integration

How do refugees experience everyday life in the United States? Anthropologist Catherine Besteman investigates the trajectories of Somalian refugees in Lewinston, Maine, from their application for resettlement to their struggles in a world that disrupts their social organization and their way of living.

The RSA (Active Solidarity Income) is supposed to reduce poverty by one third between now and 2012. It is based on the observation that work doesn’t pay enough to keep some people out of poverty. But the reform is based on certain implicit assumptions. According to Hélène Périvier, the problem is not so much inadequate pay as lack of jobs, underemployment, and the numerous problems faced by people without jobs.