Table Of ContentA STORY
to Save
YOUR LIFE
Communication and Culture in
Migrants’ Search for Asylum
sarah C. bishop
A Story to Save Your Life
A Story to Save
Your Life
Communication and
Culture in Migrants’ Search
for Asylum
SARAH C. BISHOP
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup . columbia . edu
Copyright © 2022 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bishop, Sarah C., 1984– author.
Title: A story to save your life : communication and culture
in migrants’ search for asylum / Sarah C. Bishop.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2022] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021057920 (print) | LCCN 2021057921 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780231204088 (hardback ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231204095
(trade paperback ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9780231555364 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: United States—Emigration and immigration—
Government policy. | Political refugees—United States—Case studies. |
Political refugees—Legal status, laws, etc.—United States.
Classification: LCC JV6483 .B574 2022 (print) | LCC JV6483 (ebook) |
DDC 325.73—dc23/eng/20220206
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021057920
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021057921
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-f ree paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Noah Arlow
Cover image: Helen Zughaib, “Syrian Migration Series #4,”
gouache on board, © 2017
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Note on the Cover Art ix
1
Halted Expectations 1
In Their Own Words: Josh Childress, Former U.S.
Customs and Border Protection Agent 24
2
Long Stories Short 32
In Their Own Words: Alina Das, Immigration Attorney 56
3
Emotional Labor 60
In Their Own Words: Ethan Taubes, Asylum
Officer Trainer 83
Contents
4
Nonverbal Communication and Credibility 88
In Their Own Words: Dr. Renée Sicalides,
Psychologist 112
5
Deterring Asylum 117
In Their Own Words: Jeffery Chase, Former
Immigration Judge 141
6
The Return 145
In Their Own Words: Rafael, Detained
Asylum Seeker 177
Postscript 182
Appendix: Methods and Trauma-I nformed
Research Design 201
Notes 217
Bibliography 245
Index 261
vi
Acknowledgments
This project was conceived during a fellowship at the Institute for
the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University and came of
age during a Fulbright in Central America. Along the way, funding
from the Waterhouse Family Institute at Villanova University, the
Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research
(ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen, the Professional Staff Con-
gress at the City University of New York, and the Office of the
Dean of Arts and Sciences at Baruch provided integral support. I
was able to focus my attention on writing because of time away
from teaching generously provided by a distinguished fellowship at
the Advanced Research Collaborative at the CUNY Graduate
Center and a long- awaited year of sabbatical.
I owe a debt of gratitude to those who listened patiently, asked
good questions, and were forthcoming with advice, including Ela-
zar Barkan, Korab Krasniqi, Tika Pratiwi, Linda Mann, Bayar
Mustafa Sevdeen, Joanna Talewicz- Kwiatkowska, Latife Uluçınar,
Samantha Mandiveyi, Sandra Paunksniene, Phillip Polefrone, Jor-
dan and Coco Van Horn, Cecilia Santos, Cynthia Wang, Katrina
vii
Acknowledgments
Day, Don Robotham, Wilfredo Marroquín Jiménez, Tanya Gold-
smith, and Rosa Anaya. The most longsuffering and generous of
all critics was Bo, whose unwavering support, boundless intu-
ition, and expert navigation through the backroads of El Salvador
made everything possible.
I am thrilled to be able to feature on the cover a piece of art by
Lebanese American artist Helen Zughaib, whose tender and pro-
found Syrian Migration Series offers perspective that asks the viewer
to walk alongside forced migrants, visually joining them in their
journey.
Earlier versions of some pieces of this project appeared in the Jour-
nal of International and Intercultural Communication, the
Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, and the International Jour-
nal of Communication. The work benefited from feedback by
attendees of the International Association for the Study of Forced
Migration Conference, the International Communication Associa-
tion Conference, and the Memory Studies Association Conference.
Many, many thanks to my invaluable research assistants, Roger
Hernandez, Valentina Floegel, and, as always, Nora Lambrecht,
without whom I would crawl along at a snail’s pace. I’m grateful
for the expert recommendations of the blind reviewers and to Ste-
phen Wesley at Columbia University Press for shepherding this
project through to its publication. Thanks also to my colleagues at
Baruch and Mixteca and to the staff at African Communities
Together, New Sanctuary Coalition, First Friends of NJ & NY, the
Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture, and the Center for Fam-
ily Life for helping to facilitate fieldwork and, more importantly,
for working tirelessly to advance the rights of asylum seekers.
viii
Note on the Cover Art
The artwork on the cover is a painting by Lebanese American artist
Helen Zughaib. Her Syrian Migration Series is a collection of forty-
two paintings inspired by Jacob Lawrence’s Migration Series, painted
between 1940 and 1941 and depicting Black Americans traveling
from the rural south to the urban north of the United States. With
insights drawn from her own evacuation from Beirut, Lebanon, dur-
ing the civil war in 1975 and time spent in Syria, Lebanon, and Jor-
dan just before the Arab Spring in 2010, Zughaib invites viewers to
see from the perspective of Syrian migrants who have been forced to
flee their homes in search of safety. Her paintings emphasize the dig-
nity, beauty, and perseverance of these individuals with the goal of
promoting healing and reflection in our shared humanity. Zughaib’s
art has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums in the United
States, Europe, and Lebanon and included in many private and public
collections, including the White House; the World Bank; the Library
of Congress; the U.S. Consulate General in Vancouver, Canada; the
American Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq; the Arab American National
Museum in Detroit, Michigan; and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
ix
