Although any experience of migration would qualify an author to be classed under migrant literature, the main focus of recent research has been on the principal channels of mass-migration in the twentieth century.
[13] As worded by David Levinson and Melvin Ember, "the drive to sustain some Arab cultural identity among the immigrant communities in North America" was reinforced from the beginning when educated immigrants launched Arabic-language newspapers and literary societies in both the New York and Boston areas to encourage poetry and writing, with the aim of keeping alive and enriching the Arabic cultural heritage.
"[15] Writers of the Mahjar movement were stimulated by their personal encounter with the Western world and participated in the renewal of Arabic literature.
[16] Picking up on the term Gastarbeiter and using it affirmatively, Rafik Schami and Franco Biondi [de] used the terminology of guest and host to express some of the dynamics of migrant situations.
The term describes the frustrations from many migrant authors about the lack of acceptance, poor working conditions, racism and difficulties with integration.
[20] In literature of second generation migrants, a location "between" two cultures, sometimes called an "interstitial" space, is often mentioned as a way of expressing a sense of belonging in neither the guest nor the host community.