Who is the author of The Next Great Migration?

The author of The Next Great Migration is Sonia Shah.

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The Next Great Migration Book Summary - The Next Great Migration Book explained in key points

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The Next Great Migration summary

Name: The Next Great Migration
Rating: 4.1 (88 reviews)
Author: Sonia Shah

Sonia Shah

The Beauty and Terror of Life on the Move

4.1 (88 ratings)

26 mins

Brief summary

"The Next Great Migration" by Sonia Shah explores the history and science of migration in animals and humans. It challenges our perception of migratory journeys and provides a roadmap for a more just and welcoming future.

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Anthropology

Table of Contents

The Next Great Migration
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Learn how migration is integral to life on Earth.

All along the US border with Mexico, American security patrols scour the desert for unauthorized border crossings. Every year, thousands of people are arrested for trying to cross this man-made divide. Some have crossed oceans, only to brave months trekking through the jungles of South and Central America. They take this risk for a chance at a new, better life free of war, famine, and poverty.

And yet, the author argues, these resourceful, determined, and desperate human beings are called “criminals” and “rapists” by those in power. This isn’t new. Throughout modern history, politicians, scientists, and naturalists have tried to paint the migrant as different, lowly, and dangerous – someone, or something, to be kept out with borders and walls.

These blinks reveal how this perspective came about, and the benefit of building a future with safer migration – safer for both human beings and other migratory species that share our planet.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how the botanist Linnaeus planted the seeds of modern racism;
why two American eugenicists made the US hostile for migrants; and
how wildlife “corridors” can help animals move great distances in developed countries.

It took a long time for people to understand that nature is always on the move.

We know that animals go on great migratory journeys. In fact, every autumn, eels from European ponds swim across the Atlantic all the way to the Sargasso Sea to breed. Millions of monarch butterflies famously migrate three thousand miles from Canada to overwinter in Mexico.

But for centuries, people didn’t believe in migration, or even understand the concept. They assumed that animals were sedentary and remained in the region where they had been discovered.

The key message here is: It took a long time for people to understand that nature is always on the move.

The idea of a sedentary natural world stems from the eighteenth century, when European naturalists began to catalog animal and plant species. Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, dubbed “The Father of Modern Taxonomy,” is mostly responsible for this misunderstanding.

Linnaeus believed that there had only been one initial migration throughout history – when all creatures from the Garden of Eden ventured out into an empty, virgin world. There, they settled into permanent habitats where they remained for thousands of years, waiting to be discovered.

This belief in nature’s sedentariness lasted well into the twentieth century. Even when evidence of migration was discovered, it was viewed as abnormal and destructive behavior.

Here’s an example. The English zoologist Charles Elton helped popularize the myth that lemmings “commit suicide” by leaping into the sea. In his 1924 paper in The British Journal of Experimental Biology, he claimed they did this as a form of population control. But in actuality, the lemmings were migrating to find new habitat – something that often involves swimming across bodies of water.

It was during World War II that proof of animal migration finally started to make its mark. This was thanks to a new technology of the time, radar, which was used to detect enemy planes and ships.

One night in March 1941, British radar operators picked up a huge formation of flying objects across the English Channel. Investigating fighter pilots found nothing but the silent skies. So, dumbfounded, military officials decided that these spooky signals were the ghosts of fallen soldiers, which they called “radar angels.”

But British ornithologist David Lack had a more plausible theory: he claimed that, rather than angels, these signals came from migrating birds – to be precise, starlings. And, of course, David Lack would be proven right.

Along with this discovery, Lack had hit on a much broader truth: Nature is a great traveler.

Carl Linnaeus helped cement racist ideas about human origins.

Born in 1707 to a poor family in southern Sweden, Carl Linnaeus wanted to understand the order of all things that God had created. He thus established a two-name classification system for every living species. This system, which we still use today, sorts animals and plants into their respective categories.

Take our own Latin name as an example – homo sapiens. The first word denotes the species’ general category – in this case, homo, which is Latin for “man.” The second word denotes the species’ specific characteristic – in this case, sapiens, which is Latin for “wise.”

In the US, two eugenicists spread a racist, anti-immigration ideology.

Imagine New York City at the beginning of the twentieth century. Immigrants and natives blended into what was called “the melting pot” of cultures.

In fact, a poem by Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus,” was cast on a plaque to welcome immigrants to the United States. It sits at the Statue of Liberty’s feet and its most memorable line is, “Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free . . .”.

Anti-immigration sentiment extended to nature.

The early twentieth century saw US borders begin to close to immigrants and minorities that were being persecuted in Europe and Russia. At the same time, “alien” animal and plant species found themselves the target of the same scrutiny.

The key message here is: Anti-immigration sentiment extended to nature.

Malthusian fears about overpopulation encouraged anti-immigration sentiment and human rights abuses.

In eighteenth-century England, the cleric Thomas Robert Malthus made an extraordinary claim. He suggested that, rather than helping the poor, the government should allow disease and poverty to take their toll on them. Otherwise, he believed, they would cause overpopulation that would lead to more poverty and famine for everyone else.

For centuries, Malthus would influence political thinkers with this pronouncement, with lasting and harmful consequences.

DNA proves human beings are closely related, and have always been migrants.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton celebrated the success of the Human Genome Project in a ceremony at the White House.

By mapping the roughly twenty thousand genes in the human genome, the complete set of human DNA, researchers found that there was barely any genetic difference among members of our species. In fact, they discovered that only 0.1 percent of our DNA differs from any one person to the next.

The refugee crisis provoked a reactionary response based on lies and exaggeration.

In September 2015, there was an image that caused grief around the world: a little Syrian boy, drowned, on a beach in Turkey. It also alerted the world to the scale of a new refugee migration, from war-torn and climate-ravaged countries in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.

It didn’t take long for this moment of empathy to wear off, however.

Migration, for both nature and humanity, can and should be facilitated safely.

In February 2018, Russian cosmonauts attached an antenna to the International Space Station. The antenna’s purpose was to scan the Earth’s surface. It would pick up movement from tags fitted onto hundreds of species on Earth.

This data revealed an intricate network of migration pathways wrapped around the planet – by land, sea, and air.

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What is The Next Great Migration about?

The Next Great Migration (2020) reveals how humans have always moved across oceans and continents, just like any other migratory species on Earth. Sonia Shah upends the notion that we’ve ever been a stationary species. She also demonstrates how racist and xenophobic belief systems have led us to erect artificial borders and walls.

The Next Great Migration Review

The Next Great Migration (2020) by Sonia Shah explores the fascinating phenomenon of migration in the natural world and the societal implications it carries. Here's why this book is definitely worth reading:

Packed with compelling scientific research and compelling storytelling, it showcases the complexity and beauty of migration patterns across species.
By examining the interconnections between humans, animals, and the environment, the book sheds light on the urgent need for rethinking our understanding of borders and belonging.
With its thought-provoking insights and fresh perspectives, it challenges preconceived notions and invites readers to contemplate humanity's place in a constantly evolving world.

Who should read The Next Great Migration?

Anyone interested in the history, present, and future of migration
Campaigners against racism and discriminatory borders
Ecologists, biologists, and naturalists looking for a more holistic view of the world

About the Author

Sonia Shah is a science journalist and prize-winning author. Her previous works include Pandemic, and a chronicle of the history of malaria, The Fever. Shah was born in 1969 in New York City to Indian immigrants.

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Science Society & Culture History Nature & the Environment

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