Race, Place, and Politics: A Case Study of Resettled Refugees in Clarkston, Georgia

Session: Places to Live: Geographies of Homes and Housing
Type: Mixed Paper Session

Abstract

Discussions about U.S. migration have traditionally focused on security, policing, and enforcement. Turning instead to life after migration, this research builds on the recent work of geographers to examine the period after refugees have settled in their new homes. Using an ethnographic lens and a post-structural framework, this study focuses on Clarkston, Georgia, investigating the implications of resettlement in a new gateway city and exploring the concept of regional racial formations through interview data and content analysis. After two decades of anti-refugee sentiments produced at the local, state, and national scale, refugees within Clarkston continue to be racialized and at times, exploited, for the city’s own marketing purposes--even as they are valorized by the community and city officials. This research provides a more nuanced depiction of contemporary migration and life as a refugee in the U.S. South, underlining how discursive strategies shape refugee’s experiences of place and identity.

Authors