Editorial

It has become commonplace for political commentators and others to refer to our present moment as an era of global migration and a period of historically unprecedented levels of forced migration. While migrants are currently leaving from a greater number of countries and seeking out a greater diversity of destinations, rates of cross-border migration have remained steady for more than a half-century. Likewise, though both world wars produced untallied levels of forced migration, it is undeniable that the exodus of asylum seekers fleeing violence in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Central America, and elsewhere has prompted new levels of humanitarian concern and political backlash, often overshadowing internal displacement as the hidden “migration crisis”. Adding to the political and ethical complexity of these challenges is the fact that migrants often seek asylum in countries with historic political and military involvement in their home countries, as is the case with Central American migrants in the US, as well as Syrian and North African migrants in France. Though fears of religious “others” and appeals to religious morality have mobilized both humanitarian concern and political backlash in these destination countries and others, religion itself has seldom been the focus of analysis in much of the literature on borders and migration. The trans-historical persistence of this movement has produced new forms of cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity that has been sustained by increased access to transnational transportation, communication, and commodity consumption.