Migrants: The Story of Us All

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Migrants left a lasting impression on me. Through its engaging narrative and authentic writing, it powerfully depicts the challenges and triumphs of those who embark on the migratory journey. Sam Miller's ability to humanize the experiences of migrants is a testament to his talent as a writer. This book serves as a poignant reminder of the shared struggles and resilience that define our common humanity. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial? Miller's adept handling of the theme of migration is commendable. The theme of belonging is beautifully explored, with the author highlighting the intricate connections between identity, culture, and the search for a place to call home. The cultural opprobrium attached to immigration has been building at least since Aristotle’s day, according to former BBC journalist Sam Miller’s flawed, fascinating stab at a global history of migration. But the argument about the origins of the Aryans lives on in modern India and is a matter of ill-tempered and often unpleasant debate. At the internet-trolling extremes are two theories known by almost-identical acronyms, AIT and OIT, standing for “Aryan Invasion Theory” and “Out of India Theory” respectively. Their supporters tend to shout at and curse each other on social media forums, often to the bafflement of outsiders. The old case for the AIT has been described above, but its more temperate modern supporters now suggest that migration would be a better word than invasion, and argue that, in fact, there was never evidence of a European origin for the Aryans, who probably originated in Central Asia or the Russian steppes. The supporters of the OIT, meanwhile, draw on ancient traditions, co-opted into modern nationalism, according to which Indians have always been in India. Megasthenes had asserted that India “is peopled by races both numerous and diverse, of which not even one was originally of foreign descent”, and indeed there are no clear references to any significant group migration in the earliest Indian writings. Therefore, by this logic, India must be the Indo-European homeland.

Migrants: The Story of us all by Sam Miller is an insightful and thought-provoking book that delves into the history of human migration. The author explores the concept of migration from its earliest origins to the present day, highlighting the role it has played in shaping our societies and cultures. Briefs for the defence are thin on the ground. Nomads and seasonal migrants made up a majority of human beings over most of time, but literate society meant, nearly always, settled society.You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. Also alone of the peoples of the Aegean, he added, they could claim to be free. The two judgements – the purity of their origin and the perfection of their politics – weren’t unrelated. ‘Other cities are composed of unequal men from all sorts of spaces,’ Plato explained in Menexia, ‘and therefore their political systems are unequal… But we are all brothers born from the one mother, and we do not think we should be slaves or masters of one another.’ In seeking to reset what has become a toxic debate about migration in many countries, Sam Miller, readily admits his latest book has been a hugely ambitious and daunting undertaking. His central argument is that humans are fundamentally migratory in ways that we often fail to recognise. He wants Migrants: The Story of Us All to be seen as an alternative history of the world, in which humans migrate for a wide range of reasons: not just because of civil war, or poverty or climate change but also out of curiosity and a sense of adventure. What is migration, anyway? Not much more than a hundred years ago, women regularly “migrated” to marry or to work as governesses, servants and in shops. And yet they would never have called themselves “migrants”. Capitalism relies on labour to meet its drive for ever more growth, ever more accumulation, and we’ve seen huge movements of people to meet it. Sometimes that takes place within countries—think of the vast numbers of people who moved from China’s interior to the eastern seaboard as growth took off. Sometimes that means ruling classes encouraging migration.

If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. Timely and empathetic: a rare combination on this most controversial issue' Remi Adekoya, author of Biracial Britain Tremendous: blends the personal and the panoramic to great effect’ Robert Winder, author of Bloody ForeignersMigrants by Sam Miller is a captivating walk through that delves into the theme of migration. As an avid reader interested in stories that shed light on the human experience, I was drawn to this book's exploration of some interesting topics. While I personally haven’t read up much on the world history of migration, I can say that I have read about what the author has to say in India’s context. The author does write that the arguments of the Aryan Invasionists and migrationists were pretty flimsy, and even recognises the theories of the two extremes. But then the author gives merit to Tony Joseph and his 2018 work Early Indians which basically claims AIT/AMT. Whereas many historians such as Abhijeet Chawda have debunked Joseph’s book and his so called research. Chawda wrote a rebuttal, arguing that the peer review process is flawed and that it being published in a oeer reviewed journal does not automatically endow a research paper with credibility , Josephs research is based misrepresenting the datings on the expansions. So I would not take this part of the book by Miller too seriously. It’s a powerful thing to have the earth for your mother. This was, Athenians told each other, their heritage and their unique gift. Alone of the peoples of the ancient Aegean, wrote Plato, the children of Athens could claim to be autochthonous, earth-born, living always in one place, ‘truly dwelling in the land’. This is an excerpt from an article in The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs.]

Timely and empathetic: a rare combination on this most controversial issue’ Remi Adekoya, author of Biracial BritainFar less dangerous than the Nazi claim to Aryan ancestry, though just as absurd, have been the more detailed arguments put forward by some supporters of the Out of India Theory. The forerunner here is PN Oak, an amateur Indian historian and author of Some Missing Chapters of World History, who argues that India’s history has always been written by its enemies. The book reads, at times, like a brilliant spoof, making satirical mincemeat of white supremacists and their notions of European Aryanism. The chapter titles give a clue: Ancient England was a Hindu Country, Westminster Abbey was also a Shiva Temple and Ancient Italy was a Hindu Country and the Pope a Hindu Priest. The cathedral city of Salisbury, we learn, was originally Shaileeshpury, meaning “town of the mountain god”. It goes on and on in this vein (Rome is named after Lord Ram, while Abraham was originally Brahma and Christ was Krishna). Sadly, it is not a spoof. PN Oak, who died in 2007, believed it all, and so did a tiny band of followers. Migrants presents us with an alternative history of the world, in which migration is restored to the heart of the human story. And in which humans migrate for a wide range of reasons: not just because of civil war, or poverty or climate change but also out of curiosity and a sense of adventure. Alas, neither did they write. Nor did the Roma, until the 19th century; nor did the (very literate) Chinese of Victorian London. Migrants rarely find time to write, and where first-person accounts are missing, fantasy is bred. Some of it ( Asterix) is charming, some of it ( Fu Manchu) is anything but. Different distances on the human story allow one to tell wildly different stories. If you follow humanity through deep time, our settlement of the almost the entire planet looks very much like manifest destiny and we’ll all surely end up on Mars tomorrow. But if you trace our movements over a few dozen generations, you’ll discover that, absent force majeure, people are homebodies, moving barely a few weeks’ walking distance from their birthplaces.