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Title details for American Refuge by Diya Abdo - Available

American Refuge

True Stories of the Refugee Experience

by Diya Abdo
Diya Abdo
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
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2 of 2 copies available
A provocative, conversation-sparking exploration of refugee experiences told in their own words, for readers of Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s The Undocumented Americans and Viet Thanh Nguyen
“A moving and timely book that strips away misleading politics to reveal the complexities of real human lives." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Forced to leave their homes, they came to America...
In this intimate and eye-opening book, Diya Abdo—daughter of refugees, U.S. immigrant, English professor, and activist—shares the stories of seven refugees. Coming from around the world, they’re welcomed by Every Campus A Refuge (ECAR), an organization Diya founded to leverage existing resources at colleges to provide temporary shelter to refugee families.
Bookended by Diya’s powerful essay "Radical Hospitality" and the inspiring coda “Names and Numbers,” each chapter weaves the individual stories into a powerful journey along a common theme:
  •   Life Before (“The Body Leaves its Soul Behind”)
  • The Moment of Rupture (“Proof and Persecution”)
  • The Journey (“Right Next Door”)
  • Arrival/Resettlement (“Back to the Margins”)
  • A Few Years Later (“From Camp to Campus”)
    •  The lives explored in American Refuge include the artist who, before he created the illustration on the cover of this book, narrowly escaped two assassination attempts in Iraq and now works at Tyson cutting chicken.
    We learn that these refugees from Burma, Burundi, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, and Uganda lived in homes they loved, left against their will, moved to countries without access or rights, and were among the 1% of the "lucky" few to resettle after a long wait, almost certain never to return to the homes they never wanted to leave. We learn that anybody, at any time, can become a refugee.

    • Creators

    • Series

      Truth to Power

    • Publisher

    • Release date

      September 6, 2022

    • Formats

      • OverDrive Listen audiobook

        • ISBN: 9781586423452
        • File size: 153632 KB
        • Duration: 05:20:03

    • Languages

      • English

    • Reviews

      • Booklist

        August 1, 2022
        Abdo, a professor of English and creative writing at Guilford College, grew up in Jordan as the child of Palestinian refugees forced from their home in 1967. She grew up acutely aware of her lost home. At Guilford in 2015, Abdo founded Every Campus a Refuge (ECAR) in response to the growing Syrian refugee crisis. ECAR welcomes refugees from around the world onto college campuses, where they can access resources to live. In this book, Abdo details the stories of seven people hosted at Guilford. After his community in Uganda turned against him, Cheps survived for three years in a refugee camp with a tribe known for its hostility to LGBTQ people. Ali evaded two assassination attempts in Iraq before deciding to uproot his family and go west. Ree Ree, whose parents fled Burma, was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. Empathetic and caring, Abdo's expert writing conveys the nuanced stories of people whose lives have been heartwrenchingly upended, and who are doing what they must to survive and rebuild.

        COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • Library Journal

        August 1, 2022

        This book contains a compilation of interviews from refugees in the United States. The interviews were conducted by first-time author Abdo (English, Guilford Coll.), who is the daughter of Palestinian refugees herself. At Guilford, Abdo founded Every Campus a Refuge, which hosts refugees when they first arrive in the U.S. The lives of seven refugees from Iraq, Burma, Uganda, and elsewhere are covered in this book. Each of their stories begins with their childhood and moves through the terrible circumstances and incidents that caused the need for an exodus. The book concludes with their journeys to the U.S. and the problems they encounter upon arrival. Abdo provides solid solutions to some of these problems at the end of the text. She also presents the material in themes, mainly that refugees leave their souls behind in their country of origin, which causes them great sorrow. Another theme calls out hypocrisies in language and attitude. For example, white people who leave their country are called "expatriates," while people of color are called "immigrants." Some readers might be put off by Abdo's bias towards Palestine. VERDICT Fans of Dina Nayeri's The Ungrateful Refugee will find Abdo's book compelling.--Jason L. Steagall

        Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

    subjects

    Languages

    • English

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