How the Other Half Lives (1890) was a pioneering work of photojournalism by Jacob Riis. The publication documented the poor living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s. “Nothing would probably have shocked their original owners more than the idea of their harboring a promiscuous crowd; for they were the decorous homes of …
This project is by MSNBC in partnership with Magnum Photos The largest flow of modern African migration funnels through a single country — Libya. Coming from the south, migrants flee the vestiges of wars that have left entire nations in ruin. From the east, they escape a life of indefinite military servitude and violent conflict. …
“Since 2011, over 4 million Syrians have left their homes to avoid the civil war, with roughly 629,000 going to Jordan. A hundred thousand live in refugee camps there, including at the Middle East’s largest camp, the Za’atari. There, over half of the occupants are children, and it’s difficult to educate or train them, according to …
“For decades our television screens have been dominated by images of ragged people, hopelessly isolated within political limbo as destitute refugees. Movies describe refugee camps as exotic edge-of-the-earth locales full of victimized dark-skinned people. Magazines and websites occasionally release an article on a brand new shelter technology, solar stove, or water pump that is expected …
“Refugee camps set up by governmental agencies, international organizations like the United Nations and the Red Cross, and NGOs provide a place for displaced people to temporarily access food, water, and shelter. Camps are often set up in an impromptu fashion, designed only to provide basic needs for a short period of time. Tents constructed …
“At the sprawling, city-like Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, the average Syrian refugee is expected to stay as long as 17 years. And yet despite that time frame, many people are living in canvas tents that can start to fall apart in months. The U.N. is starting to invest in longer-lived prefab housing, like clever …
“45.2 million people are currently displaced by conflict and persecution,according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR). The number accords with the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees articulation of a refugee as: an individual who has fled their country “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, …
“In 2013 alone some 1 million people have poured out of Syria to escape a civil conflict that has been raging for over two years. The total number of Syrian refugees is well over 2 million, an unprecedented number and a disturbing reality that has put the host countries under immense infrastructural strain. Host countries …
“Inside one of the aid tents set up inside the migrant camp known as the ‘jungle’ 12 year old Sultana Adam helps her mother to hand out bags of food for the estimated 3000 residents. Sultana fled her home in Jalalabad four months ago and walked for a month to make it to Calais and …
Abby Martin interviews Professor Saskia Sassen about the undiscussed facts behind the 60 million refugees worldwide. Saskia Sassen is a sociologist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration. She is Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and Centennial visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. Her most recent …
“”In America” is not literally autobiographical (the real Frankie was Sheridan’s brother, who died at 10), but it is intensely personal. It’s not the typical story of turn-of-the-century immigrants facing prejudice and struggle, but a modern story, set in the 1980s and involving new sets of problems, such as racism and the drug addiction in …
From the musician: “When Director Damian Weilers came to me with the idea of using The Road as a soundtrack to the plight of those displaced in Calais, I knew that this could be a platform to focus attention on an issue we both felt was important. To me, this isn’t a political issue – …
A modern-day Grapes of Wrath, award-winning documentary The Overnighters is an intimate portrait of job-seekers desperately chasing the broken American Dream to the tiny oil boom town of Williston, North Dakota. With the town lacking the infrastructure to house the overflow of migrants, a local pastor starts the controversial “overnighters” program, allowing down-and-out workers a …
Exhibition at MoMA: One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series and Other Works April 3–September 7, 2015 In 1941, Jacob Lawrence, then just 23 years old, completed a series of 60 small tempera paintings with text captions about the Great Migration, the multi-decade mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North …
“During this scene, you hear me say in the voice-over a line that came to me that day: “This is the oldest story, the very first book. The one that begins with an adventure. In it, we all play the main characters. We carry our hopes and virtues as our baggage … while never forgetting …
At this briefing, hosted by the International Organization for Migration and the Migration Policy Institute, speakers discuss the critical issues surrounding women’s labour migration in the Asia-Pacific region and the related opportunities and challenges. The event marks the launch of the IOM-MPI Issue in Brief, Women’s Labour Migration from Asia and the Pacific: Opportunities and Challenges, …
Tackling Joblessness and Stunted Progression in the European Union This is the second panel from the day-long conference, “Better Work for Immigrants: Tackling Joblessness and Stunted Progression in the European Union,” held in Brussels and organized by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) Europe in collaboration with the International Labour Office (ILO) and the European Commission. The …
The painter’s groundbreaking works trace the journey of African Americans out of the Jim Crow South. Jacob Lawrence was a painter, but he was also a storyteller of the first order. In his 1941 masterwork, “Migration Series,” Lawrence (1917-2000) unspools one of the foundational narratives of the modern United States: the journey undertaken by some …
