1st Edition
Refugee Resettlement in the United States Loss, Transition, and Resilience in a Post-9/11 World
This book focuses on refugee resettlement in the post-9/11 environment of the United States with theoretical work and ethnographic case studies that portray loss, transition, and resilience. Each chapter unpacks resettlement at the macro or micro scale, underscoring the multiple, and mostly unsupported, negotiations refugees must undertake in their familial, social, educational, and work spheres to painstakingly reconstruct and reintegrate their lives. The contributors show how civil society groups and individuals push back against xenophobic policies and strive to support refugee communities, and how agentive efforts result in refugees establishing stable lives, despite punishing odds. This volume will be of interest to anthropologists and other scholars with a focus on refugee and migration studies.
Prologue David Haines
Toward a Humanizing Discourse in Research, Policy, and Practice with Refugee Communities Shawna Shapiro
Part I Unpacking Early Resettlement: Loss and Transition
1 "More Karenni, More Happy": The Role of Social Bonds in the Refugee Resettlement and Integration Processes of Families from Myanmar in Western New York.
Pilapa Esara Carroll and Ngo Hna
2 A Figured World in New Jersey Supports Successful English Language Learning
Pritha Gopalan, Jodi Paroff, Tahi Hunter, Sikandar Khan
3 Collaborative Social Media Production with a Congolese Refugee Youth Group in Florida
Dillon Mahoney
4 "Sometimes, I Wish We Never Came Here": Public Schooling of Iraqi Refugee Youth and a Dream (of a Second Life) Denied
Sally Wesley Bonet
5 Dietary Change and Nutritional Status among Refugees from Burma in West Central Florida: Implications for Health and Educational Programs
Roberta D. Baer, Sarah Taylor, Kelsee Hentschel-Fey, Adriana Dail, Sean Baird, Jacqueline Sivén, Channah Leff, Seiichi Villalona
Part II Understanding Later Resettlement: Transition and Resilience
6 "I Would Expect Her to Know That She’s A Dinka": Defining Successful Reproduction and Resettlement among South Sudanese Refugees
Anna Jaysane-Darr
7 "They Don’t Love Me Anymore" : A Deeper Look at Family-Related Anxiety for Nepali Bhutanese Refugees in Northeast Ohio
Marnie K. Watson
8 Seeking Samaj: Refugee Resettlement Beyond Self-Sufficiency and Dispersal
Andrew Nelson
9 Trajectories of Refugee Adaptation: Insights from the Case of Bosnians in the United States
Fethi Keles
10 Building a Multicultural Community with Resettled Refugees: A case study of the Midtown Utica Community Center in Utica, NY
Kathryn Stam and Chris Sunderlin
Epilogue: Beyond the Fastlane: Policy innovation to facilitate upward mobility
Faith Nibbs
Biography
Marnie K. Watson is an applied medical anthropologist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Missouri State University. Her research and teaching focus on homelessness, race and ethnicity, urban anthropology, expressive culture, modernity, behavioral health, migration, and refugee health.
Pritha Gopalan is an educational anthropologist and the Director of Research and Learning at the Newark Trust for Education. She is committed to research grounded in community experiences and perspectives in education, refugee resettlement, and urban development. She is the author of PPP Paradox: Promise and Perils of Public-Private Partnership in Education.
