If you were inspired by the stories in Meet The Immigrants, discover our sources for finding out more: books, weblinks, OpenLearn and Open University courses.

Books

Bloody Foreigners: the story of immigration to Britain
Robert Winder, Little, Brown
An illuminating and accessible history of immigration in the British context from the Bronze Age to the present day.

Open Borders: The case against immigration controls
Teresa Hayter, Pluto Press
This book argues that immigration controls are neither humane nor effective and makes the case for their abolition.

The New Untouchables
Nigel Harris, Penguin
Explores the dynamics of international migration in the global economy.

Understanding Immigration and Refugee Policy
Rosemary Sales, The Policy Press
Written for students, research and professionals, this book looks at different approaches to understanding migration and its links to social welfare and policy.

From Immigration Controls to Welfare Controls
edited by Steve Cohen, Beth Humphries and Ed Mynott, Routledge
This volume looks at the connections between immigration controls and welfare controls, looking at the implications of past and current UK government legislation for those subject to controls and those implementing controls.

Weblinks

If you're a migrant seeking advice, support or assistance in the United Kingdom, a good place to start would be the Citizens Advice Bureau.

December18.net - a portal for the promotion and protection of the rights of migrants providing comprehensive information and an excellent set of resources; including international legal instruments and provisions for migrants, books and films about migrants, and information on migrants’ rights campaigns.

Migration Information Source - fresh thought, authoritative data from numerous global organizations and governments, and global analysis of international migration and refugee trends. There's also useful tools, vital data, and essential facts on the movement of people worldwide.

Forced Migration Online -provides access to a wide variety of online resources dealing with the situation of forced migrants worldwide. Designed for use by practitioners, policy makers, researchers, students or anyone interested in the field, FMO aims to give comprehensive information, in an impartial environment, and to promote increased awareness of human displacement issues to an international community of users. The site contains an introductory guide to forced migration.

Human Rights Watch - dedicated to protecting the human rights of people around the world, including those of migrants and refugees. Try a search on migrants or refugees.

International Migrants Day - the UN site for this annual event (December 18th) contains comprehensive information on the work of the UN around international migration and a list of international conventions and agreements. It also provides further resources you can follow up.

Migration Dialogue - provides timely, factual and non-partisan information and analysis of international migration issues.

Global agencies working in migration-related areas

Each of these organisations' websites have a wide range of resources, including data, commissioned research studies and policy briefs, on different aspects of international migration. Most of these can be downloaded for free.

UNHCR - Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
UNHCHR - Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund
ILO - International Labour Organisation
WHO - World Health Organisation
UNESCO - United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organisation
International Organisation for Migration
OECD - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
World Bank
The Global Commission on International Migration hosts a range of research and policy papers on international migration. Its report Migration in an interconnected world: New directions for action can be downloaded for free in the pdf format.

OpenLearn

OpenLearn provides free course materials, open for everyone, online. Amongst the resources available, you can find these samples:

Extract two from Y157 Understanding society - Why do people travel to other countries seeking work?

Beveridge’s insurance model and immigration - How can National Insurance cope with an international workforce?

Climate change: island life in a volatile world - what impact will changing climate have on migration plans?

Using and developing a popular topic: migration - using folk songs in the classroom to explain migration.

Courses

Open to change

This course invites you to explore your own experience of change in the light of ideas and approaches drawn from a number of disciplines including psychology, sociology and business studies. The course looks at facing change; making change; looking ahead; and moving on.

Understanding society

The course is designed to introduce students to selected key concepts and debates within the social sciences including families; culture; global markets; migrant labour; community; and social movements. It will help students develop learning skills that will provide a sound basis for further academic work.

An introduction to the social sciences: understanding social change

If you are wondering where to begin your Open University studies and you’re interested in the social sciences – psychology, sociology, social policy, politics, economics and geography – this course is the place to start.

This course tackles everyday issues in an approachable and accessible way, so that you can build on what you already know and draw on your own experience. DD100 will help you understand some of the big issues in the contemporary world, such as changes in family, work and identity; risk and the environment; and the impact of globalisation.

Living in a globalised world

This course will help you to 'get beyond the newspaper headlines' and learn some tools for being able to analyse and interpret what is going on in our globalised world. It looks at lots of real-world examples such as sweatshops, climate change and fair-trade and offers geographical understanding of these important world issues.

Understanding cities

This course is likely to appeal to you if you have a wide interest in the social sciences and want to increase your understanding of urban problems and possibilities around the world. It explores the ways in which cities are connected to one another, and the effects that these connections have on the urban problems and potentials in particular cities.

Personal lives and social policy

By exploring the complex and changing interconnections between social policy and people's lived experiences of welfare, this course looks critically at how personal lives have shaped and been shaped by policy-making processes in the past and today.

Making social worlds

Exploring how social worlds are made, this course offers you an insight into the sociological approaches that can be applied to understanding everyday experience. Social worlds need to create security, produce attachment between individuals, and regulate conduct. The course considers how these needs are met through topics including immigration, medicine, family, money and reality television.

International development: challenges for a world in transition

International development in its many manifestations presents the world with some of its most pressing challenges. This course introduces the main issues associated with meeting those challenges and, in so doing, looks critically at ideas about inequality at local and global levels and the relationship between the levels.

A world of whose making?

The course provides the tools of political and economic analysis needed to answer these questions as well as an historical and conceptual understanding of states and security; the contested place of religion, culture and norms at an international and global level; and the role of technology, inequality and networks.

The BBC and the Open University are not responsible for the content of external websites.