This is just the book we need right now. It will draw you in and hold you, from the first word to the last. It is so much more than a historical glossary. It is a reminder that words have power. They create the world around us. Each word in this book is an offering, a reclamation, a seed of liberation.
Jennifer Gugliemo, author of Living the Revolution: Italian Womens Resistance and Radicalism in New York City, 18801945
Rachel Ida Buffs A is for Asylum Seeker is a marvelously conceived, highly relevant, and eminently readable abecedary that confronts our growing inability to recognize the humanity of people forcibly displaced from their homes. In this book, Buff is not only exploring the lexicon of displacement but is also building a language of resistance to the dehumanization of migrants worldwide, and that itself is a feat almost beyond mere words.
Moustafa Bayoumi, author of How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America
Deeply needed at this moment, A is for Asylum Seeker / A de Asilo bilingually doubles a clear and concise alphabet of keywords that echo both the histories of dispossession of indigenous peoples and the multiple flows of humanity seeking safety now. In the post-1965 tradition of socially engaged practice, this book blurs the borders of scholarship, literature, and activism, refusing to narrow or presuppose its audience or genre.
Ricardo Dominguez and Amy Sara Carroll, members of Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0, the artivist collective that developed the Transborder Immigrant Tool
Words matter. Political conflict often drives changes in their meaning. In this brilliant work of activist scholarship, Rachel Buff provides a primer on the changing meanings of words shaping todays debates. Advocates for a new vocabulary supporting the human right to move more freely will want to build on her firm foundation.
Donna Gabaccia, Professor Emerita, University of Toronto
A clear and concise A to Z of keywords that echo our current human rights crisis
As millions are forced to leave their nations of origin because of political, economic, and environmental peril, rising racism and xenophobia have led to increasingly harsh policies. A mass-mediated political circus obscures both histories of migration and longstanding definitions of words for people on the move, fomenting widespread linguistic confusion. Under this circus tent, there is no regard for history, legal advocacy, or jurisprudence. Yet in a world where the differences between undocumented migrant and asylum seeker can mean life or death, words have weighty consequences.
A timely antidote to this circus, A is for Asylum Seeker reframes key words that describe people on the move. Written to correct the de-meaning of terms by rhetoric and policies based on dehumanization and profitable incarceration, this glossary provides an intersectional and historically grounded consideration of the words deployed in inflamed debate. Skipping some letters of the alphabet while repeating others, thirty terms cover everything from Asylum seeker to Zero Tolerance Policy. Each entry begins with a contemporary or historical story for illustration and then proceeds to discuss the language politics of the word. The book balances terms affected by current political debatessuch as migrant, refugee, and illegal alienand terms that offer historical context to these controversies, such as fugitive, unhoused, and vagrant.
Rendered in both English and Spanish, this book offers a unique perspective on the journeys, histories, challenges, and aspirations of people on the move. Enhancing the books utility as an educational and organizing resource, the author provides a list of works for further reading as well as a directory of immigration advocacy organizations throughout the United States.
Un claro y breve abecedario de palabras clave que hacen eco en nuestra crisis humanitaria presente.
Mientras millones son forzados de huir de sus naciones de origen debido a peligro poltico, econmico, y ecolgico, racismo y xenofobia han llevado a polticas ms y ms severas. Un circo poltico en los medios oculta a ambas las historias de inmigracin y las definiciones antiguas de palabras para personas en movimiento, creando confusin lingstica amplia. Bajo esta carpa de circo, no hay consideracin para historia, defensa legal, o jurisprudencia. Pero en un mundo donde las diferencias entre migrante indocumentade y solicitante de asilo pueden ser la diferencia entre vida y muerte, palabras tienen consecuencias graves.
Un antdoto oportuno a este circo, A de Asilo re-enmarca palabras claves que describen a personas en movimiento. Escrito para corregir la de-significacin de trminos por retrica y polticas basadas en deshumanizacin y encarcelacin lucrosa, este glosario provee una consideracin interseccional e histrica de las palabras usadas en debate inflamado. Brincando a unas letras del alfabeto mientras repite a otras, treinta trminos cubren todo desde Asilo a Tolerancia Cero. Cada artculo empieza con una historia contempornea u histrica para ilustrar, y despus discute la poltica alrededor de la palabra. El libro balancea trminos impactados por debates polticos contemporneoscomo migrante, refugiado y extranjero ilegaly trminos que ofrecen contexto histrico a estas controversias, como fugitivo sin casa y vagante.
Escrito en ingls y espaol, este libro ofrece una perspectiva nica en las jornadas, historias, retos, y aspiraciones de personas en movimiento. Aumentando la utilidad del libro como un recurso educacional y organizacional, la autora provee una lista de obras para ms lectura, igual que un directorio de organizaciones de defensa de inmigrantes a travs de los Estados Unidos.
A IS FOR ASYLUM SEEKER
A DE ASILO
Art by Micah Bazant in collaboration with Centro Legal de la Raza, Forward Together, and New American Story Project
A IS FOR ASYLUM SEEKER
WORDS FOR PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
A DE ASILO
PALABRAS PARA PERSONAS EN MOVIMIENTO
RACHEL IDA BUFF
SPANISH TRANSLATION
BY ALEJANDRA OLIVA
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY PRESSNEW YORK2020
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Printed in the United States of America
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First edition
To the generations walking in caravans, riding in dangerous boats, waiting in makeshift quarters, living in the shadows for fear of deportation, enduring detention and family separation in ghettos, detention centers, and concentration camps around the world:
