"The Ungrateful Refugee" Quotes
"The Ungrateful Refugee" explores the complex and often overlooked experiences of refugees, challenging the common narrative of gratitude and assimilation.
nonfiction | 368 pages | Published in 2019
Quotes
So often, a refugee is a disempowered person, one who must rely on the kindness of strangers. But we forget that a refugee is also an empowered person, one who must rely on the kindness of strangers.
Refugees did not suddenly appear in Europe. They had been there all along, locked away in a dark corner of the world's consciousness.
The refugee is a new kind of human, one who has lost all but the essential, and who must recreate the self at every step.
The refugee was a person who lived in the negative space of the world, and in that space, she had to make a kind of life.
The refugee is a story that must be written and rewritten, not just by her, but by every country that takes her in.
Being a refugee meant that you were a person without a story, not just an individual, but a whole group, a people.
The refugee was a person who learned to live inside the narratives of others, to wear the masks they gave her.
The refugee was a person who lived under the burden of a thousand eyes, all of them watching her for signs of gratitude.
The refugee was a person who had to make a home out of the world, not just a house, but a whole planet.
The refugee was a person who had to make her story fit the narratives of a hundred countries, all of them with different expectations.
