Introduction: Embracing Interdisciplinary Approaches to Better Understand the Challenges Facing Migrations and Diasporas

This book considers migrations and diasporas as the two faces of the relentless need for humans to move across borders and time in search of new geographies and spaces where they can find a better life, safe heaven or embrace new dreams. When migrants leave behind what they once called ‘home’, they embark on uncharted territories. As they can be welcomed and included in what will hopefully become their new ‘homes’, they can also be met with physical and legal barriers and multiple forms of exclusion and rejection.

Certain migrants, including certain refugees, must negotiate their way across boundaries or find pathways through gates that will swiftly turn them into criminals or threats to the state, regardless of their sole intention to find a better life. For certain migrants living under the stigma of ‘illegal aliens’ or as threats to the state or society due to their race, ethnicity or national identity, gender or sexual orientation, their struggle to be welcomed and included as productive members of their host communities can be unrelenting. The latter are excluded and pushed into the shadows by deeply entrenched xenophobic sentiments and punitive norms jeopardising their fundamental rights and dignity.