Jennifer Erickson (second from left) with women from the South Sudan Women’s Empowerment Network in Juba, South Sudan, August 2008. The group was visiting the grave of fallen hero and former President of South Sudan, Dr. John Garang.
“What happens when white, ethnically Muslim refugees from a once-strong paternalist, socialist state like Bosnia-Herzegovina come to the United States, where economic self-sufficiency is the ultimate goal? How do Black, Christian Southern Sudanese—many of whom had little experience with running water, electricity, cold weather, or bureaucratic government—fare in Fargo?”
These are some of the questions Jennifer Erickson poses in her doctoral dissertation, which looks at “Methods of Integration, Accommodation, and Resistance Among Refugees and Social Service Providers in Fargo, North Dakota.”
A Ph.D. candidate in the University of Oregon Department of Anthropology, Jennifer Erickson received the 2009 Jane Grant Dissertation Fellowship from the Center for the Study of Women in Society. Her research is the subject of two recent media stories.
“Studying Fargo” July 8, 2010, Minnesota Public Radio
“From the War Zone to Fargo” by Marc Dadigan
Culture trumps race as refugees integrate into a Midwestern town
Spring 2010 issue of Cascade magazine.
