I came up with the phrase “migration streams” to replace “migration chains” a while back for two reasons. One, I felt it better conveyed what’s going on with these migrations and two, which was actually the real reason and the impetus, I wanted to get away from references to enslaved individuals when my immigrant ancestors were not in that category.
I felt that in the context of group migration over time and among and between networks of individuals, using the word “chain” seemed too fixed and mad the process seem more static than it was. And, at least to me, “stream” suggested flow which I liked.
In reality, these streams tend to leave people along the way (not just due to death, but because some decide not to continue moving) and pick up others as the migration continues. Membership in the group is not static.
Of course yesterday, I wanted to write about migrations and could not remember the word I used to replace “chains.” That’s probably due to me migrating through more and more years.
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