Publisher's Synopsis
Taking a look at out-migration from the Caribbean, this book has a comparative approach, involving three islands and the range of micro-environments within those islands. It is based on data derived from a combination of extensive surveys and in-depth interviews. For the first time, analysis of the migration process reflects the perspective of Caribbean potential migrants themselves.;The book contributes to international migration at a theoretical level, destroying the myth of migration being purely the result of poverty and overpopulation, and rejecting explanations based on "push-pull" models and the unilateral flow inherent in such models. Instead, it presents a conceptualization of Caribbean migration which is fundamentally circular and self-perpetuating, and which has become part of the institutional framework of Caribbean societies.;Migration behaviour is a response to Caribbean circumstances, and is an intrinsic part of the formation of the image of self and the life chances of the individual. This image, conditioned by the particular location of the individual in relation to the national and international system, is the key element in explaining the complex interplay of global, societal and personal factors, resulting in the propensity to move and in the actual move itself. Elizabeth M. Thomas-Hope has also written "Perpectives on Caribbean Regional Identity" and "A Geography of the Third World".
