Unsettling Resettlement: Problematizing “Lost Boys of Sudan” Resettlement and Identity

Employment: A Significant Indicator of Socio-Economic Upward Mobility for the Lost Boys Living in the Kansas City Area

“…This participant said: The third group: This group was composed of 10 participants who possessed some education and working skills accrued from Africa. McKinnon would consider the resettlement of this third group of participants as "successful" because they secured employment and enrolled in higher institutions of learning (colleges) [45]. Although their English was not fluent, they were able to adapt to American English.…”

“…According to federal regulations, economic self-sufficiency is defined as "the total earnings of a family that enables it to support itself without external financial assistance" [44]. Sara McKinnon contends that the resettlement program for the Lost Boys in the U.S. was one of the most successful ever in U.S. history, given that nearly all the Boys who were legal adults at the time of their resettlement got employed [45]. The Office of Refugee Resettlement published the employment percentage of the Lost Boys at 85%; whereas, that rate was 55% for other refugees in the U.S. in 2003.…”

That will be your home : Resettlement preparations for children and youth from the Horn of Africa

“…Through observations at a so-called "lost boys center" and interviews with the Sudanese men regarding their experiences of resettlement, McKinnon (2008) critically examines the "lost boys of Sudan" experiences in resettlement where she shows how they negotiate the discursive positioning of them. McKinnon argues for the need to understand the formation of the young men's identities in relation to the discourses that constitute resettle-ment where she discusses some ambivalences of the label "refugee" and "lost boy".…”

“…In 2000-2001, approximately 3,600 children and youth in Sudan were resettled to the US, consisting of boys and young men who had experienced the civil war in Sudan resulting in separation from their parents (Luster et al 2008). These boys received attention upon their resettlement, where several interview studies have been carried out focusing on their experiences both before resettlement as well as in the new country (McKinnon 2008;Luster et al 2008;Luster et al 2009;Robins 2003;Bolea et al 2003;Goodman 2004). For example, in her interview study with 14 young Sudanese boys aged 16-18, Goodman (2004) highlights their strategies of dealing with loss and trauma in pursuit of a better life in the US.…”

‘If I Die here, I’m a Hero!’ On Masculinity and Vulnerability Among Male Asylum Seekers

“…In her study on the the visual representations of refugees in publications of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Johnson (2011) illustrates how the dominant image of the Cold war heroic white male refugee ready to fight for Western political values while jumping from a plane was replaced by the voiceless woman from the Global South, always pictured with a child, beneath the caption 'Click to donate' (Johnson 2011). The feminization and racialization of the refugee category, far from being a means to empower refugee women, has instead strategically coincided with the depoliticisation of the refugee clientele (Johnson 2011) to depict refugees as a mere object of assistance in need of advocacy groups and aid providers to speak on their behalf (McKinnon 2008). The suffering body (Fassin 2001) of the 'genuine refugee' is exposed to the eyes of the Western public as the epitome of the non-threatening subject, to answer the spectre of 36 difference posited by the refugees' condition of otherness (Johnson 2011).…”