Franklin Goza (PI)

Sponsored by the Canadian Government's Academic Relations Office and Bowling Green State University ’s Center for Family and Demographic Research and the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research.

This comparative international research uses primary data to examine Somali refugees, a group of disadvantaged newcomers, who began arriving in North America approximately 15 years ago.

The challenges faced by these refugees will be addressed by examining a variety of topics. These include the process of refugee incorporation, health and socioeconomic status, the meaning of race and religion in North America and how all of these vary across the two nations examined. Furthermore, this study is an attempt to learn more how disadvantaged newcomers become socio-economically well-adjusted members of their new host society. It may also provide theoretical insights on how possible complications due to race and religion may affect incorporation experiences. The proposed study will also have significant policy relevance as it will not only inform policymakers working with the growing Somali population, but also those who currently or in the future will assist other similarly deprived refugees.

PUBLICATIONS:

Goza, Franklin, (Forthcoming). “The Somali Experience in the United States.” In Multicultural America: The Newest Americans, Ronald Bayor (ed.). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Goza, Franklin. (2007). “The Somali Presence in the United States.” In From Mogadishu to Dixon: The Somali Diaspora in a Global Context, Abdi Kusow and Stephanie Bjork (eds.), pp. 255-274. Trenton, NJ: Red Sea Press.

PRESENTATIONS:

“Somali Refugees in North America.” Presented at the Meetings of the Brazilian Association of Population Studies, Caxambú, Brazil, September 2008.

“The Somali Presence in Ohio.” Presented at the Social Research Seminar, Ohio State University-Newark, October 2007.

“A Profile of Somali Refugees in the United States.” Presented at the Meetings of the Population Association of America, Los Angeles, March 2006.

“The Somali Diaspora in the United States.” Keynote speaker at the Somalis in the Diaspora and the Cultural Challenge conference, Ohio State University, November 2005.

“Somali Refugees in the United States.” Paper presented at the Meetings of East Lakes Division of the American Association of Geographers, Bowling Green, October 2005.