Migration as a Social Contract: a Rethink of Self, Place, and Identity

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Arrupe College Jesuit School of Philosophy and Humanities Harare, Zimbabwe Class Presentation Migration as a social contract: A rethink of self, place, and identity. Course Title: Literature of Migration Student’s Name: Umoh, Paul Cosmas Registration Number: R. 1118 Lecturer: Prof. Anthony Channells Date: 24 October 2013 INTRODUCTION: In one of our classes, we raised a leading question on migration: What is the god of migration? We may recall how we tried to address this question with varying views. In this presentation I shall make an effort to amplify this question by suggesting new possible ways in which we can reflect on migration. I postulate that we might develop new perspectives of analysing migration if we think of migration as different forms of social contracts. Certainly, the aim of this presentation is not to find answers to troubling questions on migration; rather, it is to help us ask more thought provoking questions. Thus, we may rethink on key issues on migration such as the self, identity, place, and home. We often take for granted the definitions of identity, self, place, and home but for the sake of clarity, there is a need to provide some working definitions of these terms. IDENTITY Identity is a complex issue. Msia Clark says that “one’s identity is very personal but can also be very political” (qtd. in Okpewho 256). Identity lacks an objective parameter from which it can be measured. For instance, the debate on bicultural and multiracial identities requires simple determinants, which must be irrefutable. However, with the lack of such determinants, it remains difficult to decide, for instance, whether a Nigerian child with an American mother and a Nigerian father is either a true Nigerian or true American or both, without any adjective. Clark agrees that “when one talked about being biracial there

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