Sub-Saharan African Immigrants' Stories of Resilience and Courage - by Mariam Konate & Fredah Mainah (Paperback)

About the Book

This book seeks to produce a more specific description of Sub-Saharan African immigration in the US by recording our reflections, experiences, and strategies of coping, as well as those of the participants.

Book Synopsis

The purpose of this research is to give a voice to nameless and countless stories that represent the personal lived experiences of Sub-Saharan African immigrants in the US. The authors believe that telling our own stories from our own perspectives is important and empowering because when others tell our stories there are omissions and misrepresentations and a lot of stereotyping.

This book seeks to produce a more specific description of Sub-Saharan African immigration in the US by recording our reflections, experiences, and strategies of coping, as well as those of the participants. We hope that the insights gained from the research in this book will be used by immigrant communities, academic institutions, and governmental agencies in advocating for immigration policies that positively impact the lived experiences of Sub-Saharan African immigrants, and in planning support interventions.

Their voices are heard as they narrate their experiences, which are presented in the book under major themes that emerged from the interviews. These include how and why Sub-Saharan Africans immigrate to the United States of America (USA), their perceptions before, during and after the process of immigration, the challenges they face as they adjust, adapt, and settle in the USA, and the coping strategies they devise. The authors argue that issues of identity and lack of platforms where they can express their concerns as Sub-Saharan African immigrants and be heard are lacking. The authors are also using a phenomenological qualitative approach of collecting and interpreting participants' personal narratives and their lived experiences

Review Quotes

"This timely book evinces the struggles, agency, and resilience of contemporary Sub-Saharan African immigrants in the United State. Drawing on the lived experiences of these immigrants, the book does not only subvert the common practice of homogenization in the extent literature, but also facilitates the recognition of this subgroup of Blacks as a worthy and viable prism through which we can understand the diversity, complexity, and creativity of the Black presence in the United States. This is a useful resource for scholars of Black Studies in the US and even beyond; it is truly a must read!" -- Joseph Mensah, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Toronto, Canada.

"This book on Sub-Saharan African Immigrants' Stories of Resilience and Courage provides an empowering study on African immigration trends and punitive US immigration policies in a historical background of trade in enslaved Africans. It will also help readers to develop the ability to understand, respect, and values the contributions that immigrants from Africa made to the United States economic development. The book discusses topics in a way that promotes self-reflection and dialogues that is inclusive and not condescending about building relationship between immigrants as well as developing flexible and effective ways of dealing with a variety of diversity issues in the United States" --Robert Dibie, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of Graduate Studies, Fort Valley State University.

"Underscoring the voices of African immigrants in an anti-immigrant world, this well-researched and curated book, takes us into the finer details of lives of immigrants, their visions, challenges and strategies of survival. The chosen phenomenological approach is well suited to the task of listening and documents the stories of those who are said to be out of place." --Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Professor and Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South, University of Bayreuth, Germany

In a context where the construction of border walls "nice and tall" rather than bridges has become central to the socio-political debate in the US, Konaté and Mainah's book is a relevant addition to the immigration conversation, offering immense value to existing literature and helping us understand the lived experiences of sub-Saharan African immigrants in the US, including the coping mechanisms these immigrants use to mitigate the racial, linguistic, and gender-based challenges they face while pursuing the American dream. Konaté and Mainah give voice to a marginalized yet important segment of American society. --African Studies Quarterly

This is a unique addition to the scholarship on African immigration to the US --CHOICE

African Studies Quarterly

About the Author

Mariam Konaté PhD, Carnegie Fellow, is Professor of African American and African Studies, and Gender and Women's Studies as Western Michigan University.

Fredah Mainah, PhD is currently a Training Officer with US Citizenship and Immigration Services.