ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the term migration as well as the main theories and empirical processes associated with it. It expounds the notion of diaspora, including both its origin in Jewish doctrine two millennia ago and its expanded use in the humanities and social sciences since the 1960s. Theoretical approaches to migration commonly differentiate between forced and voluntary migration, traditionally employing the so-called push-pull model. Push factors include job scarcity, famine, persecution, displacement, and war, all of which are factors that force people to leave their country of origin. The migrations since the 1960s, significantly facilitated by the improvement of travel and the shortening of the duration of long-distance journeys, have contributed to the globalization of once regionally and nationally bound religions. The numerous trans regional migration processes have led to the establishment of cultural, religious, and political diasporas in the country of residence. Diasporic communities form a bridge between the home region they left and the new country of residence.
