations warm up to the foreigner who learns to speak their language and makes an effort to adapt to their customs. The religious component is probably the most problematic issue in contemporary societies” (6). As the locals begin to accept the migration of immigrants into the land, eventually, both adapt with one another within the locality. As the foreigner integrates with the culture of their new home, diaspora begins to disappear.
In order to understand the effects of migration and xenophobia, the newly coined study of “mobility” helps to examine migration. Not only in terms of geography and race, but as well, social class and the movements of people within a country’s hierarchy. The book Exit West by Mohsin Hamid illustrates a contemporary look into the migrations from East Asian nations (Pakistan) to the west. The protagonist and his counterpart leave what we presume to be Pakistan (the setting is not named) for a new life. Hamid takes the reader through many different stages of migration and encounters with multiple social classes throughout the novel. His work gives the reader an in-depth look into the struggles and triumphs of migration.
The article “Waiting in motion: mapping postcolonial fiction, new mobilities, and migration through Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West” by Amanda Lagji links Exit West with the mobility Hamid explains in the book. Here, she cites previous research by Sheller and Urry:
“First, the new mobilities paradigm ‘track[s] the power of discourses and practices of mobility in creating both movement and stasis’, and second, suggests that ‘time spent traveling is not dead time’, but rather ‘that being on the move can involve sets of occasioned’ activities” (220).
Lagji explains that mobility takes place within the spaces where immigrants are in transformation. This includes a lot of waiting and moving. Sometimes migrants are forced (Syrian refugees), having no other choice but to move. Lagji notes the time spent waiting to settle, is not wasted time. She elaborates:
“In my work with Exit West, I aim to move beyond these discrete, if transient, container spaces to consider the waiting and (im)mobility that occurs not only while journeying but also after arrival. The temporality of waiting opens up the ‘space’ of travel to include places of ostensible non-movement, such as the camp and refuge houses in Exit West” (221).
While there is hope for these refugees and immigrants to find a better home, the novel also details the multiple struggles they endure.
In “Exit West,” Mohsin Hamid rewrites the world as a place gorgeously, permanently overrun by migrants. Illustration by Jun Cen.
Argument number one from my introduction understands these situations migrants face. Therefore the argument maintains that as a sustainable country, we should help, and trust these migrants to settle in our land for their survival, as well as for the overall benefit of the country. Argument one interestingly enough incorporates another concept of civilization, empathy. Since we recognize the struggle and hardship the migrant faces, we are able to understand the emotional struggle of the migrant, since we are human just like them. Therefore it would make sense to be tolerant.
Where do we draw the line between argument one and two, then? Perhaps, a ‘third way’ presents itself to us: to exercise empathy while also ensuring safety for all. The discussion will go on and on. For now, Congress determines who is eligible to enter and become a citizen, yet the executive branch (e.g., Homeland Security) is progressing the policies that Congress has failed to debate. In other cases, some have different degrees of citizenship. Continuing on with Lagji’s article she writes,
“According to research conducted by the United Nations and analyzed by the Migration Policy Institute, international migrants account for 3.3% of the world’s population, or 244 million people in raw numbers (Migration Policy Institute 2015a). Estimates of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons from Pakistan, Mohsin Hamid’s country of origin, reached 2,184,574 people in 2015 (Migration Policy Institute 2015b)” (218).
These numbers give us context in the scope of this issue. Even today we are continuing to see the demand for countries to take in refugees due to governmental chaos. In Hamid’s country alone a solid 2 million+ people were seeking asylum.
Exit West uses literature to explain this complex political issue. In doing so the author Mohsin Hamid uses his non-fictional life experiences to create a fictional context for the reader. Ultimately, by putting his story into a literary form, Hamid makes it a more accessible topic to gain knowledge from.
While Hamid uses Exit West as a book to describe the complexities of migration, his previous book, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, explains the post 9/11 attitudes towards the middle east and the issues related to terrorism. Hamid makes the reader question why the west? Specifically, many Americans have developed a prejudice against the middle east and the races within the region.
An article titled “Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist: Post 9/11 from the Standpoint of the Easterner” by Johnny Vaccaro analyzes the underlying point Hamid is making in the novel. Vaccaro writes, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist proves a point about the assumptions one makes in the face of trauma and how one often follows an us vs. them dichotomy without recognition” (1). Specifically this “us vs. them” reaction is what occurs when there is a threat perceived. The onset of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 causes this reaction. Hamid makes us think twice before assuming that a region/race is to be viewed as a threat.
Finally we come to a conclusion. The traditional American compromise still exists where the country’s policies always find a balance. We are still stuck in the middle, never too far right nor left. A third ‘way,’ not argument, will solve the issue of xenophobia. That is defined as a balance where the migrant is allowed into the country based upon their circumstance. It would be infeasible not to allow migrants into the country as our economy depends on them in key sectors such as agriculture and health care. But, it also is infeasible to allow every single migrant into America. Therefore the third ‘way’ has and always will, solve these abstract issues of civilization.
For more words, as a reader you should also consider a third ‘way,’ and not only read a book. While you are cooped up awaiting the virus to pass, let your pen pass the paper (more so nowadays, the keyboard) just as the virus passes through civilization. While reading is great, the impact of writing is even greater. So I challenge you, reader: find a topic, do research and publish. Likewise to this paper.
An immigrant family on the dock at Ellis Island, c. 1925. (Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)
Works Cited:
Cen, Jun. “Exit West,” Mohsin Hamid rewrites the world as a place gorgeously, permanently overrun by migrants. 2017.
Hamid, Mohsin. Exit West. Penguin Books Ltd., 2018.
Hamid, Mohsin. The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Hamish Hamilton, 2007.
Hayduk, Ron, and Marcela García-Castañon. “Xenophobia, Belonging and Agency: Citizenship in Immigrant America.” New Political Science, vol. 40, no. 2, June 2018, pp. 309–316. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/07393148.2018.1449936.
Lagji, Amanda. “Waiting in Motion: Mapping Postcolonial Fiction, New Mobilities, and Migration through Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West.” Mobilities, vol. 14, no. 2, Apr. 2019, pp. 218–232. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/17450101.2018.1533684.
Leute, Emanuel. A painting of George Washington crossing the. Delaware, 1851. Wikimedia Commons.
Merriam-Webster Online. ‘Xenophobia vs Racism’. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/xenophobia-and-racism-difference
Unknown. An immigrant family on the dock at Ellis Island, 1925. Bettmann/Getty Images.
Vaccaro, Johnny. “Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist: Post 9/11 from the Standpoint of the Easterner.” Marymount University Commons, Magnificat, 2018, https://commons.marymount.edu/magnificat/mohsin-hamids-the-reluctant-fundamentalist-post-9-11-from-the-standpoint-of-the-easterner/
Villiers de, Gerda. “The ‘Foreigner in Our Midst’ and the Hebrew Bible.” Hervormde Teologiese Studies, vol. 75, no. 3, July 2019, pp. 1–7. EBSCOhost, doi:10.4102/hts.v75i3.5108
