Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Since the Iraq war, the Middle East has been in continuous upheaval, resulting in the displacement of millions of people. Arriving from Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, and Syria in other parts of the world, the refugees show remarkable resilience and creativity amidst profound adversity. Through careful ethnography, this book vividly illustrates how refugees navigate regimes of exclusion, including cumbersome bureaucracies, financial insecurities, medical challenges, vilifying stereotypes, and threats of violence. The collection bears witness to their struggles, while also highlighting their aspirations for safety, settlement, and social inclusion in their host societies and new homes.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Inhorn (Yale Univ.) and Volk (San Francisco State Univ.) draw on their dual academic groundings in anthropology and international relations to provide a comprehensive collection on refugees from the Middle East, especially Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, and Syrians. Tight editorial control of the length, tone, and structure of the chapters produces a sweeping view of Middle Eastern refugees as they move through the Middle East, Western Europe, and, to a lesser extent, North America. The book benefits enormously from a dual focus on the inclusion and exclusion of refugees throughout their travels. Rather than simply provide a critique of the many ways refugees are excluded, the volume also explores the ways refugees are included--if only partially--and how they utilize such inclusionary options in proactive ways. This book is especially vital for North American readers in showing the breadth and complexity of Middle Eastern refugee flows, the widely varying ways that different countries respond to them, and the limitations and options of the refuge sought and sometimes found. Though attention to Canada and the US is limited, the focus on health issues is valuable, especially for highlighting the physical and social barriers that refugee women confront. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty; professionals. --David W. Haines, emeritus, George Mason University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Marcia C. Inhorn is William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at Yale University, where she is Chair of the Council on Middle East Studies. Her most recent publications include America's Arab Refugees: Vulnerability and Health on the Margins (Stanford, 2018) and The New Arab Man: Emergent Masculinities, Technologies, and Islam in the Middle East (Princeton, 2012).