Unsettled Belonging in Complex Geopolitics: Refugees, NGOs, and Rural Communities in Northern Colorado

Sustainability

Morgan Lundy¹  Jill Mitchell¹  Heidi Hausermann¹  Riley DeMorrow Lynch²  Quentin Zorn³  Annabel Ipsen⁴  Karen Vasquez-Romero⁵ 

[1] Department of Anthropology & Geography, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA;Department of Ecosystem Science & Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA;Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA;Department of Sociology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA;Department of Sociology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA;

关键词: feminist geopolitics;    refugees;    meatpacking;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su13031344

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

In Colorado, meat processing and packing industries profit from the low-wage labor of foreign born workers and refugees in particular. Scholars and journalists have examined the hazardous and environmentally unjust workplace conditions in meatpacking, and detailed refugee struggles in North American resettlement geographies. Our research builds from this work to examine how multi-scalar geopolitical processes shape processes of refugee resettlement and refugee labor in Colorado’s meatpacking industries. Methods for this work include analysis of secondary data and twenty-two semi-structured interviews with various actors knowledgeable about refugee resettlement and/or agricultural production in Colorado. We argue various intersecting geopolitical processes—from immigration raids of meatpacking plants to presidential-level xenophobic discourses and ensuing immigration policies—interact to impact refugee resettlement and participation in the meat production sector. Moreover, while the U.S.’s neoliberal model of outsourcing resettlement to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has been widely critiqued, we argue NGO employees, many of whom identify as foreign-born and/or refugees, work to build connection and belonging among refugees in challenging resettlement environments. We suggest a feminist geopolitics approach, which examines how the “global” and the “intimate” are deeply intertwined, is a useful perspective for understanding complicated racialized spaces in the rural United States, including efforts to build connections and empower refugee identities.

【 授权许可】

Unknown