A Mixed Blessing: Karen Resettlement to the United States

Abstract

Based on ethnographic research and interviews of Karen refugees in Thailand and resettled Karen in the United States, this paper makes a number of contributions to recent debates on resettlement. First, it provides a rich, ethnographically informed description of the migration and resettlement process. Such studies, especially ones that encapsulate both pre- and post-resettlement experiences remain relatively rare. Second, by comparing the pre-migration attitudes of displaced Karen to newly arrived and established Karen resettlers in the United States, it assesses how well the resettlement process is meeting the needs of refugees. Third, we note two key features of Karen resettlement. For the Karen, initial resettlement is not the final phase in the migratory process. In this sense, we see the experience of resettled communities come to resemble that of other migrants, in which settlement patterns coalesce on pre-existing ethnic and kinship networks. We also find that non-governmental agencies contracted by the state were conspicuously absent in the post-resettlement phase, with a number of unofficial non-governmental organizations, primarily religious ones, filling the void.

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