Overview

"Resettled refugees in America face a land of daunting obstacles where small things--one person, one encounter--can make all the difference in getting ahead or falling behind. Fleeing war and violence, many refugees dream that moving to the United States will be like going to Heaven. Instead, they enter a deeply unequal American society, often at the bottom. Through the lived experiences of families resettled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Blair Sackett and Annette Lareau reveal how a daunting obstacle course of agencies and services can drastically alter refugees' experiences building a new life in America. In these stories of struggle and hope, as one volunteer said, ""you see the American story."" For some families, minor mistakes create catastrophes--food stamps cut off, educational opportunities missed, benefits lost. Other families, with the help of volunteers and social supports, escape these traps and take steps toward reaching their dreams. Engaging and eye-opening, We Thought It Would Be Heaven brings listeners into the daily lives of Congolese refugees and offers guidance for how activists, workers, and policymakers can help refugee families thrive."

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Blair Sackett is postdoctoral fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. She is the author of We Thought It Would Be Heaven. Annette Lareau is the Stanley I. Sheerr Professor in the sociology department at the University of Pennsylvania. A graduate of the University of California-Santa Cruz, she earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California-Berkeley. She is the author of Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education and Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, and coeditor of Social Class: How Does it Work?, Education Research on Trial, and Journeys Through Ethnography: Realistic Accounts of Fieldwork.

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