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Title: The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community by Mary Pipher ISBN: 0-15-602737-2 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: The Muddle of Everywhere
Comment: For those who still believe that the forced (We voted on this WHEN?) conversion of the America into a "multicultural," ever-less-European caldron of aggravated grievances and simmering sensibilities remains limited to places like Los Angeles and New York, they should read clinical psychologist Mary Pipher's glowing account of the "transformation" of Lincoln, Nebraska. Lincoln is Pipher's hometown, one of the quiet American towns targeted by the U.S Office of Refugee Resettlement as a "preferred community for newly arrived refugees."
One of the difficult problems Pipher had growing up in Nebraska was that her "state's identity over the last 150 years has been mainly European." As a child Mary would wistfully play the "globe game," spinning a world globe, pointing her finger at some random spot, and imagining what wonders she would encounter there. Later she was increasingly torn: Travel to some exotic locale, or remain in monotonous old Lincoln, which many derided as 'the middle of nowhere'? But now, thanks to her government's refugee-immigration policies, the fun globe game has come to Mary Pipher!
Today, Pipher admits, when long-time residents of Lincoln drive down their quiet streets and see the same houses and trees, they are unaware that their town is becoming drastically altered. We will soon have a "brown Nebraska," and this is "happening nationwide," rejoices the "Irish-English" Mary Pipher. For, "We are becoming a richer curry of peoples."
Now Pipher looks at sections of her once dreary hometown and is happily reminded of the exciting colorfulness of "East Harlem" or "Bangkok." And, luckily for her, "where cultures collide [as in Iraq?] is the best vantage point for observing human resilience."
Pipher has "always loved Culture and Personality studies and now," she writes, "I can be an anthropologist in my own town." Yes, at last, Pipher can visit the public schools in Lincoln and find "children from fifty different nationalities who speak thirty-two languages."
Someone might easily write another, equally voluminous book, a handy companion to this one, entitled "The Incredibly Obvious Things that Never Occur to Dr. Mary Pipher."
Pipher interviews three refugee Muslim brothers who are in tears describing how terribly American men treat American women, a sort of "mirror image" of how American men view Muslim men's treatment of Muslim women. Yes, it is undoubtedly painful for immigrants to live in a culture they see as sinful. What is completely lost on Pipher is that this is exactly why it has made sense historically for people of drastically different cultures to live in separate nations.
Also, one of the things that Pipher loves most about Nebraska is that it is a "vast farm and ranch state." In fact, the "state's best feature is our population density." That refugees and other immigrants continually flowing into Nebraska, many with historically high birthrates, will eventually bring staggering population growth, pollution, crime and all the other urban ills to her beloved sparsely-populated state never seems to penetrate the otherwise infinitely sensitive and psychologically nuanced mind of Mary Pipher.
Different refugees, we read, prefer to live among themselves, since they can help each other cope. Sometimes interviewing refugees can be tricky. There are "highly charged political and personal questions" and "Religion and politics are danger zones." In fact, "Everything is more complex than it seems." Gosh, no kiddin' Mare?
So what will happen when large sections of America are splintered among these very different cultures, and they all start contending for power over these "highly-charged" issues? Another question left unconsidered by Dr. Pipher.
Sometimes these lapses in cognition are so extreme that it is difficult to see them as innocent.
"Globalization will change everything forever." Racially and culturally the world is becoming a cozy "bowl of salt and pepper." Oh really? Is China becoming less ethnically Chinese?" Mexico less Hispanic? Why is this "salt and pepper" paradise only thought to be beneficial for traditionally white nations?
Don't ask. On this question too, sorry, the Doctor cannot see you now.
One of the strengths of this book, however, is its humor, no matter how unintended. What we are witnessing today is the slow 'unfurling' of the 'unity of mankind.' [Okay, I'll try to remember that when I'm watching the nightly TV body count.] Now it is time for us to "see our common humanity and blow each other a kiss of welcome."
It is tempting to laugh at these things, but it is always chilling to see how easily pious, high-minded utopianism can slither down into evil consequences.
Pipher writes that some Nebraskans just want to be 'left alone." But, No way, says the compassionate grandmotherly psychotherapist, because now "nobody gets to be left alone," which is the "great lesson" of 9/11. "Either we all are safe or none of us is safe." How sweet.
Besides, Americans are so "protected" that they know almost nothing about the rest of the world. Pipher tells us that some refugees are unaware that the word is round, or can't find the United States on a world map, but Americans are suppose to feel like insensitive dolts because they don't know, for example, that they "should not touch a Vietnamese child on the head." In a world of hundreds of cultures? What a double standard!
Even Pipher concedes that refugees "range from saints to psychopaths." But why should we take in psychopaths? Because--forget about Washington, Jefferson, or the moon landing--"the central fact for American identity" is that "we take people in."
Tragically, the very thing that Lincoln, Nebraska was accused of being, it was not, but is now becoming. It was once the middle of a strong and cherished culture. It was at the very heart of somewhere. Now Pipher almost swoons when she describes the colorful "diversity" of a downtown park, with women in hijabs next to women in tank tops, and so on. But a nation is not a costume ball, nor is it a bizarre anthropological experiment. Only now is Lincoln becoming "the middle of nowhere."
Rating: 2
Summary: The Plight of Refugees in a magnificent piece
Comment: The convergence of a fascinating and easy to follow narrative with a serious discussion of a theme of world proportions is seldom found in literature. Best seller author Mary Phipher met the challenge of writing with from the perspective of a health professional and a human being who exhibits compassion for a "people group," the refugee population.
The book describes Phipher's involvement in what I will call in theological terms, a ministry of care for other human beings, the refugees who have moved to Lincoln, Nebraska. It is poignant to read that she finished the manuscript on September 10, 2001 at the eve of the great disaster those of us living in New York experienced in what has been popularized as 9/11.
The book is presented in three symmetrical parts, each containing four chapters, and a Coda. Part One: "Hidden in Plain Sight" describes the unusual collisions of the culture of Lincoln, Nebraska, in the heartland of the nation, with the arrival of refugees from different countries of the world. Part Two: "Refugees across the Life Cycle," narrates Phipher's involvement with different "age groups" of the refugee population--children, youth, young adults, and families--
including social work, relief, counseling, and mentoring
Part Three: "The Alchemy of Healing--Turning Pain into Meaning," discusses specific case studies of selected groups of refugees who have suffered through wars, famines, ethnic cleansing, and displacement. It analyzes the stories and reactions of those who are finding healing and a new life in the community.
Chapters 11 and 12 were of significant help to this writer. Phipher deals with a case study of counseling and presents significant conclusions related to the challenges refugees face in their attempts to adapt to a new culture. She discusses in depth topics like choice and identity, the role of "home," what refugees can teach us about adaptation, and what the health professions need to face in dealing with persons in trauma whose cultural presuppositions are different from a "Western" approach to therapy. The section of chapter 12 "Just Plain Ignorance," (JPI) outlines ten stereotypes the general population has about refugees.
"Coda: We're All Here Now," and an Appendix provide helpful tools of "How to" for persons interested in ministering to refugees.
This writer has had emotional, intellectual and ministry connection with refugees. Ministering to Cuban, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Salvadoran refugees in Texas during the 1970s and 80s, I entered into the narrative of the book as an active participant. I was reminded by the case studies of the pain, suffering, loneliness, and challenges facing refugees. It was also good to remember the multiple acts of kindness, mercy, grace, and love practiced by church members who took the challenge of the Old Testament injunction to "welcoming the stranger in your midst."
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) classifies a refugee as a person fleeing a frontier and eligible to receive international protection. For these, an estimated 13-15 million, the agency has a mandate for assistance.
The "internally displaced persons" (IDPs) are those who are displaced in their own country and for whom assistance is more problematic. The UNHCR does not have a mandate to assist the estimated 20-25 million of IDPs, but about 6.4 million are helped. Estimates of the largest number of IDPs are in Sudan (4 million), Angola (2.3 million), Congo (1.8 million), Colombia (1.5 million), Eritrea (1.1 million), and Afghanistan (956,600).
Present and future wars will add to these overwhelming numbers. Western nations fearing terrorism are limiting the entry of many victims of persecution and ethnic cleansing, and refugees who flee seeking religious, political and economic freedom.
Those in ministry of mercy and grace working with refugees, internationals, migrants, and other foreign born persons can profit immensely by reading this book. Although the book is directed to the general population, I would recommend it for use as required reading for classes in pastoral ministry or social work.
Rating: 5
Summary: the world comes to your town
Comment: Mary Pipher's "The Middle of Everywhere" is a marvelously wise book that encompasses the tales of people of many lands who come to Lincoln, Nebraska, and her personal story as a "cultural broker" who appreciates and respects them. The world has come to my town, also. Pipher writes, "Most of my friends were of European background. As I've made friends with people of Mideastern, Latino, African, and Southeast Asia backgrounds, I've changed a great deal. I've stopped seeing myself as a member of a majority culture. Instead, I see myself as a member of a world culture that flourishes in my hometown." That has been my experience exactly.
Especially interesting is her chapter on how American-style psychotherapy is not the method many of the refugee peoples use to heal from past traumas. She quotes a saying of her mother's: "There are three cures for all human pain and all involve salt--the salt of tears, the salt of sweat from hard work, and the salt of the great open seas." (She points out that, while once she interpreted the "seas" as an escape from family or memory, now she sees it as the beauty of the natural world.)
Pipher believes that young people adjusting to the American lifestyle should carefully choose to incorporate the best of their cultural heritage with the best of what America offers. (The pervasive media advertising and marketing, and all types of sleaze, for example, should be rejected. Family and community, shared meals, fun, love and laughter, should be cherished.) She celebrates the energy and the optimism of these newest Americans.
In a carefully reasoned discussion, she upholds the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and firmly maintains we are not practicing cultural bias when we seek to implant these basic rights all over the world.
Hats off to Mary Pipher, one of our own culture's wise women, a down-to-earth midwesterner who eats a lot of pie, and a world citizen whose heart is open to all. This book may stir you to become a cultural broker yourself, and you'll find your life enriched beyond measure. This book deserves the highest recommendation.
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