Azhr Sigh

5 July 2014

What is the Immigrant Narrative?

The term "immigrant" encompasses all immigration to the United States withstanding  their reasons and purposes to migrate from their countries. In other words, their official status as a refugee, green card holder, or even regular immigrant fits into the same term. How does the refugee narrative differ from the immigrant narrative? Would it be a combination of minority and immigrant? Semantically speaking, the word refugee means a person who is forced to leave his country while an immigrant is a person who comes to a country to live there (http://www.merriam-webster.com). In other words, refugee narrative focuses on the original country before and after crises. Meanwhile, immigrant narrative focus on the assimilation process in America. Though Ismael Beah—my example from the previous post—assimilates to the American culture, he works on enriching his country Sierra Leone's economy and lifestyle. The refugee, in general, perceives America rather a safe haven than a land of dreams. Beah, like most refugees, returns to his country whenever it is safe to do so (http://www.unrefugees.org/).  If we were to analyze Beah’s narrative according the immigrant stages that listed in http://coursesite.uhcl.edu, we will find it corresponds to these stages. However, the focus of the narrative differs: he tends to talk about his country more than his settlement in the United States. So, I think it is important to separate refugee from immigrant narrative due to the semantic definition of the words and different narrative structure.

When we describe the semantic feature of the word refugee, we refer to a person’s official and identity status. Sierra Leone refugees identify themselves as refugees even after spending more than a decade in the United States because they are planning on returning to their country. Due to the UNICEF’s effort, their narrative does not contain “working on minimum wages” episodes like many immigrant narratives that we have encountered this semester. I, honestly, faced a difficult time to match the refugees with immigrant stages since they leave their country—without their will—to work in the United States. Eventually, they accomplish their dreams by being  famous writers, inspirational leaders, and actors. However, they see their country as an ideal place despite the turmoil that they have undergone before coming to America.

The first generation of refugee attempts to maintain its cultural identity, and make sure that the second generation does the same. They have scheduled events in their communities in the United States to celebrate their traditional song and stories (http://www.everyculture.com/). I was tempted to list them under minority because they maintain their cultural groups. Beah, as well as most of the refugees, feels grateful to grow up in America but at the same time celebrate his culture in all of his books.

The long stay in the United States modified some Sierra Leaonean traditional views of life. For example, veralyWilliams—a second generation Sierra Leone refugee—plans on going back to Sierra Leone after she gains her graduate degree (www.youtube.com). Her parents’ traditional view of lifestyle is modified due to interaction with American culture and media. For example, her mother's opinion about marriage has changed from marrying off her daughter to the Western view of marriage, “You may get married when you find the right person, marriage not good for everyone.” However, their ultimate goal to go back to the their country has not altered since they day they came to the United States. I may call this acculturation. I am still puzzled by the way the refugee narrative works. Sometimes it shows  minority feature when they emphasize their status as refugee while they work in professional positions.

Aside from the meaning of refugee, the narrative structure tends to spend more time describing its country before the crisis takes place, then introduces their journey to the United States. It is noteworthy  that the refugees perceive the dominant culture in positive connotations which puts their acculturation process at ease. However, such acculturation does not affect their original cultural identity. When they come to America, they seem to manifest “ the American Dream” like most of the immigrant narrative: they work their  way up to the top of the socioeconomic lauder. In reality, they lead a successful life—high Academic degrees for some of them—in the hosting country, so they return to reconstruct their countries. In Beah’s memoir, for example, he spends more than half of the book describing his country’s changes from a peaceful place to an endless nightmare. Later on, he talks about his settlement. He finds similarities in his American foster mother and his tribal heritage.I hardly notice an emphasis on losing his cultural identity or having hybrid identity throughout his narrative, “ I was in awe of that fact that a white woman from across the Atlantic Ocean, who had never been to my country, knew stories so specific to my tribe and upbringing” (Beah 197). He knows already that his stay in the foster culture is a temporary situation, so he follows his teacher’s advice: “When you are in Rome, you do what they do in Rome,” an open invitation for a dual cultural identity for Beah (Beah 159). The same could be said about many Sierra Leon refugees who lived in America (http://www.refworld.org/):

If we were to assess Beah’s narrative, as well as Sierra Leone refugees’, on the immigrant stages that mentioned in http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/ , we find it follows similar stages but a different focus; many factors contribute to such complex narrative in term of acculturation. First, they were highly educated and spoke English as their second language. In other words, education and language were the main concerns in the immigrant narrative. Instead, we have them work at professional jobs like musicians, writers, and lawyers. Besides, UNICEF helped them survive when they first came to the United States. It is true that returning to Sierra Leone is the final stage in immigrant narrative. However,  Beah and Veraly are not only fetishizing their roots. They are actually going back to settle down permanently.

Sierra Leone’s historical background as post- British colony also contributes to their acculturation since they were exposed to the dominant culture in its purest form “ The British Empire”(http://www.everyculture.com/). In other words, Sierra Leone refugees are accustomed to the dominant culture as well as their own culture.  As such, they have a high possiblity of acculturation to the dominant culture. Though there is no conclusive evidence that most refugees from post- British colony countries show the same attitude, it adds more questions about their cultural identity. For me, I think their identity are already mixed with dominant culture. For example, At first I thought Veraly Williams and Ishmael Beah’s names are a form of assimilation, but their first names are already English. These small details about their narrative makes me believe that they deserve a category of their own beside the immigrant and minority narrative.

The more I search in refugee narrative, the more I am convinced that it has distinctive features that might seem similar to immigrant or minority narrative. In reality, they are different due to their immigration wave time, education, and history.

Works cited

Beah, Ishmeal. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Sarah Crichton Books. Print.

“ Ishmeal Beah”. 8 Jan. 2014.The collaborative Reporter. Host; Stephen Colbert. Web. 3 Jul.2014. http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/i292oo/ishmael-beah

“Sierra Leonean American”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004. Web. 25 Jun. 2014.

Hampton, Francesca. Countries and Their Cultures. 2014. http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Pa-Sp/Sierra-Leonean-Americans.html

veralynmedia. “View From Abroad: Dating as an Independent Woman in Sierra Leone.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 28 Jun. 2014.

Dr. White, Craig. Coursesite. Web. 5 Jul. 2014. : http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/5731im