Description
Book SynopsisTracing the history of refugee settlement in Fargo, North Dakota, from the 1980s to the present day, Race-ing Fargo focuses on the role that gender, religion, and sociality play in everyday interactions between refugees from South Sudan and Bosnia-Herzegovina and the dominant white Euro-American population of the city. Jennifer Erickson outlines the ways in which refugees have impacted this small city over the last thirty years, showing how culture, political economy, and institutional transformations collectively contribute to the racialization of white cities like Fargo in ways that complicate their demographics.
Race-ing Fargo shows that race, religion, and decorum prove to be powerful forces determining worthiness and belonging in the city and draws attention to the different roles that state and private sectors played in shaping ideas about race and citizenship on a local level. Through the comparative study of white secular Muslim Bosnians and Black Christ
Trade Review
A grounded study of the everyday practices of refugee-serving state and nonprofit agencies and the interpersonal relationships between refugees and the city's dominant white population, this volume offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of how refugees have reshaped local ideas about race, citizenship practices, and belonging.
* Choice *
Race-ing Fargo contributes to the literature on refugee resettlement, new immigrant destinations, and urban studies and would be of interest to scholars and students in these fields.
* Ethnic and Racial Studies *
Race-ing Fargo is a meticulously researched study about citizenship and diversity practices among residents and newcomers resulting from refugee resettlement and how those played out in, and transformed, the small global city of Fargo, North Dakota—making important contributions to race, immigration, belonging, welfare, and globalization scholarship.
* Social Forces *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Valley to the World
1. Histories, Assemblages, and the City
2. The NGOization of Refugee Resettlement
3. ibling Rivalry: Welfare and Refugee Resettlement
4. Diversity and Inclusion in Fargo
5. Resettled Orientalisms: Bosnian Muslims and Roma in Fargo
6. Beyond Bare Life: Southern Sudanese in Fargo
Conclusion: Prairie for the People
