Grounded: Stories of Refugee Resettlement in Vermont

Date of Completion

2018

Document Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Geography

Thesis Type

College of Arts and Science Honors, Honors College

First Advisor

Pablo Bose

Second Advisor

Cheryl Morse

Third Advisor

Jonah Steinberg

Keywords

refugee, refugees, refugee resettlement, stories, storytelling, vermont, refuge, Chittenden County, podcast, audio

Abstract

More research needs to be done to understand the effect of federal refugee resettlement policies that place refugees in small to mid-sized cities instead of traditional gateway cities like New York and Chicago. There is a lack of research on the effect these resettlement changes have had on refugees, supporting organizations, and local communities that welcome them. The questions I hope to answer through my research include: How can the personal narratives of refugees, agency workers, and members of the general public expand our notion of refugee resettlement? How can we better integrate refugees into communities by knowing more about their personal histories? How can we humanize/bring broader understanding to the issue of refugee resettlement through the use of storytelling and podcasting?

My research findings culminate in an oral thesis titled: Grounded: stories of Refugee Resettlement in Vermont. This podcast is comprised of a series of podcast episodes that follow different themes I have found in my research. I have analyzed 16, hour long interviews along such themes as initial arrival, dependence & independence, acculturation, and citizenship which form the basis for each episode of the podcast. This podcast makes the refugee experience accessible to the public at a time of critical understanding.

Comments

You can also listen to the podcast on itunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/grounded/id1370599457?mt=2

Or on the website:

http://blog.uvm.edu/tremerle/

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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