WILLEMSTAD – After seventeen years of research, anthropologist Sabrina Dinmohamed has completed a new book on Caribbean migration, offering fresh insights into how migrants build a sense of belonging on Curaçao.
The book, which has been submitted to Emerald Publishing, focuses on so-called South–South migration and examines Curaçao as a semi-peripheral society rather than a simple transit point toward Europe.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork among Dominican migrants, Dinmohamed explores how a sense of “home” is formed through the interaction between personal choices and external factors in the host society. These include employment opportunities, legal frameworks, social relationships, and cultural dynamics.
A key conclusion of the research challenges a long-standing assumption in migration studies—that Curaçao primarily serves as a stepping stone for migrants heading to Europe. According to Dinmohamed, her findings show that geographic proximity, social integration, and relative migration success often lead migrants to build their futures on the island itself.
The study builds on her earlier work published in 2023, also by Emerald Publishing, which examined Dominican migration to Europe. That research highlighted how migrants in countries such as the Netherlands develop a sense of home through daily practices, including food, social interaction, and cultural traditions, shaped by their surrounding environment.
With this new publication, Dinmohamed shifts the focus from Europe to the Caribbean, contributing to a broader debate on migration that moves beyond the traditional South-to-North narrative and instead highlights regional migration flows and their social significance.
The findings add to growing academic and policy discussions about the evolving role of Curaçao within Caribbean migration patterns.