Unwelcome Shores - by Bernadette Ludwig (Paperback)

About the Book

Unwelcome Shores is an ethnographic study of the Liberian refugee community in Staten Island, NY, shedding light on the racialization of Black refugees and the anti-Black racism they have experienced at every step of their migration journey. By privileging race as the lens of analysis, author Bernadette Ludwig reveals the significance of race in the lives of Liberians both prior to and after their immigration to the U.S.

Book Synopsis

Unwelcome Shores is an ethnographic study of the Liberian refugee community in Staten Island, New York, home to the largest per capita concentration of Liberians in the U.S., that sheds light on the racialization of Black refugees and the racism they have experienced at every step of their migration journey. In this pioneering study, sociologist Bernadette Ludwig explores how Liberians have responded to such racist exclusions, noting how members of this community reject the informal refugee label once they are resettled in the United States. Liberian migrants often view the label as a liability since the larger general public, the media, and the U.S. government tend to regard Black refugees as an economic and social burden unworthy of assistance. Indeed, Black refugees' humanity is often ignored, Ludwig contends, in favor of overemphasizing presumed barbaric violence, endemic wars, cultural backwardness, and diseases. By detailing the lack of aid and support for Black refugees and describing how Liberian refugees in particular have had to overcome various struggles and barriers in coming to the U.S. and while living here, Unwelcome Shores highlights the overarching role of race and anti-Black racism in American society.

Review Quotes

"In Unwelcome Shores, Ludwig tells the fascinating story of Liberian refugees and migrants who have settled, and created a community, in a neighborhood on Staten Island in New York City. Combining research on anti-Black racism in America and years of on-the-ground observations of refugee communities, Ludwig provides an illuminating and nuanced account of the complicated connections of race, immigration, and refugee status among newcomers and native-born New Yorkers."--T. Alexander Aleinikoff "executive dean, The New School for Social Research"

"With deep ethnographic engagement, Ludwig centers the perspectives of Liberian refugees to illuminate the complexities of life for Black immigrants as they confront the twin forces of hostile bureaucracies and entrenched U.S. racialization practices. Unwelcome Shores offers a welcome contribution to our understanding of the plurality of experiences in immigrant integration and community building, and it deserves to be read widely. Highly recommended!"--Cecilia Menjívar "University of California, Los Angeles"

"Unwelcome Shores provides a comprehensive and thoughtful analysis of a community that has been marginalized within scholarship, public discourse, and policy conversations. Through a sociological and historical approach, Bernadette Ludwig shows how the lived experience of war, displacement, resettlement, and finding community are shaped by slavery, capitalism, and immigration laws that limit who can enter and who can leave the U.S. in different historical moments."
--Helena Zeweri "author of Between Care and Criminality: Marriage, Citizenship, and Family in Australian Social Welfa"

"Full of rich and absorbing ethnographic material, Unwelcome Shores puts race at center stage as it reveals the complex meanings and consequences of being Black for Liberian refugees in the United States. A valuable and welcome contribution."
--Nancy Foner "author of One Quarter of the Nation: Immigration and the Transformation of America"

About the Author

Bernadette Ludwig is a sociologist and the assistant dean of the Macricostas School of Arts and Sciences at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. She is also an Affiliated Faculty at the New School's Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility in New York City. She is a first-generation immigrant and college graduate. Prior to entering academia, she worked with refugee and immigrant communities in Atlanta, Georgia for several years.