ABSTRACT
Some of the most visible migration flows in history have occurred as a response to crisis situations. Thus the removal of crofters from the Scottish Highlands following the clearances (Richards, 1982-5; Craig, 1990), Irish famine migration in the mid-nineteenth century (O’Grada, 1988; O’Sullivan, 1997) the mass movement of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe following persecution (Dotterer, Dash-Morre and Cohen, 1991) and, more recently, the exodus of refugees from the former Yugoslavia (Glenny, 1993; Black and Robinson, 1993) have all produced highly emotive pictures of migration as a traumatic and disruptive event stimulated by crisis conditions beyond the control of individual migrants. Fortunately, in the context of all migratory movement, such events are rare, but their impact on both individuals involved and on society in general can be out of all proportion to the numbers of migrants. It can also be suggested that many families and individuals experience their own personal crises due to events such as illness, the death of a partner, divorce or bankruptcy. Though much less public, these events too can stimulate migration and produce residential change which was much more traumatic for the individuals involved than movement for most other reasons. This chapter focuses on both personal crises and the much rarer externally generated events, and examines the extent to which they influenced migration patterns.
