Discussion:

Think on walls (Physical and symbolic) used to stop migration, list arguments in favor and against them.

When I think about walls, definitely I cannot only refer to the wall built in Mexico to avoid the migration of Mexicans to USA, but about other walls built in different times to separe countries or cultures and avoid the migration of ones (generally poorer) to the other regions that represented more opportunities for them.

If I made a list of them, they would be:

- Great wall in China

- Berlin wall

- Apartheid wall (Cisjordania wall)

- Frontier wall between Mexico and USA

Off course all of them have different connotations, according to the time and according to the purpose of them. What is common among them is that besides the avoidance of migration, they did not allow spread of culture to emerge. They just enclosed one region to avoid the invasion of groups of people with different behaviors, different ways of government and different interests... Also looking for different opportunities.

The word in the last paragraph  is "different", and maybe that is the idea of builiding a wall to separe (can be physical or also a symbolic barrier): Fear. Fear of feeling invaded by other culture with differences, with ability to work more for less, fear of losing control over regions.

In general, establishing barriers in order for people not to enter to a country has many reasons: Cultural, economic, social, human... Cultural, the mentioned before. Economic, to prevent the increase of foreign labor taking the jobs supposed to nationals. Social, to avoid the inclusion of other cultures (avoiding inclusion leading exclusion) and Human, since we have a sense of territoriality and we protect the place we live in.

For me, there are no reasons to be in favour or against barriers for movement of people. Which is clear for me is that, when those barriers lead to exclusion and discrimination, equity cannot emerge, and is in this part when those barriers become a destructive weapon for societies.  



Discussion:

Which ones are the main Cultural differences in Non-verbal communication?

When we talk about non-verbal communication, we talk about:

Proxemics (how people manage the appropiate physical distance when interacting with others),

Kinesics (as the expressive meaning of corporal movements according to the culture they are used),

Facial and eye behavior and

Paralanguage (where is more important how people say things rather than what people say: tone, loudness, tempo, duration).

In that sense, for one culture it can be very familiar to talk to a person you do not know so near to him/her, while for other culture it can be considered disrespectful (proxemics).

If it is about kinesics, in one culture moving your head un and down can mean "yes", while for another one it can mean exactly the opposite: "no"!

With facial and eye behavior, we can find that some cultures are very inexpressive when talking (Austrians, for example), while people from Italy, Spain, Latinamerica are considered to be very expressive.

In Paralanguage, if we compare how people from Britain speak and people from Australia do, we can find big differences in tone and stress in some words. Not going so far, differences in communication emerge in regions in the same country (people from Antioquia, Bogotá, Atlantic Coast speak very different even though they speak Spanish).

Here, you have a video where different usages of languages are seen specially in young people, from a "Spanish" perspective:

Resource: La fuerza de las palabras. Canal Sur 2, Andalucía (2008). Retrieved on April 14th, 2011 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK8MMMWexPg

Migrant workers & Expatriates

Migration issues make part of this growing trend of globalization, it is an inherent process nowadays. However, there are a lot of motivations to be a migrant or expatriate according to the main interests or current situation of people around the world.

One person can be a migrant or expatriate for some aspects:

Push factors:

- Violence

- Political and Economical instability

- Environment

Pull factors:

- Freedom in various aspects

- Working opportunities

- Education

In this video, you can see how many people see migration as a factor that affects or favors regions, from the scenario of inmigrants to USA from England. It has to be taken into account that is one of many perspectives, and should be interpreted just as the authors' point of view.

The Inmigration debate: Supernews! (2006). Retrieved on April 8th, 2011 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhEl6HdfqWM&feature=fvsr

Which is the difference between migrants and expatriates?

This difference goes on the motivations or the situation of people. An expatriate generally is a skilled person that goes abroad because of job tasks. Normally companies send people to work in other headquarters around the world. In contrast, one migrant can be one person that goes abroad to search for better job opportunities. In the case of expatriates, as they are skilled labor force, Brain Drain or Brain Gain can appear. Brain Drain is known as the phenomenon when professional people go outside to work, and the profits from that work go to the host country, which experiments Brain Gain.

References:

-Business dictionary online. Definition of Brain Drain. Retrieved on january the 5th2011 from: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brain-drain.html

-The Inmigration debate: Supernews! (2006). Retrieved on April 8th, 2011 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhEl6HdfqWM&feature=fvsr