January CultureCAT: Migration / Displacement

January CultureCAT: Migration / Displacement

"Map-of-human-migrations" by original file turned by 180°, Circled Letters in the image also turned, color legend turned, inkscape-SVG is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/?ref=openverse.

“Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another, with intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, at a new location (geographic region). The movement often occurs over long distances and from one country to another (external migration), but internal migration (within a single country) is the dominant form of human migration globally.” (from wikipedia)

“Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced ‘as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence or human rights violations’” (from wikipedia)

Suggestions
Migration:
- The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration / Isabel Wilkerson
- The Grapes of Wrath / John Steinbeck
- The Arrival / Shaun Tan

Immigrants:
- The Boat People / Sharon Bala
- Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? / Anita Rau Badami
- Orphan Train / Christina Baker Kline
- Shanghai Girls / Lisa See
- The Shoemaker's Wife / Adriana Trigian

Displacement (have to admit, the first thing I think of with this is the Japanese internment camps in Canada and the US, so those are what my suggestions include; I guess this is the “forced displacement” as defined by wikipedia, though I’m sure there are plenty of other instances of displacement):
- They Called Us Enemy / George Takei
- Tallgrass / Sandra Dallas
- Forgiveness / Mark Sakamoto
- Obasan / Joy Kogawa

Other types of displacement can include people leaving as refugees due to war or other reasons you can think of.

And, please do update the wiki with what you read this month: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2025_CultureCAT


"Traveller Migrations" by tochis is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/?ref=openverse.

My current tentative choice is either Lost Children Archive or The Fire Horse Girl, to be decided with more confidence once January starts.

On the subject of forced displacement, I remember reading Farewell to Manzanar many years ago. It was a thinner volume, but a powerful story.

I have a couple of options:

- Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands / Kate Beaton
- Hotline / Dimitri Nasrallah

I'm looking at Refugee High and/or The Great Displacement.

I've been meaning to read Salman Rushdie's memoir regarding exile, Joseph Anton, ever since it came out, so that's my plan here!

I'm going to read Border Vigils by Jeremy Harding for this month. I had originally thought I would read Solito, but I've mislaid my copy. I know it's in the house somewhere, and I'm pretty sure I know which room, but tackling that room isn't going to happen this side of January. At least the other book is on my kobo - I always know where that is! :)

>3 LibraryCin: I read Ducks this year - very good. A harsh working environment, for sure.

I will be reading Tasmanian Aborigines by Lyndall Ryan. School children of my generation (and I am talking when I studied Australian History in VCE) were taught that the Tasmanian First Nations people had become extinct, with the last being Truganini. Not so. I am very interested to read more about this and why this became such an accepted fact in Australia.

>15 JayneCM: I visited the Truganini memorial on Bruny Island and took it for a fact that she was the last Tasmanian indigenous person, until I learned differently later. I'll be looking for your review of this book.

I will be reading The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration

As a Miami native, this seems like an apt book for me.