Homo Emigraturus: Exploring the Collective Yearning for Migration, The Case of Iran

Asayesh, Omid

Homo Emigraturus: Exploring the Collective Yearning for Migration, The Case of Iran

dc.contributor.advisor	Kazemipur, Abdie
dc.contributor.author	Asayesh, Omid
dc.contributor.committeemember	Lightman, Naomi
dc.contributor.committeemember	Guo, Shibao
dc.date	2024-06
dc.date.accessioned	2024-03-14T15:27:44Z
dc.date.available	2024-03-14T15:27:44Z
dc.date.issued	2024-03-12
dc.description.abstract	This study addresses the implications of unrealized international migration aspirations for the lives of various groups in a population, including those who want to migrate, those who prefer to stay, emigrants, and return migrants. The central argument of the study is that the unique combination of a high desire for migration and a low chance of its realization of actual migration reshapes the social landscape in profound ways. This impact extends to the lifestyles, social engagements, political attitudes, and behaviours of individuals in any of the four above-mentioned groups. Some of the concepts that have emerged out of empirical data of this study include the Homo Emigraturus (those ‘about to leave’) who experience ‘imagined migration’; the Anti-Emigraturus (those decidedly avoiding migration) and their ‘anti-migration narrative’; a high-migration-desire society and its ‘culture of migration.’ In this multimethod study, I have utilized two sets of data: a) semi-structured in-depth interviews and b) an analysis of the contents of the online data from the social media debates among Iranians on the issue of migration on Twitter, as well as the Google Trends data. The former is based on 71 interviews with Iranian adults, and the latter is based on a thematic analysis of more than 200,000 tweets in Farsi utilizing recent developments in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning techniques. The findings demonstrate how a culture of migration in a mobility-restricted population society can significantly reorientate its sociopolitical and cultural landscape, economic dynamics, and civic engagements. The study provides valuable insights into the changing landscape of international migration in a world where the longing to migrate is a prevailing force, even in the absence of substantial actual emigration.
dc.identifier.citation	Asayesh, O. (2024). Homo Emigraturus: exploring the collective yearning for migration, the case of Iran (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/118282
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Involuntary Immobility
dc.subject	Culture of Migration
dc.subject	Homo Emigraturus
dc.subject	Imagined Migration
dc.subject	Deliberately Non-migrants
dc.subject	Middle East
dc.subject	Iran
dc.subject	Sending environment
dc.subject	Emigration
dc.subject	Migration Aspiration
dc.subject	Desire to Migrate
dc.subject	Global South
dc.subject	Social Movement
dc.subject	Return Migration
dc.subject	Anti Emigraturus
dc.subject.classification	Sociology
dc.subject.classification	Ethnic and Racial Studies
dc.subject.classification	Social Structure and Development
dc.subject.classification	Sociology--Theory and Methods
dc.title	Homo Emigraturus: Exploring the Collective Yearning for Migration, The Case of Iran
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Sociology
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.