WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE HEAVEN, refugees in an unequal America

289pp., paperback, University of California Press, Oakland, 2023

ISBN: 9780520379053

A portrait of the experiences of refugee families from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in their initial years in the USA.

"Fleeing the deadliest wars since World War II, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo were the top nationality group resettled in the United States from 2014 to 2022. Blair Sackett and Annette Lareau follow forty-four Congolese families who came to America thinking it 'would be heaven', but instead have encountered a bare-bones and hollowed-out resettlement infrastructure, not to mention a bewildering and disconnected maze of American financial, educational, social, and legal institutions that, built upon the twin logics of cost-cutting and racialized surveillance, presents hurdle after bureaucratic hurdle to block their progress. Only with the most committed of cultural brokers and institutional advocates do a few of these families manage to get ahead. We Thought It Would Be Heaven is a must-read for anyone looking for an understanding of the dismal state of US refugee admissions and for fresh ideas on what can be done to improve the outcomes." Helen B. Marrow, Associate Professor of Sociology, Tufts University

"This beautifully written but heartrending book tells what happens when refugees needing rescue from violence come to America. Instead of security, the refugees encounter a resettlement system that leaves the promise of humanitarianism unfulfilled and pushes them into the ranks of the unprotected working poor." Roger Waldinger, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, University of California, LA

Blair Sackett is Postdoctoral Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
 
Annette Lareau is Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Unequal Childhoods and Home Advantage.