International Migration Institute

Simona Vezzoli presents her paper 'Guyanese migration since independence: Migration policies, migrant networks, and postcolonial ties' in Parallel session III(B) of the conference Examining Migration Dynamics: Networks and Beyond, 24-26 Sept 2013 Historical migration patterns in the Caribbean saw a transformation in the 1960s-70s as many former colonies gained independence and new migration policies were introduced at origin and destination. If some policies potentially may have reduced migration opportunities towards former colonial states, migrant networks and post-colonial ties established before independence may have acted as migration-facilitating factors to sustain migration. Without overlooking important contextual factors at origin and destination, we could hypothesise that border controls and migration policies, migrant networks, and postcolonial ties should explain in part the variations in migration patterns following independence. To explore this hypothesis, I use data from an in-depth case study