Michael White, Brown University

About the Presentation

Migration promises to remain a major demographic feature of the 21st century.  At the same time, migration and urbanization are often presented as problematic, especially for health and wellbeing.  Even though people migrate to cities for individual and family betterment, personal dislocation and changes in living environment typically accompany this population redistribution.  Concerns arise regarding alterations in diet and lifestyle, lapses in access to health care, stress, and other risk factors. Despite such broad concerns, we have limited systematic knowledge of individual health transitions that accompany migration, especially in transition economies.  This presentation draws on preliminary results from an initial wave of a panel study of rural-urban migration in South Africa.  Results are framed in terms of a wider discussion about 21st century migration and urbanization within and beyond the African continent.  This research is supported by NIH-funded award, "Migration, Urbanization, and Health in a Transition Setting" (Brown University USA and University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), for which White is the Principal Investigator. 

About the Speaker

Michael White is the Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor of Population Studies at Brown University, where he is also Professor of Sociology and Director of the initiative in Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences.
White's research covers a wide array of topics within the broad area of migration and population distribution: from urban residential segregation, to rural-urban migration in developing societies, to contemporary international migration and immigrant assimilation.