Book Review: U.S. Media and Migration-Refugee Oral Histories

Guest post by Cristina Santinho, postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Research in Anthropology CRIA-ISCTE-IUL, funded by FCT. Her current research project is entitled ‘Refugees: vulnerability, resilience and inclusion in a democratic society, in a context of socioeconomic crisis’ and centres on the Portuguese case study.

Review of U.S. Media and Migration - Refugee oral Histories by Sarah C. Bishop (Routledge, 2016).   

Through a comprehensive analysis of the narratives targeting incoming US refugees Sarah C. Bishop unveils the power and control asymmetries embedded in the US refugee system. Her work explores the range of often conflicting ways in which refugees interpret and use mediated representations of life in the United States. Her analysis is accompanied by an examination of the geographic and socio-legal trajectories of asylum seekers from their arrival in the US to the moment they secure the ability to remain in the country. The chapters, constructed around the data emerging from interviews with 74 refugees from Bhutan, Burma, Iraq, and Somalia, reflect on the influence of mediated messages of the US on the various phases of the asylum process.      

Bishop asks: Is the knowledge refugees have of the U.S. influenced by state-sponsored media? Do messages conveyed through these mechanisms help or hinder the refugees' sense of belonging when already in the US? What role do the media play in refugees' acceptance of or resistance to the perceived American norms and standards? In which way do the media produced by the state frame refugees' experiences of relocation? How do governments use media as an instrument for refugees’ integration policies?

Bishop analysed newspapers, TV programmes, movies, official guides - like Welcome to the United States: A Guide Book for Refugees -among others. These outlets tend to represent the US as an homogenous country while simultaneously depicting the refugee population through stereotypes that ignore differences of nationality, ethnicity, social or economic status, religion, life experiences or mental condition (even of those who had suffered violence and torture).

Bishop discusses the production and mobilization of particular ‘truths’ by the different media about what US society and culture allegedly are. She argues that the rhetoric present in the documents made available to refugees with the purpose of ‘helping’ them  understand the ‘true’ American society derives from an ideology anchored in two standpoints: the existence of a normalized social reality to which refugees should adapt by ‘acculturation’; and the representation of refugees as an homogeneous mass.

The author attests to the influence of media’s rhetoric about the U.S. on refugees' pre-migration narratives, which depict the country as one of the richest in the world, where life is easy and social support will be provided to those who need it. She highlights the problematic nature of the ideas promoting a highly rationalized use of time, with the concomitant dedication to work as a main factor of social ascension and individualism. The US is rarely portrayed as heterogeneous or as presenting profound social and economic contrasts. Her analysis reveals how official texts produced by the state to promote the refugees' adaptation to the hosting country depart from the assumption that refugees are ignorant and uninformed about the US and that they will inevitably conform to what they claim to be the American canons.

In line with expectations of conformity to US social norms and behaviour, Bishop outlines the interference of governmental control in the private life of refugees. That happens, for instance, by promoting periodical home inspections, guiding refugees on household tasks  such as  'keeping a bathroom clean by U.S. standards' (p.132), or how to raise their children in an appropriate – read American - way. However, Bishop's work clearly demonstrates that refugees instead of simply being passive and compliant media observers, engage in processes of cultural interpretation – not assimilation - where they select and adapt according to context and on their own account.

In providing a thorough analysis of the contrast, tension and motivations between media portrayals of life in the US and refugees' expectations of it, US Media and Migration contributes to a better understanding of reception practices and policies, but also of the different interpretations that refugees make of them. This book is a fundamental tool for academics, technicians, volunteers and anyone interested in understanding forced migration and the impact that media have on migrants and refugees' lives.

Any comments about this post? Get in touch with us! Send us an email, or post a comment here or on Facebook. You can also tweet us.

__________

How to cite this blog post (Harvard style)

Santinho, S. (2017) Book Review: U.S. Media and Migration-Refugee Oral Histories. Available at: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2017/11/book-review-us (Accessed [date])