Recommended Readings on Issues Relating to Working with Refugees
(Adapted from a volunteer manual created by Refugee Immigration Ministry located in Boston,
MA)
Baile, Gil. Violence Unveiled. New York: Crossroad, 1994. (Looks at Girard’s view of violence as an
explanation of violence in society.)
Baylis, Elena (2006) National Security and Political Asylum, The Ford Institute for Human Security
[Electronic Note] 1-19-2008. www.ridgway.pitt.edu/doc/working_papers/bayles/. This document offers
an important historical view of the use, by the U.S. government, of political asylum as a tool of foreign
policy.
Bersin, Ruth H. Healing Traumatic Memories: A Spiritual Journey. in Theological Literacy for the 21st
Century, Eerdmans, 2002
Bloom, Sandra L. Creating Sanctuary: toward the Evolution of Sane Societies. New York [u.a.:
Routledge, 1997.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters and Papers from Prison. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1953.
(Reflections on his time in a Nazi prison where he was executed.)
Borjas, George J. (1999) Heaven’s Door. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. (p. xx-xxi)
Coffin, William S. The Courage to Love. San Francisco: Harper&Row, 1984. (Sermon given on his son’s
death.)
Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred & Profane. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987.
Erikson, Erik H. Childhood and Society. New York: W.W. Norton,1963
Evans, Clayton, (2003) Rescue at Sea. quoted in Refugees Magazine No.146 Issue 4, 2007, p. 17.
Felder, Erika, Director of Department of International Protection, speech at International Conference on
the Reception and Integration of Resettled Refugees, Norrkoping, Sweden, April 25,2001. p.1. UNHCR
Figley, Charles R. Trauma and its Wake:Volume I The Study and Treatment of Traumatic Stress
Disorder. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1985
Figley, Charles R. Trauma and Its Wake Volume II Traumatic Stress Theory-Research, and Intervention.
New York:Brunner/Mazel, 1986
Finer, Jonathan and Jennifer Rikoski, (2008) “Stuck in Syria, With No Way Home.” The Washington
Post, Sunday, June 1, 2008, B02. http://washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/05/30AR200806302558_pf.html
Fishel, Rut. The Journey Within: A Spiritual Path to Recovery. Health Communications, 1987
Ghosananda, Maha. Step By Step. Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1992. (Describing his ministry
among Cambodians following the Khmer Rouge rule.)
Gibney, Matthew, (2004), The Ethics and Politics of Asylum: Liberal Democracy and the Response to
Refugees. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Gozdziak, Elzbieta and Susan F. Martin, (2005), Beyond the Gateway: Immigrants in a Changing
America. Lexington Books, Lanham, MD.
Guggenbuhl-Craig, Adolf. Power in the Helping Professions. Dallas: Spring Publications, 1986.
Gungwu, Wang, (1997) Global History and Migrations, Westview Press, Boulder, CO, pp. 9.
Hansen, Gordon (2005) “Why Does Immigration Divide America?” Institute for International Economics,
Washington, D.C. p. 3.
Herman, Judith Lewis. Trauma and Recovery. New York: Harper, 1992. (Reflections on trauma and
community response.)
Hill, Robert Allen (2007) “Courage to Choose: Refugee Resettlement.” Sermon preached at Boston
University’s Marsh Chapel of September 23, 2007. http://deahill.blogspot.com
Ingleby, David (2005) Forced Migration and Mental Health: Rethinking the Care of Refugees and
Displaced Persons. Springer, NY. p. 6-7.
Jannof-Bulman, Ronnie. Shattered Assumptions: Towards a New Psychology of Trauma. New York:
Maxmillan,1992. (Discusses ways trauma shatters the whole person.)
Johnson, Robert A. Owning Your Own Shadow. San Francisco: Harper, 1991. (How the human pysche
handles the negative side of feelings and why it is important to integrate them.)
Kennedy, Edward M.,(December 30, 2006) “We Can’t Ignore Iraq’s Refugees.” Washington Post.
www.washingtonpost.com
Kitigawa, Joseph M. American Refugee Policy. Minneapolis, NM: Winston Press, 1984.
Mollica, Richard F. Healing Invisible Wounds: Paths to Hope and Recovery in a Violent World.
Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2009.
Masud-Pilato, Felix Roberto. From Welcomed Exiles to Illegal Immigrants: Cuban Migration to the U.S.,
Rowman & Littlefield.
Nhá̂ t, Hạnh. The Miracle of Mindfulness: an Introduction to the Practice of Meditation. Boston: Beacon,
1999.
Ozick, Cynthia. The Shawl. New York, Vintage, 1990. (Artistic account of horror of the Holocaust and
the unfillable emptiness of its aftermath.)
Plaut, W. Gunther (1995) Asylum: A Moral Dilemma .Praeger, Westport,CT p.11 with reference to a
survey by Waldon Villalpando (1991), pp.35ff.
Pipher, Mary (2002) The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees enter the American Community.
Harvest Books, Orlando. pp 88-104
“Promoting Welcoming and Hospitable Communities.” http://www.unhcr/protect/
PROTECTION/417383924.pdf.
Sheehy, Gail. Spirit of Survival. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1986
Siemon-Netto, Uwe. The Aquittal of God. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2008.
Spindler, William (2007) Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Refugees,148, 4, 19-20.
Ten, Boom Corrie. Corrie Ten Boom, Her Story. New York: Inspirational, 1995.
Tribe, Rachel, (2002) “Mental Health of Refugees and Asylum-Seekers.” Advances in Psychiatric
Treatment (2002) vol. 8 pp.240-14.
Thurston, Wildreda E., & Bilkis Vissandjee (2005) “An Ecological Model for Understanding Culture as
a Determinant of Women’s Health.” Critical Public Health, September 2005: 15(3): 229-242, Routledge,
Taylor and Francis Group, Alberta Canada.
Thurston, Wilfred E., Lynn Meadows, David Este, and Amanda Acinar, (2006) :The Interplay of Gender,
Migration, Socio-Economics, and Health. The PCERII Working Paper Series, Prairie Center of
Excellence for Research on Immigration and Integration, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
http://pcerii.metropolis
The 1951 Refugee Convention: Questions & Answers (2007), UNHCR.
UNHCR, (2007) “2006 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Returness, Internally Displaced and
Stateless Persons.” Division of Operational Services Field Information and Coordination Support
Section; Revised July 2007.
UNHCR, World’S Refugees 2006, 33.
Ulman Richard B. And Doris Brothers. The Shattered Self. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press, 1988
UNHCR issued a revised version of the 10-Point Plan in January 2007. See “Refugee Protection and
Mixed Migration: A 10-Point Plan of Action,” Rev. 1 January 2007 Available in Arabic, English, French,
German, Spanish and Russian.
Uprety, Kedar, Uma Basnet, and Dil Rimal (1999) “A Study on Needs of Asylum-Seekers/Refugees for
Early Intervention.” Auckland Refugee Council, Inc.,
(http://www.refugee.org.na/Comment/council2.htm) p. 2-3.
Quoted from US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, World Refugee Survey 2005 Warehousing:
inventory of refugee rights, 2005 Washington DC: US committee for Refugees and Immigrants, 2005.
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, Migration Information Source
p.3. http://www.migrationinformation.org/USfocus/display.cfm?id=229.
Van Arsdale, Peter W. (2006), Forced to Flee: Human Rights and Human Wrongs in Refugee
Homelands. Lexington Books, Lanham, MD.
Van der Kolk, Bessel A., Psychological Trauma. Washington, D.C,. American Psychiatric Press, Inc.,
1987.
Van der Kolk, Bessel A. and S. McFarlane and L. Weiseth, Editors. Traumatic Stress. New York, The
Guilford Press, 1996.
Related Sites
InterAction Members: the following refugee-related organizations have their own Web sites; for
other members of InterAction's Committee on Migration and Refugee Affairs.
American Refugee Committee
CWS Immigration and Refugee Program
International Rescue Committee
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Refugees International
US Committee for Refugees
U.S. Catholic Conference Migration and Refugee Service
World Relief
UN/Government Sites:
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
An introduction to refugee issues, along with photos, maps, teaching guides, news updates and
more.
RefWorld:
Authoritative info from UNHCR, including country reports, legal and policy-related documents
and literature references.
The Migration Page:
A comprehensive site maintained by the International Organization for Migration, an
intragovernmental body involved in all aspects of global migration, including refugees.
Office for Refugee Resettlement:
Domestic refugee resettlement program to provide assistance and services to refugees resettling
in the U.S. - this site indexes ORR regulations, information on welfare reform, and Medicaid
information.
US Government: The PRM Page:
The State Department's Population, Refugees and Migration Bureau, which formulates US policy
and administers US refugee assistance and refugee admissions programs.
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS):
The INS of the Department of Justice is responsible for implementing immigration policy in the
United States.
The Refugee Network:
A wealth of information and links organized by a graduate student studying refugee resettlement
and adaptation.
Forced Migration Projects:
Addresses forced migration in the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia and the
Caribbean. A project of George Soros's Open Society Institute.
The Refugee Studies Center:
An interdisciplinary program at the University of Minnesota. Check out their "Refugee Review"
newsletter.
Refugee Studies Programme, Oxford University:
A vast, searchable database of this program's Documentation Centre makes this site a
researcher's dream.
Refugee Service Center:
A program of the Center for Applied Linguistics, the RSC provides support to refugee programs
and prepares publications for refugee service providers and newly arriving immigrants.
Amnesty International, "Refugee" Campaign:
A national campaign initiated by Amnesty International to generate awareness of why refugees
flee.
Refugee News:
A web site dedicated to news about refugees and asylum seekers and their problems.
Publications
The Journal of Refugee Studies
A quarterly journal, published by Oxford University Press, focusing on refugee research, policies
and practice.
The International Journal of Refugee Law
Another quarterly journal from Oxford, this one relating to national and international legal
issues. The Times of London calls it "one of the key source materials in the field of refugee
protection".
Refugee Survey Quarterly
Produced by the UNHCR's Centre for Documentation on Refugees, and published by Oxford,
this is an authoritative source on current refugee and country information.
Audiovisuals on Refugees
ABANDONED: The Betrayal of America’s Immigrants
(56 minutes, 2001)
This film explores the detention of immigrants and is the best resource to date for recruiting
support in congregations and community organizations.
BEYOND HUNGER
(17 minutes - FILM, VHS, 3/4 - level H to A, 1982)
This program presents a close-up of the hardship and bitterness of life in a refugee camp. This
particular refugee camp is found in Somali Republic, an independent republic on the East coast
of Africa, formed from the former British Somaliland and the former Italian Somaliland. Food
supplies are often erratic, and sometimes this life-sustaining nourishment comes too late. Some
of the refugees may be beyond hunger and are suffering from illnesses which are life-threatening
to individuals in such a weakened state. This audiovisual is a good hunger education resource.
Not only will it teach children about the problems others face but it will also help them to
appreciate their own lives.
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: HELPING A HURTING WORLD
(26 minutes - VHS - level M to A, 1994)
Originally broadcast on the VISN television cable channel on the Faith and Values network June
27, 1994, this program features Rwanda, Haiti, Cambodia, and Cuba. The program begins in
Rwanda, where violence has extracted a tremendous toll in human life. It includes dramatic
footage from the Ngara Refugee camp in Tanzania to which a quarter of a million Rwandan
refugees have fled. The program next goes to Haiti, where people are suffering under a cruel
dictatorship and embargo. Interviewed is a Haitian refugee who fled his country out of fear for
his life. The program continues to Cambodia, where Church World Service had been at work for
the past 15 years and where people are regaining self-sufficiency after years of repression. The
final segment is on Cuba, where an embargo had caused severe shortages of essential medicines
and other supplies. Church World Service has recently sent nearly 100 tons of medicines and
food to the Cuban Ecumenical Council. The program concludes with a music video on hope,
Child of the Universe.
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: JOURNEY TO GOMA
(26 minutes - VHS - level H to A, 1994)
Journey with a married doctor-nurse team to Goma, Zaire, where hundreds of thousands of
refugees from Rwanda are working to rebuild their lives. Also, go to Cambodia, where Church
World Service was one of the first agencies to provide assistance following the regime of Pol
Pot, and then to Haiti, a country which is struggling, with the churches' assistance, to emerge
from oppression, violence, and great poverty. Cleared for TV broadcast.
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: JOURNEY TO HOPE
(26 minutes - VHS, 3/4" - level M to A, 1993)
Fleeing the fighting in Sudan, a group of 21,000 refugee boys trekked across miles of African
desert to find safety in the Kakuma Refugee camp in Kenya. This video, which aired in July of
1993 on the VISN cable network, visits this unique camp and talks with Church World Service
Africa Office Director Willis Logan and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Week of
Compassion Director Johnny Wray about what is being done there to help. Also, travel to
southern Lebanon to see the rebuilding that is going on there after the war and hear from Middle
East Office Director Dale Bishop and Church Women United Director Patricia Rumer. Cleared
for TV broadcast.
FAMILIES FLEEING WAR
(15 minutes - VHS - level M to A, 1989)
Filipino families who are being forced to flee military and vigilante violence share their stories.
Christians are encouraged to stay informed and to make their opinions known.
FROM A DARK HOUSE TO ONE FILLED WITH LIGHT: A REFUGEE JOURNEY TO
SOMALIA
(20 minutes - Film/VHS - level M to A, 1984) War, drought, refugees: An emergency situation
in the Horn of Africa. Church World Service-assisted development efforts at Ali Matan Camp
enabled refugees to learn to care for their own needs, present and future. Cleared for TV
broadcast.
MAKE A LITTLE DIFFERENCE
(13 Minutes - VHS - Age level: Upper Elementary School to Adults, 1993)
Through the cases, voices, and stories of uprooted children all over the world, this video
introduces the harsh reality of refugees to North American children. Featured are 13-year-old
Vietnamese refugees in Thailand. Despite the difficult conditions under which these children
live, the video is inspirational in its equally positive images of the children's lives.
REFUGEES IN OUR BACKYARD
(58 minutes - VHS- level H to A, 1989)
The unprecedented flow of people out of Central America, the root causes underlying this
movement, and the controversies surrounding the arrival of so many undocumented individuals
into the United States is the focus of this video. It reviews the obstacles faced by Central
Americans seeking entry into the United States, and the problems this migration has created for
much of the nation.
SANCTUARY: A QUESTION OF CONSCIENCE
(25 minutes - FILM, VHS - level M to A, 1986)
Who is a refugee and what does it mean to provide refuge? Beginning with the Refugee Act of
1980, this film answers those questions by examining the plight of Central American refugees.
Support, protection, and advocacy are the areas in which sanctuary-providers minister. The
refugees, while often needing to maintain their anonymity, are anxious to let people in the U.S.
know what is happening in their home countries--often with U.S. complicity. Includes interviews
with several of the sanctuary movement's better known members.