Refugees: a new intercultural education for global citizenship

Abstract

Migration has traditionally encompassed the concepts of emigration and immigration. Emigration was the action of leaving a country to go to another one and immigration was entering a different country. However, the negative connotations acquired by the latter term over the years, largely owing to the media, has led to the spread and simple use of migration. Immigration has become a synonym of invasion, abuse of identity documents, mafias, unemployment, violence, crime, drugs, illegality, cultural deviation, religious fanatism and intolerance, backwardness, etc., while the term migration refers to leaving one’s place of origin, either temporarily or permanently, for reasons related to work, family or any other motivation that influences quality of life. Drawing from this idea, this article provides an analysis and theoretical discussion on the origin and evolution of migration movements and their effects on host countries, specifically focusing on the case of Spain, refugees’ situation and how the area of education should respond to fight the growing wave of racism and xenophobia in current western multicultural societies, so that a new global citizenship that is more inclusive and diverse can be built.