Oxford University researcher examines Guyana’s migration trend

Apr 15, 2014 News

Although in 1960 Guyana had a meagre migration rate of six per cent, by 2010 that rate had climbed to a whopping 56 per cent. At least this is according to the preliminary findings of a research project entitled “Historical migration trends and factors that shape Guyanese migration.” The project was conducted by Simona Vezzoli, a Research Officer attached to the University of Oxford.
Vezzoli presented her work last week Wednesday during a forum at the Church Street, Georgetown, National Library, which was held under the theme “I am Guyana’s Solution Tank”.

Research Officer, Simona Vezzoli

According to her findings, in 1960 Guyana was inhabited by 560,000 people and six per cent of these were abroad. Vezzoli found too that while Guyana’s population had grown to 786,000, by 2010, 56 per cent were outside of the Guyanese jurisdiction.
In fact she discovered that Guyana’s history and migration dynamics between the 1940s and 1960s reflected colonial migration: of the elite; for the purpose of education; for prestigious positions and those oriented to the United Kingdom.
The migration dynamic was also linked to working opportunities in the transport and health care sectors as well, Vezzoli uncovered. Added to this, the movement trend was associated to threat of communism, to existing socio-economic structure, flight of upper and middle class. These were classified as “Red scare migration.”
And then there was the UK Commonwealth Act of 1962. Elaborating on the Act in her presentation, Vezzoli said that “Guyanese were aware of the British intent to curb immigration and a quick rush to reach Britain occurred in 1961-1962.”
The migration trend, the Researcher found continued even after Guyana gained its independence in 1966, evident by “mixed feelings in the population – some fears but also jubilation; some return for development reasons and also some (for) retirement.”
By the time Guyana became a Cooperative Republic in 1970, there was nationalisation of multinational corporations, import substitution and mechanization of agriculture and moves to reform education even as an immigration policy to attract Guyanese and other West Indians back was crafted.
However, there was increasing authoritarianism, discrimination of East Indians population and opposition, which resulted in entire families or “plane loads of people” emigrating, many of whom ventured to neighbouring Suriname, Vezzoli found.
The Researcher observed too that Walter Rodney’s assassination and worsening economy somehow contributed to political threats to the opposition, deep economic crisis, food shortages, smuggling of goods from Suriname even as emigration increased both by Indo- and Afro-Guyanese.
But despite her extensive research, Vezzoli informed this publication yesterday that since her findings are based on preliminary observations and insights she will be conducting further analysis in the next few months in order to refine them.
Vezzoli’s research interests include migration policy, in particular sending countries’ perspectives on emigration and the interaction between emigration and immigration policies; sending country policies to engage diaspora communities; and return and reintegration of migrants in their communities of origin.
Her work has covered migration and development initiatives in Mexico, Morocco, Ghana and Serbia.
She is currently exploring the history and impact of migration policies, with a focus on the Caribbean region. As such, her current research work sees her using Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana as case studies even as she seeks to ascertain ‘the role of the origin country/state in migration processes’; role of independence/decolonization in state formation processes and state policies.
Vezzoli is therefore taking advantage of archival research, that is, government documents, newspapers and 31 interviews with migrants, re-migrants and non-migrants.