New Directions for Research on Migration in the Global South

Abstract

This introduction describes the second of two issues of the International Journal of Sociology on “Migration in the Global South.” Existing research on migration through and into Global South countries points to some key similarities between migration in the Global South compared to the Global North that make South/North comparisons feasible. At the same time, some significant differences make Global North theories of migration inappropriate for application to the Global South. The articles published in this issue explore country case studies of migration that illuminate the interconnections of South and North and demonstrate the importance of a future migration research agenda that both locates migration within the North/South divide and examines critically whether such a conceptual divide is the best way to describe the complex interrelationships between countries currently defined as being in the Global South versus the Global North.