BERGHAHN BOOKS : Arts Initiatives By Refugees For Refugees

List of Figures
Acknowledgments

Introduction: We Are All Human

Part I: The Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi

Part I Introduction

Chapter 1. Trésor Nzengu Mpauni and the Tumaini Festival
Chapter 2. Elisha Beya
Chapter 3. Angela
Chapter 4. Francois Bangwe
Chapter 5. Toussaint Farini and Salama Africa
Chapter 6. Primo Luanda Bauma
Chapter 7. Umoja Women Craft
Chapter 8. Nelly
Chapter 9. Tuze Manirakiza and the Indengabaganizi Dance Troupe
Chapter 10. David and Jonathan Bin Wakandwa
Chapter 11. Sylvano
Chapter 12. Gabriel Ndayishimiye
Chapter 13. Divine Irakoze

Part II: Syrians in Türkiye

Part II Introduction

Chapter 14. Alaa Alkhatib
Chapter 15. Muhammed Nor Yaserji
Chapter 16. The Önder Center for Cooperation and Development
Chapter 17. The Earthquake and the Önder Center for Cooperation and Development
Chapter 18. Haneen Choir Network
Chapter 19. Nermin Biravvi
Chapter 20. NUN Kültür Sanat (NUN Culture and Arts)
Chapter 21. YOLO Art Center and Café
Chapter 22. Omar Alkilani
Chapter 23. Sohir Yaghi and Knitstanbul
Chapter 24. Farah Trablsie
Chapter 25. Sham Alsaloum
Chapter 26. Omar Berakdar and Arthereistanbul

Part III: Uyghurs in France

Part III Introduction

Chapter 27. Dilnur Reyhan and European Uyghur Institute
Chapter 28. Jalilova Gulbahar
Chapter 29. Erpan Toghrul
Chapter 30. Merdan Ehteli
Chapter 31. Jineste Tohti
Chapter 32. Umut
Chapter 33. Mirka
Chapter 34. Nafise
Chapter 35. Gul-ay
Chapter 36. Vodka

Conclusion: Arts, Culture, Leaving, and Belonging

References
Index

Arts Initiatives by Refugees for RefugeesForced Displacement, Creativity, and AgencyLisa Gilman

356 pages, 28 figs, bibliog., index

ISBN 978-1-80758-011-7 Hb Published (September 2026)

eISBN 978-1-80758-010-0 eBook

Details

“This is an excellent and important book that makes a significant contribution to the studies of migration, refugees, resettlement, and the creativity of people facing forced migration.” • Amy Shuman, The Ohio State University

“This is a rare and vital contribution to the field —one that bridges scholarship, creative nonfiction, and advocacy. I am so impressed, inspired, and deeply supportive of this work. It is a much-needed addition to the growing literature on art, trauma, and forced migration.” • Fadi Skeiker, Fordham University

Forced migration is an international problem impacting global powers as well as smaller resource-constrained countries. The rhetoric, globally and locally is rife with a confusing tangle about war, violence, persecution, vulnerability, victimhood, thievery, welfare leaching, and economy recking. My Culture, My Survival is a narrative-driven book based in global multi-site research about the arts and cultural dimension of refugee “crises” in discrete geographic and social-political contexts. The stories highlight agency, creativity, pleasure, celebration, entrepreneurship, friendship, and community because we typically don't associate these things with refugees. They emphasize how refugees contribute to their own communities and their host countries, contrary to stereotypical and often xenophobic anti-refugee assumptions.

Lisa Gilman is Professor of Folklore and Director of the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University, former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of American Folklore, and former Fellow with the Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative at the Woodrow Wilson Center. She published The Dance of Politics: Performance, Gender, and Democratization in Malawi (Temple University Press 2011), My Music, My War: The Listening Habits of U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (2016), the co-authored Folklore and Ethnomusicology Fieldwork Methods Handbook (Indiana University Press 2019), and co-edited Africa Every Day: Fun, Leisure, and Expressive Culture on the Continent (Ohio University Press 2019) and UNESCO on the Ground: Local Perspectives on Intangible Cultural Heritage (Indiana University Press 2015). She produced the documentary Grounds for Resistance and the Dzaleka Art Project.

Subject: Political Economy General Anthropology

Area:

BISAC: SOC002010 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Anthropology/Cultural & Social; SOC066000 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Refugees; SOC007000 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Emigration & Immigration

available as open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) with support from Knowlege Unlatched Migration & Development.

Contents

Subject: Political Economy General Anthropology

Area:

This title is published as Open Access

Full Text PDF | Full Text ePUB Made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license with support from Knowlege Unlatched Migration & Development.