On Thursday February 13th, I attended an event titled “Immigrantion Story” at 5:30pm in Lazenby Hall. This event featured about 7 speakers who shared their experiences as an immigrant or as a child of immigrants. Overarching themes included the effects of discrimination, identity, the diffulty of being the only person in your family who is fluent in English, the principal barriers immigrant students face, and how citizenship impacts their lives. The speakers came from all over the world including: Yemen, Somalia, Kuwait, Sudan, India, and El Salvador. 

Discrimination impacted each speaker in an unique way. One woman was told “all Muslims are terrorists” as she promoted a Peace and Justice march at her high school. Another was told to go back to her country. Other speakers faced scrutiny for their cultural practices. All of the speakers felt unwelcome in America at some point, but ultimately found a place where they were accepted like a student organization or another type of community. 

Finding a place that felt like home was a common difficulty. They were always too foreign or too American. Some of them mentioned how they were not even sure where home should be. One story I found particularly interesting was about a man who grew up in Kuwait. His parents were from Southern India and moved to Kuwait for business. He then grew up in international schools before becoming a student at Ohio State University. He talked about the difficulty of growing up in a place where he did not speak the language. In Kuwait most people spoke Arabic, in his community Hindi was the dominant language, and when he visited India he visited a state that did not speak his native tongue. This impacted how he moved in the world as he was always conscious of his accent. He advised that the audience always make the extra effort to speak with and befriend those with thick accents. 

Another man who grew up in many different places including Kenya, Somalia, and Djibouti spoke about the difficulties he faces as an international student. He said there were three barriers that have the biggest impact on students like him, these include: increased mental health risk, adjusting time management skills, and adapting to the culture. He talked about his desire for better resources on campus to help international students cope with these difficulties. Specifically, he mentioned the need for a gateway STEM education course that could help immigrants who did not have access to those classes in high-school. He personally struggles with this and hopes the same situation can be remedied for future students. 

Status within the immigration system also had a big impact on the lives of the speakers. Being a citizen made them stand out when their family members or community members did not share that status. They had more freedoms and were able to operate in America with more ease and with less worry than green card holders or irregular migrants. Citizenship status made some feel ostracized in their communities, because they were seen as the privileged ones. 

Much of the content in this event ties in with themes we have studied in my course, Politics of Immigrantion. For example: we looked at the International Asylum Regime and the issues that plague it. The speakers in this event detailed how the failing of the Institutionalized Asylum Regime has affected them personally. Some shared that they felt the burden of leaving family behind and supporting them from abroad, they had close relationships with those who were forced to partake in irregular migration, and they were overwhelmed by the fear felt in the immigrant community. 

During this event I learned how we can avoid adding onto the burden immigrants feel as a result of the International Asylum Regime. We should not ask about their status, but we should make an effort to reach out when we see someone struggling. It is important to be respectful and take the time to listen and understand their stories, because we should not assume we know the right way to help. Overall, I think this was a well done event in which I learned a lot. 

On February 10th, I attended the campus event in which “Wajd: Songs of Separation” was screened from 12-2pm in Ramseyer Hall room 100. “Wajd: Songs of Separation” is a documentary which follows 3 men involved in the Sufi music tradition before and after the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War. Ibrahim, Ahbulwahed, and Mohamed are well educated, talented musicians from Syria who were forced to flee when their safety was threatened. Their safety was threatened by ISIL who outlawed music and was known to execute those who practice Sufism. Sufism is a type of mysticism within Islam that is often exercised through music. This practice was dying before the Syrian Civil War and ISIL, now it is under even more stress. 

The facilitator of the event wanted us to look for exploitative methods and orientalism, as these are unethical practices common in documentaries about refugees. Generally, the film was good at staying ethical. Some moments did get close to being emotionally manipulative yet, the film-makers good intentions and desire to focus on music helped the film stay ethical. A good example of this occurred when Ibrahim told the story of coming across a video that showed his 9 year old brother’s dead body after a bomb fell. The film-maker showed a clip of that video, but stopped it before the body was shown. The facilitator of this event said that this avoided the pointed emotional triggers other films rely on. She said that by showing graphic images of bodies and people crying, the film is emotionally manipulating it’s subjects and audience. I agree that it is wrong to emotionally manipulate subjects of documentaries by pushing an emotional topic, yet I think the audience should see what is really happening without censorship. Those directly affected did not get to avoid this upsetting imagery, so why should we? I would like to hear more arguments on this topic, as I am sure there are things I have not considered. 

As I watched the film, I looked for areas to apply the knowledge I gained from the course material in my Politics of Immigration class. I applied my knowledge of the International Asylum Regime and how it is failing. All of the subjects in the film struggled to gain asylum and be in a stable environment on which to build their new life. Mohamed first fled with his family from Syria to Lebanon and then traveled on his own to Turkey and then the EU to secure a safe way for his family to join him. After a very long wait, with his wife and daughters in a dangerous area, they were able to reunite and establish themselves. Mohamed was lucky. The other film subjects Ibrahim and Abuwahed faced more difficulties in Turkey as a result of the immigration policies. After the film, we discussed the deal between Turkey and the EU concerning refugees. The EU has decided for every boat full of refugees Turkey stops from entering the EU, one person is allowed to enter. This has caused many refugees, including Abuwahed, to risk the dangerous trip by boat instead of living in limbo in Turkey. This showcases how the current International Asylum Regime is characterized by restrictions. The EU is reluctant to admit asylum seekers which results in clandestine migration. 

Overall, I enjoyed this film that presented the difficult journeys of 3 men passionate about Sufi music. I enjoyed it because their stories were compelling and the overlap of Sufi music woven throughout the film was a nice touch for the flow of the film. However, I do wish the role of women was more prominent. As I watched the film, I wondered what role do women play in Sufism or Syrian music in general. There were no women featured in the film even though they impacted the lives of these men. For example: Mohamed worked hard to bring his wife and daughters to safety and talked on the phone with his mother, who clearly meant a lot to him. I am interested in the stories of the experiences of women who were left behind in war zones until their husbands could secure a migration route. How did they stay safe? How did the Sufi music tradition affect them?