Rethinking Urban Refugee Resettlement: A Case Study of One Karen Community in Rural Georgia, USA.
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12341 |
| Author | Daniel Gilhooly,Eunbae Lee |
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
Rethinking Urban Refugee Resettlement:
A Case Study of One Karen Community
in Rural Georgia, USA.
Daniel Gilhooly* and Eunbae Lee**
ABSTRACT
While refugee resettlements in urban areas have historically had negative outcomes, alternatives
have not been adequately discussed. This study aims to shed light on refugee’s rural resettlement
via an ethnographic case study. The participatory action research team consisting of refugee
youth and outside academics investigated two rural Karen communities in Georgia and three
urban communities via semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Interview tran-
scripts, field notes, video recordings of observations, and dialogues among researchers served as
rich data for thematic analysis. We found refugees like the Karen, who came from rural agricul-
tural backgrounds, benefitted from the familiar lifestyle of rural living. We discuss the advan-
tages and disadvantages of rural resettlement for refugees regarding community support,
insecurity, inter-ethnic conflict, housing, employment, and cultural heritage and language main-
tenance. Community leaders and policymakers of refuge resettlement may use the findings in
making decisions about the potential for rural resettlement.
INTRODUCTION
Why they [US government] make us live in city? It not good for Karen people because they never
know city. Many Karen people say to me they scare and don’t trust city. Everything in city differ-
ent, difficult and many kid go bad way. But in countryside we live like we know and happy here.
(Samber Htoo, age 19)
This research project was motivated by comments like those of Samber Htoo (meaning December
Gold), one of the collaborators on this research study. Samber Htoo and his family moved to Sand-
ville (pseudonym), Georgia, USA in 2009. Samber, his parents, and his five siblings were origi-
nally resettled in Phoenix, AZ where they lived for 18 months before migrating to rural Georgia.
They moved to Georgia for the prospect of more steady employment and reunification with
extended family members.
Refugee resettlement refers to the selection, transfer, and permanent settlement of refugees from
a State to a third State “when neither voluntary repatriation nor local integration in the country of
first asylum is possible within an acceptable timeframe”(McDonald-Wilmsen et al., 2009, p.98).
Refugee’permanent resident status should ensure protection against refoulement and provide a
* University of Central Missouri
** The Catholic University of Korea
doi: 10.1111/imig.12341
©2017 The Authors
International Migration ©2017 IOM
International Migration Vol. 55 (6) 2017
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
resettled refugee family with access to equivalent civil, political, economic, social and cultural
rights available to nationals (UNHCR, 2004).
Since the mid 1970s, the majority of refugees in the US have been resettled in urban areas
(Marks, 2014; Singer & Wilson, 2007). Over the decades, this policy has resulted in resettlement
in some of the most deprived urban neighbourhoods (Zhou & Bankston, 1994; Singer & Wilson,
2007; Lugar, 2010). Sastre and Haldeman (2015) reported living conditions of diverse refugee
groups resettled in a metropolitan area of North Carolina. Via semi-structured interviews, medical
and social workers, educators, and resettlement agency caseworkers reported poverty, poor housing
conditions, and transportation limitations in addition to unhealthy dietary practices.
Similarly, The United Kingdom has placed asylum seekers and refugees in large, deprived urban
areas of excessively available housing; however, they experienced high levels of unemployment
and underemployment despite skills and qualifications. This resulted in exclusion from society and
continued distress (Phillimore & Goodson, 2006). Research suggests that urban refugee resettlement
can have other negative impacts, such as gang violence and a lack of community support and edu-
cational resources (Lugar, 2010; Marks, 2014).
There are fewer studies that look specifically at rural resettlement in the US. This is due to the
reality that most rural communities with refugee backgrounds are secondary migrants. However,
McDonald et al.’s (2009) report on regional resettlement in Victoria, Australia offers case studies
of six rural or regional communities where the government resettled refugees from Burma, Iraq,
Nepal, Sudan, and Afghanistan. Their findings suggest that rural resettlement may be beneficial to
both receiving communities as well as those relocated. McDonald-Wilmsen et al. (2009) argues for
a holistic, humanitarian approach to refugee resettlement that meets the economic, social and cul-
tural needs of both the refugee and receiving communities.
As such, there is a huge gap in the literature: a great deal of studies reports the nature and state of urban
living, both small and large cities; scant attention, however, has been paid to refugees in rural areas.
Purpose of Study
This study reports the rural resettlement experiences in contrast to urban resettlement and focuses
on two research questions:
(1) How do the experiences of urban and rural Karen differ?
(2) What are the advantages and disadvantages of rural resettlement versus urban living?
This article is divided into five parts. First, we provide some information on the Karen people and
their history. Second, we describe the background of how the study was instigated. Third, we
describe the participatory action research method and our focal rural area of Sandville. Fourth, in
the findings section, we discuss issues related to the rural community and the three urban areas.
We conclude with the limitations and offer possible solutions.
THE KAREN
The Karen (pronounced kuh-REN, sometimes referred to as Kayin) are an ethnic minority from
Burma and Thailand in Southeast Asia. According to Cheesman (2002), “Karen are bound neither
by a common language, religion, nor many of the characteristics conventionally used to designate
an ‘ethnic’group”(p. 200). Despite the heterogeneity of the Karen, the majority of those resettling
to the US is the largest Karen subgroup, Sgaw Karen.
Sgaw Karen have maintained strong ties with Western societies. The first American missionaries
abroad found great success converting many Sgaw Karen in the early nineteenth century. Over the
38 Gilhooly and Lee
©2017 The Authors. International Migration ©2017 IOM
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