We Are Displaced

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | YA | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-3

Part 1, Chapters 4-6

Part 2, Introduction and Chapters 7-9

Part 2, Chapters 10-12

Part 2, Chapters 13-15

Part 2, Chapter 16-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Key Figures

Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai was born in 1997 in Mingora, Pakistan. When the Taliban began to infiltrate her hometown in 2008, Yousafzai publicly opposed their policy of denying girls the right to go to school and blogged about her experience and opinions for BBC Urdu. Her father was also outspoken on this matter, as he had established a local school for girls which Yousafzai attended. In 2012 a Taliban gunman attempted to assassinate Yousafzai for her activism. Despite being shot in the head, Yousafzai survived the attack and was relocated to England to recover. This incident made Yousafzai famous around the world.

When Yousafzai recovered from her injuries, she continued to live in Birmingham, England, and established the Malala Fund to expand her activism for girls’ education. In 2014 Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts and is the youngest person to ever receive the award. Yousafzai penned We Are Displaced to educate the public on the plight of displaced people, in particular women, around the globe. She offers her perspective as someone who experienced internal displacement as well as international refuge and rose from obscurity to global fame. Yousafzai dedicates the second part of her book to other young women’s testimonials, since providing women with platforms to speak for themselves is a key part of her work with the Malala Fund.

Analisa

Analisa pens the chapter, “Lucky” in which she describes her journey from Guatemala to the US. Like many immigrants, Analisa traveled in groups led by illegal guides to gain entry to the US. Analisa’s testimony serves as the only story from a contributor who ran away to escape family conflict rather than violence. Analisa’s chapter demonstrates how immigrants share information with each other, and how rumors and advice amongst Central Americans fleeing their countries can influence their decisions. Her passage is also a first-hand account of the US treatment of illegal immigrants, as she describes the conditions in the holding facilities at the US’s southern border.

Zaynab

Zaynab’s account describes her escape from Yemen to Egypt, where she was granted a visa to move to the US. A main theme in her chapter is the pain of separation from her sister Sabreen. Zaynab’s experience shows that navigating the visa process can be a confusing and arbitrary experience that can have lasting ramifications on people’s lives and relationships. Her chapter also showcases what Yousafzai calls the “tangle of emotions” that displaced people often feel in their new country, as Zaynab was happy to return to school and join the soccer team but was devastated to be separated from her sister for so long, and continually worried about her welfare.

Ajida

Ajida’s testimonial illustrates the unique challenge of a prolonged displacement in a refugee camp. In her passage Ajida describes how the Myanmar military and police terrorize the Rohingya population, who as Muslims are a religious minority in the country. Ajida’s account demonstrates how civilians in rural areas often flee with few resources or information. She describes how she and her family left her village along with hundreds of their neighbors to seek safety in Bangladesh. Bangladesh does not provide visas or other opportunities for refugees to integrate into their society, and they know that they are not safe at home. This makes Ajida’s story of living in limbo in a refugee camp typical of the Rohingya experience, and serves insight into her community’s ongoing crisis.