The Importance Of Migration In The Bahamas

In the Bahamas, the issue with reference to migration is becoming of great importance. Migration is a term used to describe the process of a permanent move to a different location. James M. Rubenstein (2014), states the two migrations in which people move to. These two migrations according to Rubenstein (2014), are international migration (voluntary and forced) which is moving permanently from one country to another country and internal migration (interregional and intraregional) which is a permanent move inside the same country of residency. In the Bahamas, there is a great percentage of internal migration when compared to international migration; internal migration involves Bahamians moving to different islands of The Bahamas, mainly for economic reasons. James M. Rubenstein (2014), defines the word immigration as, “migration to a new location” (p.108) and defines emigration as “migration from a location” (p.109). Push factors lead people to emigrate while pull factors lead people to immigrate. People migrate to places all over the

With an increase in legal immigration, there is a possibility that the country’s culture and identity will disappear slowly as more immigrants enter the country. In The Bahamas, many of the immigrants bring along their own culture and language, especially those whose first language is not English. This culture inclusion will eventually lead to the original Bahamian culture disappearing as more and more cultures are included into the Bahamian culture. In the year 2015, The Bahamas introduced a new event called Junkanoo Carnival. Carnival is an event that is often found in Caribbean countries like Trinidad and Tobago or Barbados but not The Bahamas. This is because those countries Carnival are The Bahamas’ Junkanoo. However, The Bahamas continued on with the event ‘Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival’ which is mostly the culture of other Caribbean