Accidental Sisters : Refugee Women Struggling Together for a New American Dream.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meyer, Kimberly.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women refugees--Social aspects--Texas--Houston--21st century.

Women refugees.

Women refugees--Texas--Houston--Case studies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (409 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2024.

Summary:

With a foreword by Ilhan Omar, this breathtaking work of literary nonfiction reveals the power of solidarity for women facing the inadequacies of the US immigration system. Accidental Sisters follows five refugee women in Houston, Texas, as they navigate a program for single mothers overseen by Alia Altikrity, a former refugee from Iraq. Grounded in the words of these women--Mina from Iraq, Mendy from Sudan, Sara and Zara from Syria, and Elikya from the Democratic Republic of the Congo--this book recounts their lives in their mother countries, how they were forced to flee, and their struggles to find belonging in an epicenter of refugee resettlement. Readers join author Kimberly Meyer on a journey with each woman as they experience Alia's guiding philosophy: that small, direct, meaningful acts of mutual care are the foundation for a flourishing community. While celebrating the sanctuary the women eventually find, the book critiques the US refugee resettlement program for its insistence on rapid self-sufficiency and offers an alternative American Dream rooted in sisterhood and solidarity. Immersive and intimate, Accidental Sisters inspires hope for a way forward in the face of pandemics, political inaction, and climate change.

Contents:

Intro

Imprint

Subvention

Title

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Contents

Foreword

Cast of Characters

Prelude

I. Mother Countries

1 A Handbook for Forgetting

2 Like a Woman Drowning

3 What We Lost

4 The Storm inside the Story

II. Between the Ground and Sky

5 In the Garden of Bitter Fruit

6 Haneen

7 Define "Eventually"

8 Cinderella in Jordan

9 Homeless, Tempest-Tost

III. Home

10 The Treasure of Syria

11 Translations

12 How to Build a Country

Coda

Photos

Gratitude

Note on Sources

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780520384682

0520384687

OCLC:

1395904758