The ReImagining Migration Project

Talk. Teach. Learn.

The human journey has been shaped by migration — The story of migration is the story of humankind.

Migration is our shared experience as humans.

Refugees — During the second decade of the 21st century, 244 million people are international migrants (or 3.3% of the world’s population),1 approximately 750 million are internal migrants, and millions more are immediate relatives left behind.

nypl.digitalcollections.510d47d9-68db-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.001.w — The genetic and paleontological record of human migration is at least 60,000 years old.

MayflowerHarbor — In the U.S., migration is both history and destiny. From the arrival of the First Nations of native peoples to European explorers seeking treasure and religious freedom.

1789descriptionofaslaveship — From the mass involuntary migrations of enslaved Africans, to the trans-oceanic migrations of yesterday and the ongoing global migrations of today, migration defines the American experience.

1857_ConstitutionWharf_Boston_byWinslowHomer_Ballous — When large numbers of newcomers arrive, bringing new languages and customs, they are often met with skepticism and distrust.

slovak immigrantnypl.digitalcollections.510d47da-dcb3-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.001.w — Migrant from Slovakia, early 20th century. Migration is an important story of how the country came to be in its present form and a determinant of our future.

blackamericansheadwest — African Americans migrating west in the 19th century. Histories of migration and integration are reminders of the amazing abilities of humans to adapt to new circumstances.

512px-Immigrant-children-ellis-island — Immigrant children at Ellis Island. Up to 40 percent of people in the US can trace their ancestry through Ellis Island.

empire-windrush-01-623×438 — In 1948 the Empire Windrush brought African-Carribean passengers to England. Their journey has come to symbolize the beginning of Post-WWII immigration to Great Britain.

453px-French_warship_picking_up_a_boat_full_of_Armenian_refugees_fleeing_from_the_massacre_of_their_people_by_Turkish_forces_during_WWI — Armenian refugees fleeing genocide off the coast of Syria. 100 years later it was Syrian refugees that were fleeing the country in search of safety.

327px-StLouisPorthole — Passengers aboard the M.S. St. Louis were among millions of Jews who attempted to flee Nazi terror. Most Jews that sought to emigrate were unable to escape Nazi controlled European territory.

HeartMountainBoyScoutFlagRaising — Boy Scouts at the Heart Mountain Japanese Internment camp during WWII. Immigrants often are required to prove their loyalty.

Partition_of_Punjab,_India_1947 — Mass migration and violence marketed the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947.

640px-Cambodian-refugees-in-Thailand-falling-in-line-391759062869 — Cambodian refugees in Thailand, 1974.

refugees leaving Hungary — Since the dawn of the millennium, the world has been witnessing a rapid rise in the numbers of a plurality of migrants —involuntary, internal or international, authorized or unauthorized, environmental refugees, and victims of human trafficking.

Refugees living in tents in the center relocation Diavata — Of the over 65 million forcefully displaced people in the world today, half are children.

Syrian Refugees Crisis – Pro-refugee demonstration in Barcelona, Spain, September2015 — Pro-refugee demonstration in Barcelona, Spain.

Immigrant Families on the March — Twenty-five percent of children under the age of 18 in the United Staes, a total of 18.7 million children, have an immigrant parent. Indeed, the world over, the success of the children of immigrants is essential to our shared future.

About Us

Re-Imagining Migration is a new organization created to foster understanding and the successful inclusion of migrant youth across the globe. By providing resources and training to educators, we equip them to engage the children of migration and their peers to learn from one another in reflective learning environments. The goal of our work is to empower students to become ethical, engaged, and active civic participants in our interconnected world.

From our very origins, the human journey has been shaped by migration. For over 70,000 years human beings have been on the move and today—with 250 million international migrants and 750 internal migrants—migrations are reshaping the world. While foundational to the human experience, across space and time, when large numbers of newcomers arrive, bringing new languages and customs, they are often met with skepticism and distrust.

In the United States, twenty-five percent of children under the age of 18, a total of 18.7 million children, have an immigrant parent. Today, the world over, the success of the children of immigrants is essential to our shared future. Education, in and out of school, will play a foundational role in helping to nurture democracy.

The Re-Imagining Migration Project was founded in July 2017 by Adam Strom, the former Director of Scholarship and Innovation at Facing History and Ourselves, and pioneering scholars of immigration and education, Carola Suarez-Orozco, the Co-Director of the Institute for Immigration, Globalization & Education at UCLA and Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, the Wasserman Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences at UCLA. The project is developing rigorously vetted resources for classrooms and opportunities for lifelong learning and quality professional development to foster the civic skills, social, and intellectual habits necessary for democracy to flourish in the age of mass migrations.

Please enjoy our Migration, Education, and Youth blog, explore our free resources and learn about our professional development services and public events.

Our Team

Our founders are among the leaders in the fields of immigration and education. As a team we have experience researching, teaching and writing about immigration and belonging, the fault lines of democracy, civic education and about social justice, children, youth, and schooling. Members of our team have presented our work in a variety of settings, to a wide range of audiences, from the Vatican and the White House to small school-based learning communities and developed educational resources used by tens of thousands of teachers and millions of students around the world. We bring these experiences to the defining issue of our time.

Adam Strom

Director of the ReImagining Migration Project

Throughout his career, Mr. Strom has connected the Academy, to classrooms, and the community by using the latest scholarship to encourage learning about identity, bias, belonging, history, and the challenges and opportunities of civic engagement in our globalized world. The resources developed under Strom’s direction have been used in tens of thousands of classrooms and experienced by millions of students around the world including Stories of Identity: Religion, Migration, and Belonging in a Changing World and What Do We Do with a Difference? France and The Debate Over Headscarves in Schools, Identity, and Belonging in a Changing Great Britain, and the viewer’s guide to I Learn America. Before joining the ReImagining Migration Project, Strom was the Director of Scholarship and Innovation at Facing History and Ourselves.

Carola Suárez-Orozco

Professor of Human Development and Psychology and the Co-Director of the Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education at UCLA

Professor Suárez-Orozco’s previous books include: Children of Immigration, Learning a New Land, and Transitions: The Development of the Children of Immigrants, the winner of the Best Edited Book Award presented by the Society for Research on Adolescence. She has been awarded an APA Presidential Citation for her contributions to the understanding of the cultural psychology of immigration and has served as Chair of the APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration.

Marcelo Suárez-Orozco

Professor of Human Development and Psychology and the Co-Director of the Institute for Immigration, Globalization, and Education at UCLA

Professor Suárez-Orozco leads two academic departments, 16 nationally renowned research institutes, and two innovative demonstration schools at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. His research focuses on cultural psychology and psychological anthropology, with an emphasis on mass migration, globalization, and education. Upon arriving at UCLA in 2012, he founded the Institute for Immigrant Children, Youth, and Families, which he co-directs with Dr. Carola Suárez-Orozco, UCLA Ed & IS professor of education. A native of Buenos Aires, Suárez-Orozco earned his A.B. in psychology, M.A. in anthropology, and Ph.D. in anthropology at UC Berkeley. At Harvard University, he served as the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education and Culture (2001-2004), and co-founded and co-directed the Harvard Immigration Project in 1997. Prior to arriving at UCLA Ed & IS, Suárez-Orozco was the inaugural Courtney Sale Ross University Professor of Globalization and Education at NYU.

Selected Publications

Children of Immigration

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August 27, 2017

Carola Suárez-Orozco and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco

Stories of Identity: Religion, Migration, and Belonging in a Changing World

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August 25, 2017

Adam Strom (Author/Editor) Carola Suárez-Orozco (Afterward) for Facing History and Ourselves

SELECTED ARTICLES, BOOKS, AND RESOURCES FROM OUR TEAM Children of Immigration, Carola Suárez-Orozco and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco Now in the midst of the largest wave of immigration in history, America, mythical land of immigrants, is once again contemplating a future in which new arrivals will play a crucial role in reworking the fabric of the nation. At the center of this prospect are the children of immigrants, who make up one fifth of America’s youth. This book, written by the codirectors of the largest ongoing longitudinal study of immigrant children and their families, offers a clear, broad, interdisciplinary view of who these children are and what their future might hold. For immigrant children, the authors write, it is the best of times and the worst. These children are more likely than any previous generation of immigrants to end up in Ivy League universities–or unschooled, on parole, or in prison. Most arrive as motivated students, respectful of authority and quick to learn English. Yet, at the same time, many face huge obstacles to success, such as poverty, prejudice, the trauma of immigration itself, and exposure to the materialistic, hedonistic world of their native-born peers. The authors vividly describe how forces within and outside the family shape these children’s developing sense of identity and their ambivalent relationship with their adopted country. Their book demonstrates how “Americanization,” long an immigrant ideal, has, in a nation so diverse and full of contradictions, become ever harder to define, let alone achieve. Educating the Whole Child for the Whole World

Educating the Whole Child for the Whole World: The Ross School Model and Education for the Global Era

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August 20, 2017

Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco (Editor), Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj (Editor)

Global Migration, Diversity, and Civic Education: Improving Policy and Practice

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August 18, 2017

James A. Banks (Author), Marcelo Suárez-Orozco (Author), Miriam Ben-Peretz (Author)

Globalization: Culture and Education in the New Millennium

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August 15, 2017

Marcelo Suarez-Orozco (Editor), Desiree B. Qin-Hilliard (Editor)

Identity and Belonging in a Changing Great Britain

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August 10, 2017

Adam Strom for Facing History and Ourselves

Learning in a New Land: Immigrant Students in American Society

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August 5, 2017

Carola Suárez-Orozco (Author), Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco (Author), Irina Todorova (Author)

Learning in the Global Era: International Perspectives on Globalization and Education

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July 28, 2017

Marcelo Suarez-Orozco (Editor)

Transitions: The Development of the Children of Immigrants

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July 20, 2017

Carola Suárez-Orozco (Editor), Mona M. Abo-Zena (Editor), Amy K. Marks (Editor)

Washington’s Rebuke to Bigotry: Reflections on Our First President’s Famous 1790 Letter to the Hebrew Congregation In Newport, Rhode Island

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July 15, 2017

Dan Eshet (Editor), Michael Feldberg (Editor), and Adam Strom (Editor)

What do we do with a Difference: France and the Debate Over Headscarves in Schools

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July 10, 2017

Dan Eshet (Author), Adam Strom (Editor) for Facing History and Ourselves

Educational Frameworks

ReImagining Approaches to Immigration in Schools

August 1, 2017/0 Comments/in Blog /by Adam Strom

In the United States, immigrants and their children make up 27 percent of the US population. Twenty-five percent of school age children have an immigrant parent. These numbers have been growing rapidly. Additionally, recent estimates suggest that 5.1 million children under 18 have at least one parent with an unauthorized legal status in the […]

About Us

Our Team

Adam Strom

Carola Suárez-Orozco

Marcelo Suárez-Orozco

Selected Publications

Educational Frameworks

Join us