Refugees in New Destinations and Small Cities

‘From a politics of hospitality but also backlash to a nuanced analysis of cultural politics and the race question, Bose deftly examines refugee resettlement in Vermont in both local and global contexts. Refugee resettlement is usually an urban phenomenon. Newcomers’ narratives of arrival in the largely rural state of Vermont are juxtaposed with state officials and community leaders’ own experience of hosting refugees. The result is a fascinating, carefully researched portrait of cultural, racial, gendered and classed encounters.’—Professor Jennifer Hyndman, Centre for Refugees Studies, York University
‘Refugees in New Destinations and Small Cities is about the experiences of resettled refugees in Vermont, but it is also a beautifully written in-depth exploration of immigrant integration in America. Pablo Bose’s passion and his own experience shine through, immersing us in the life of Vermont’s towns and the immigrants who keep them going.’—Karen Jacobsen, Henry J. Leir Professor in Global Migration, Tufts University
For the last two decades, refugees, like other immigrants, have been settling in newer locations throughout the US and other countries. No longer are refugees to be found only in major metropolitan areas and gateway cities; instead, they are arriving in small towns, rural areas, rustbelt cities, and suburbs. What happens to them in these new destinations and what happens to the places that receive them? Drawing on a decade’s worth of interviews, surveys, spatial analysis and community-based projects with key informants, Dr Pablo Bose argues that the value of refugee newcomers to their new homes cannot be underestimated.  

Pablo S. Bose studies migration and urban environments. His research is interdisciplinary in nature and his main focus over the past thirty years has been on refugees and resettlement in North America and Europe, on cities of the global south, and on environmental displacements across the world.