Forced to flee : human rights and human wrongs in refugee homelands /

Using a broad conception of human rights, this book analyzes political violence and economic injustice in six disparate places: Bosnia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Indonesia's eastern province of Papua, Palestine, and Sudan. Van Arsdale (international studies, Univ. of Denver) has conducted anthropological fieldwork in these locales since the 1970s, often at considerable personal risk, and effectively uses this information, plus photographs, to convey the lived experience of people subjected to human rights abuses. These people include refugees and asylum seekers who have left their homeland, as well as the displaced persons who remain in their native country. The author devotes a chapter to each location and provides a concise history of the setting, moving anecdotes, cogent policy analysis, and wise recommendations for conflict resolution and humanitarian intervention. Students will appreciate these well-written case studies. Indeed, the author's preface indicates that the book grew out of a seminar he teaches, Human Rights and the International Refugee System. Applied anthropologists will also recognize the book's contributions, but other social scientists may find that the book is too autobiographical and lacks new empirical findings. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. J. Hein University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire