Introduction to Environmental History of Modern Migration

Environmental history--atleast as a self-conscious disciplinary field--was born with a strong connection to the ecological movement rising especially in the US society in the 1970s. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book proposes three possible paths, or styles: the assertive style, the constructivist style, and the embodied style in an attempt to systematize approaches and strategies for Environmental History of Migration (EHM). It traces the troubles of Filipino farm workers in the industrialized lettuce fields of central California in 1930. The book presents the sobering story of Italian coal miners in southern Belgium links migrations to industrial ecology, and specifically to capitalist ecologies, more directly than the other cases. It contributes to locating environmental history at the frontline of current global challenges, reclaiming the public or, dare the authors say, the political relevance of the discipline.