Jon D. Holtzman - Nuer Journeys, Nuer Lives

Second Edition

First published 2008, 2000 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright 2008, 2000 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 9780205543328 (pbk)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Holtzman, Jon.
Nuer journeys, Nuer lives: Sudanese refugees in
Minnesota / by Jon D. Holtzman. 2nd ed.
p. cm. (New immigrants series)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-205-54332-8
ISBN-10: 0-205-54332-4

1. Sudanese AmericansMinnesotaSocial life and customs. 2. Nuer
African people)MinnesotaSocial life and customs. 3. Refugees
Minnesota. 4. SudanEmigration and immigration. 5. Minnesota
Emigration and immigration. I. Title.

Dedication

To Samuel Holtzman
For his journey, and his life in an unfamiliar land.

T he United States is now in the midst of the largest wave of immigration in the nation's history. Recent immigrants from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean are changing the American ethnic landscape.

Since the late 1960s, America has, once again, become a country of large-scale immigration, the vast majority coming from Asia, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. The number of foreign-born is at an all-time high: an estimated 35 million immigrants were living in the United States in 2005. Although immigrants are a smaller share of the nation's population than they were at the beginning of the twentieth century12 percent in 2005 compared to 15 percent in 1910recent immigrants are having an especially dramatic impact because their geographic concentration is so great. Despite the increasing dispersal of immigrants since the 1990s, six statesCalifornia, New York, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, and Illinoisstill accounted for two-thirds of the immigrant population in 2005. Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Washington, D.C. are, increasingly, immigrant cities with new ethnic mixes. And it is not just America's major urban centers that are experiencing immigrant inflows. Many smaller cities and towns also have growing immigrant populations.

Who are the new immigrants? What are their lives like here? How are they redefining themselves and their cultures? And how are they contributing to a new and changing America? The New Immigrants Series provides a set of case studies that explores these themes among a variety of groups. The books in the series are written by recognized experts who have done extensive in-depth research on particular immigrant groups. The groups represent a broad range of today's arrivals, coming from a variety of countries and cultures. The studies, based on research done in different parts of the country, cover a wide geographical range, from New York to California.

The books in the series are, first and foremost, ethnographies. All draw on qualitative research that shows what it means to be an immigrant in America today. As part of each study, individual immigrants tell their stories, which helps give a sense of the experiences and problems of the newcomers. Through the case studies, a dynamic picture emerges of the way immigrants are carving out new lives for themselves at the same time as they are creating a new and more diverse America.

Ethnographic case studies provide a depth often lacking in research on immigrants in the United States. Moreover, many of the authors in the New Immigrants Series have done research in the country of origin as well as in the United States. Having field experience at both ends of the migration chain makes ethnographers particularly sensitive to the role of transnational ties that link immigrants to their home societies. Firsthand experience of immigrants in their home cultures also enables ethnographers to appreciate continuities as well as changes in the immigrant setting.

Given immigrants' important and ever-growing presence in American society, it becomes more crucial than ever to learn about their experiences and to hear their voices. The case studies in the New Immigrants Series will help readers understand the cultures and lives of the newest Americans and bring out the complex ways that recent immigrants are coming to terms with and creatively adapting to life in a new land.

NANCY FONER
Series Editor

T here are many people and institutions who have played an important role in making this book possible. The research on which this book was based was generously funded by a Postdoctoral Fellowship of the International Migration Program of the Social Science Research Council, with funds provided by the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Additional funding for the research was provided through a research grant from the Minnesota Historical Society.

I would like to thank the many Nuer who have inspired this work, and who have made it possible by letting me into their homes and their lives. I would like to give particular thanks to Dobuol Deng, whose friendship and formal assistance throughout the project were integral to its success. I would also like to thank the many Minnesotans from churches, social services, and the local community who have helped me in this project, and who have generously shared their experiences in working with the Nuer.

Nancy Foner has been integral to the completion of this book, from her first suggestion that I write it through her careful and thoughtful editing. Douglas Johnson's help with photographic sources is greatly appreciated, as is the help of Wal and Julia Duany. Sharon Hutchinson's comments on a related manuscript were extremely useful in putting into focus contemporary Nuer life in Sudan, and the changes which have occurred in Minnesota. Various colleagues, particularly Sarah Hill, have made very useful suggestions for changes and additions to this new edition. This book also would not have been possible without the diffuse support of Bilinda Straight, not to mention her careful and repeated reading of the manuscript. Without the friendship and hospitality afforded me by the Samburu during research in Kenya, I might never have been so eager to make contact with the Nuer community in Minnesota, and they deserve repeated thanks. I wish to thank my parents, Jordan and Joyce Holtzman, for everything they have done for me. Finally, there is the joy which Clare Rose Straight Holtzman has provided in devoting much of her first three years to her father's anthropological research.