Refugees in America in the 1990s; A Reference Handbook

Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1996. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. x, 467, [3] pages. Minor mark to fore-edge. Includes Preface. Part I includes Introduction: Refugee Resettlement in the United States; Patterns in Refugee Resettlement and Adaptation; Part II covers The Refugees--Afghans; Chinese from Southeast Asia; Cubans; Eastern Europeans; Ethiopians and Eritreans; Haitians; Hmong; Iranians; Khmer; Lao; Soviet Jews; and Vietnamese; Part III covers Comparative Material: The Origins and Initial Resettlement Patterns of Refugees in the United States; Public and Political Opinion on the Admission of Refugees; Hardening the Heart: The Global Refugee Problem in the 1990s; Documentary Films about Refugees; and An Annotated Introduction to the Literature. Also includes Index and About the Contributors. David W. Haines received his M.A. in Southeast Asian Studies and Ph.D. in Anthropology from American University. Prior to coming to George Mason University in 1997, he had worked for the federal government's refugee resettlement program. Teaching areas include cultural anthropology, refugees, and migration. Publications include several edited volumes on refugees and immigrants, an alternative introductory anthropology text, a monograph on Vietnamese kinship, and numerous articles in professional journals on migration, kinship, and governance. Dr. Haines is a two-time Fulbright scholar, a former chair of the American Anthropological Association's Committee on Refugees and Immigrants, a past president of the Society for Urban, National, and Transnational/Global Anthropology, and the past co-president of the Association for the Anthropology of Policy. This volume began with the intention simply to update a reference volume on refugees published by Greenwood Press in 1985. However, the sharp changes in the situation of refugees over the last decade, the expansion in the quantity and quality of research on refugees, and the need to recognize a broader range of refugee groups have resulted in an entirely new book--two thirds of this volume is completely original; the remaining third is substantially revised. This volume introduces the reader to an important set of newcomers to America. Two overview chapters introduce the U.S. refugee program and the general patterns in resettlement and adaptation. The chapters cover the origins of the program, its development through successive waves of refugees and layers of legislation, the life experiences that refugees bring with them, the problems they must confront, and the ways they rebuild their lives. The heart of the book, however, is Part II, which provides chapters on the largest groups of refugees who have resettled since World War II. Each chapter examines the cultural and social context from which the refugees came, traces their initial and long-term encounters with American society, and assesses their future prospects. The refugee groups covered include Afghans, ethnic Chinese from Southeast Asia, Cubans, Eastern European refugees, Ethiopians and Eritreans, Haitians, Hmong, Iranians, Khmer, Lao, Soviet Jews, and Vietnamese. The final section of the book provides additional comparative documentation on the refugee experience. Separate chapters review the major federal agency statistics, examine public attitudes toward refugees, and outline the broader global refugee problem. The book concludes with a review of film documentaries on refugee adaptation and an annotated bibliography introducing the extensive information now available on refugees in the United States. Condition: Very good.

Keywords: Refugees, Reference Work, Handbook, Resettlement, Afghans, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Hmong, Khmer, Soviet Jews, Refugee Admission, Admission Policy, Public Opinion, Documentary Films, Annotated Literature

ISBN: 0313293449

[Book #82442]

Price: $150.00

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