As December 2021, 440 Afgani refugees arrived in Utah with the expectation of at least that many more by February. 2022. Many of these families have had extended stays in hotels and when available are able to receive apartments or homes with the assistance of basic needs in the form of food stamps. This is normally how refugees are housed, but given the significant increase the effective solutions have left many new immigrants extremely isolated and unsure how to begin living and working. However what has made a different is people in the community reaching out to welcome newcomers. Stories of people donating afgan rice, oil, and sharing meals as well as inviting some to a Persian New year had made huge differences. Often it is easy to assume the most important part of the immigration narrative is economic factors. There is also a need for social nourishment. Community organized food and other needs help connect these people to their local area. What they need beyond food and shelter is to learn how to survive in the United States, public transport, getting jobs, education ect. Part of the migration narrative that draws from the leaders is realizing that it takes a social network for people to make their journey to the destination and a social network to help them integrate. It very difficult to just drop into a new location and so friendship and connection is critical.

Group 3 Natalie Bankhead, Melissa Janco, Paige McCary

• How do the theoretical frameworks evolve and change from one to the other? 

These theoretical frameworks evolve and change from one to the other due to different historical events and overall changes in global society.  Modernization was brought about after  WWII. Modernization is the initial movement of development and theorizes that rural environments and States undergo a systematic transformation to urbanized environments through industrialization and a transformation of traditional values. This Western/Americanization is nearly impossible to reverse.

 Modernization shifts to a Dependency Theory model explaining the exploitation of labor and resources from periphery countries to core countries wherein resources and wealth accrue. The Dependency Theory holds that to counteract this exploitation, national markets and national industrialization need to be developed in order to create stronger local markets and standard of living.  The Theory of Dependency began in the 1950’s as a result of several different prominent theories at the time including neo-marxism and Keynes’ economic theory.  Modernization and the Theory of Dependency are both derived from research conducted on third world development.  

The World Systems model considers a global economy instead of nation states and seeks to seek the upward and downward mobility in world economy focusing on the semi-periphery and periphery of the global economy. The Theory of World Systems emerged in the 1960’s. At this time many societal changes and economic changes were evolving on an international level rather than that of the states. 

Globalization theory considers massive increase of global communications at every levels to change the culture and enables virtual economic transactions empowering minorities but overall businesses and powerful elite are the decision makers for world economic and social structures

Overall, these four theories are focused around research and studying third world countries’ development.  They all have an emphasis on sciences and technology. 

• How do the frameworks lack further explanations as to how people live their lives? 

The earlier frameworks of Modernization and the Theory of Dependency both seem to lack an explanation as to how people in third world countries maintain their own individual cultures, traditions and customs while also improving their financial and political standings in the world.  As economic theory evolves towards Globalization, there seems to be more of an opportunity for individuals to maintain their cultures and interact in a global economy. 

 Lastly, it seems that these theories focus on the systems at play, but lack regard for the way these massive transitions would uproot the lives of individuals.  These changes impact the types of jobs available, the infrastructure in their area, cultural wisdom, and use of natural resources.  

Overall, these frameworks fail to take account of our limited and shared natural resources as well as the emerging regenerative movement that encourages localized and decreased economies. They see development and economy in terms of industrialization and technological advancement rather than living in harmony with the earth and communities. 

• How does the economics piece connect people in different ways through mobility and education? 

These economic models account for distribution of resources and why people would need to migrate  and redistribute themselves in relation to the economic evolution from rural to urban, developing to industrial regions and as a result transform their sociocultural values in order to survive. 

Economics connects people through jobs and through the distribution of resources.  People often move for job opportunities and educational opportunities.  Additionally, people often seek education based on the types of skills that will provide them with employment opportunities.

This globalization and migration is seen in the migration patterns of South America to North America. Individuals are often from a rural environment and coming to work in industrial jobs in city centers due to lack of resources, instability, and economic opportunity.

Sunday morning, I spoke to a woman working at a hotel in Phoenix, Arizona who had arrived to the United States just two months ago. She said she was told it would be warm here. We gazed over the city’s industrial parking lot and gently spoke of the Nicaragua landscape. Her name was Cynthia and she had a young daughter. I too was suffering from a culture shock having returned to the U.S. to try and teach youth about food system. I threw away so much food that week and having known hunger in Nicaragua it deeply broke my heart. Urulsa A. Kelly in her work Losing Place: Reluctant Leavings and Ambivalent Returns claims migration is type of death, a transition needing a type of mourning not often given or address culturally. Kelly writes of migration and death, “death, it seems, cannot be allowed to disrupt the economies of efficiency that organize contemporary (postcapitalist) life. The moment in the morning was brief, but there was very few individuals who could meet us in our liminal state. And I am grateful for the human connection.

Cynthia told me hesitantly of the journey, the difficulty at the Mexican border and how we left her daughter for fear of loosing her in the States. $100 here, she said is actually not that much money and in Nicaragua it could last a month. I nodded and thought of the young 21 year old Angel, a Nicaraguan I had met three weeks prior. He was preparing to take the journey by land from Nicaragua to the United States. Roughly 3 months, 5k in coyote fees, and exponential danger. I urged him not to go, knowing his dream to work in a nice hotel like this woman. Perhaps he too would not find his dream in the reality of the US economy. I prayed he would be as lucky as Cynthia to at least arrived safely and find work. e said it was dangerous now in Nicaragua.

I asked Cynthia why she chose to come. She said it was dangerous now in Nicaragua.

According to November 2021 reports “authorities caught over 50,000 Nicaraguans trying to cross the U.S. border illegally in 2021, up from 2,291 in 2020, according to Customs and Border Protection data. Erlinton Ortiz was deported last year, one of over 5,000 Nicaraguans returned from the United States since 2019, into the hands of an administration that Washington has accused of civil rights abuses, corruption and holding sham elections.”

That is a shocking increase from country the size of an East Coast State. Moreso when one considers the number of undocumented migrants that have arrived to stay into the United States and the many who were turned around, returned or killed on the journey.

The stories of fear from Nicaragua began increasing in Central America around 2018 when student protest were first met with violence on the street. However, the current situation of increased violence and migration is not gaining the coverage the needed coverage in the national news. According to USN News article, judges are sending Nicaraguans back to their country without understanding the situation or dynamics in Nicaragua, deporting in a fashion that is against international civil rights.

Interestingly, “Under U.S. law, asylum seekers cannot secure U.S. residency because they are fleeing gang violence. They must convince authorities they have credible fear of persecution on grounds of their race, religion, nationality, or political opinions.” It seems our notions of asylum are deeply dependent on the context of our morals. In a region plagued by gang violence due to US government insurrection, gang violence is a very serious and worthy reason for migration and asylum. However, our legal system contextualizes asylum based on our sense of constitutional rights.

“In Nicaragua, it’s about state terrorism,” Orozco said. The White House did not reply to a request for comment.”

I am humbled by the reality that so many people are fleeing their homes out of fear from the States and local violence. I am humbled when I think of my young friend Angel making the journey. Because one you leave you cannot return. To migrate is a type of death. In my travels in Central America, I distinctly remember the people I met who were deported. They felt like angry, lost souls. Stuck in the limbo between here and there. I agree with Kelly, our governments and culture do not understand the psychological implications of migration. Justice would look like legal and social systems that would gently support the transition to a new life