Book Review: Meaningless Citizenship: Iraqi Refugees and the Welfare State by Sally Wesley Bonet

Abstract

In her review of Meaningless Citizenship: Iraqi Refugees and the Welfare State by Sally Wesley Bonet, Samaya Mansour conveys the grim picture that Bonet paints of the lives of four Iraqi refugee families as they attempt to resettle in the United States. Samaya Mansour underscores Bonet’s claim that the US resettlement program’s failure to live up to its liberal ideals of acceptance and multiculturalism stems in part from the xenophobic deficit narratives, structural inequalities, and neoliberal policies that have hollowed out the state’s capacity (and will) to help refugees settle in the United States. Mansour suggests that EiE scholars and practitioners will appreciate the book’s insights into the intersection of refugee education, citizenship and belonging, and national resettlement policies.