"Migration: the movement of humankind from prehistory to the present" with Prof Robin Cohen

Past Event

Date
 12 November 2019, 5:00pm - 6:00pm

Location
 Lecture Theatre, Oxford Martin School
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

Event Recording:

Migration is present at the dawn of human history - the phenomena of hunting and gathering, seeking seasonal pasture and nomadism being as old as human social organisation itself.

The flight from natural disasters, adverse climatic changes, famine, and territorial aggression by other communities or other species were also common occurrences.

But if migration is as old as the hills, why is it now so politically sensitive? Why do migrants leave? Where do they go, in what numbers and for what reasons? Do migrants represent a threat to the social and political order? Are they none-the-less necessary to provide labour, develop their home countries, increase consumer demand and generate wealth? Can migration be stopped? One of Britain's leading migration scholars, Robin Cohen, will probe these issues in this talk

This talk will be followed by a book sale, signing and drinks reception, all welcome. Copies available at half price -- £10 -- to cash buyers only.

Robin Cohen 220x165

Professor Robin Cohen
Professor Emeritus of Development Studies

Robin Cohen is Emeritus Professor and Former Director of the International Migration Institute, funded by the Oxford Martin School (2009-11). He is Senior Research Fellow at Kellogg College.

He has held full professorships at the Universities of the West Indies and Warwick and taught also at the Universities of Ibadan, Birmingham, Stanford, Toronto and Berkeley. He served as Dean of Humanities at the University of Cape Town (2001/3) and directed the nationally designated UK Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations at Warwick (1985/9).

His books include Labour and Politics in Nigeria (1974, rev. 1982), Endgame in South Africa? (1986), The New Helots: Migrants in the International Division of Labour (1987, 1993, 2003), Contested Domains: Debates in International Labour Studies (1991), Frontiers of Identity: The British and the Others (1994), Global Diasporas: An Introduction (1997, rev. 2008, 2012), Global Sociology (co-author, 2000, rev. 2007, 2013), Migration and its Enemies (2006) and Encountering Difference: Diasporic Traces, Creolizing Spaces (co-author 2016). He has edited or co-edited 21 further volumes, particularly on the sociology and politics of developing areas, ethnicity, international migration, transnationalism and globalisation. His major works have been translated into Danish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish.

He was principal investigator on the Oxford Diasporas Programme funded by the Leverhulme Trust (2011–15).