Social Analysis
In my interview with Diwakar, I learned a great deal about him as a person. While his story is unique in its own right it we are able to learn a great deal about migration as a whole. His story shares many similarities with the entirety of the migration as a whole. To start we must first look at Nepal as an entire country and the situation in Nepal. Nepal is a poor country that is currently undergoing a lot of changes. The government changed in 2008 before this there was a large amount of political turmoil, violence in the streets and constant protesting. This in its self is a large driving reason for many to migrate and move. But then we next look at the fact that 26 percent of its gross domestic profit comes from remittances.(2)
With Diwakar’s story we see that while he originally moved to pursue a career in acting in America, we see that he later realized that this was impossible for him to become an actor in the United States. When he learned that he was unable to become and actor he moved back to Nepal. However, later he makes the decision to move back to America for schooling. While it is clear that America does have a better schooling system than that of Nepal, who did not have a major schooling system set up until the early 1950’s. It was what happened afterward that we must look at the deepest. After finishing school he began to look for work in America and wanted to stay within the states. Why?
The why is truly the deeper question at hand. Why would a person who loved his country want to move across the world away from all the people he knew and loved? People in general begin to leave the country when one of two things begin to happen. First their way of live is no longer sustainable(3), Nepal which was originally a country founded on farming of herbs and tea is no longer able to make ends meet on just these simple farming. The people of the country are also unable to live off the wages that they could get paid if they did get jobs in the country as most are unskilled having little education.
The next reason that someone would leave is a civil war or tons of violence. While Nepal did not actually have a real civil war to speak of it did go through a change of government that did fuel a large amount of civil unrest including a great deal of violence. Syria is prime example of this type of war and civil unrest that drive people to leave often as refugees. Within four years of starting the war in Syria the United States had taken in around 2000 refugees from Syria(7).
With these in mind we turn to Diwakar, his family was more well off and he would have been able to sustain some form off decent living renting the land that his family owned to people. However, around the time that he was coming to the United States to work on being an actor the country was undergoing a large amount of civil unrest. With the education he gained in America he would no longer be able to move back to his country of origin and use his skills that he gained in his home country. Nepal mostly has unskilled labor jobs available at this time with middle class jobs being semiskilled work.
Most of the migrants leaving Nepal are following the traditional path of migration moving to countries like Kuwait to work hard and low paying jobs. The United States economy is founded on labor like this. When you look to agriculture industry we see cheap migrant exploitation. This is clearly not unique and is done across the world Kuwait, the United States, even China is doing this with their internal migrants(6)
Having gained a degree in computer engineering his country would not be able to give him what he needed for work. Nepal does not have the possibility of offering high skilled labor jobs, which would be the field of work that Diwakar is looking for.(1) Like many former citizens of Nepal Diwakar is using his new found skills and employee he is helping his family back home and even attempting to move them to America with him. People tend to show a strong tie back home just like we see here with Diwakar he is attempting to stay connected send money back home creating a city that transcends the border and ocean like we see in A Mexican Town That Transcends All Borders by Deborah Sontag. While that story is talking more about a family in Mexico and their people in the United States its no stranger to other towns.(5)
This is very common as people can not freely come and go to America for work. When people can not come and go then tend to want to move their family with them so that they can still be with their families, this is commonly seen among the Mexican migrants in America.
Migrating is not always cut and dry. It is easy for people to write stories off as in search of a better life. However, it is not always clear why the trip was made. There is always some form of deeper social reasoning behind moving from the country. People do not lightly move away from everything they have ever known to a new and strange country. It is always a difficult choice that requires a great deal of difficult choices for the person to make, and is never as easy as many people think it is. And generally when they get to the United States they feel discriminated against and even hated in some cases. According to pewhispanic.org around one third of all Hispanic families feel that they or someone they know has been discriminated against in America.(4)
Bibliography
- https://www.thelongestwayhome.com/blog/nepal/how-much-money-does-a-person-from-nepal-earn/
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/nepal-once-known-for-farming-now-exports-people-migrants-earn-big-but-face-risks/2014/03/23/5858ca52-8441-11e3-bbe5-6a2a3141e3a9_story.html?utm_term=.a8e6c24a9495
- Douglas S Massey Ph.D. , Five Myths About Immigration: Common Misconceptions Underlying U.S. Border-Enforcement Policy
- http://www.pewhispanic.org/2010/04/29/hispanics-and-arizonas-new-immigration-law/
- Debroah Sontag, A Mexican Town That Transcends All Borders
- China Labour Bulletin, Migrant Workers and Their Childern. http://www.clb.org.hk/content/migrant-workers-and-their-children
- Randy Capps and Michael Fix, Ten Facts About U.S. Refugee Resttlement
