Nuer Journeys: A Comparative Analysis

Holtzmann’s Nuer Journeys, Nuer Lives deeply examines and compares how Sudanese refugees have assimilated into Minnesotan culture. After the Nuer came to the United States, many tried to form smaller communities as well as carry on traditions from Nuer culture. The Minnesotan Nuer lifestyle now accommodates Sudanese traditions through American practices; by using United States methods for their practices, the Nuer have found new ways of living in this country. While these Sudanese refugees have faced many difficulties with keeping steady incomes and finding appropriate academic institutions for their children, many of them have been able to form social groups and begin families. Family life, no matter how altered, will always lie at the core of Nuer interactions; and even though Minnesota has been a generally welcoming state for them, there is hope for the future that the Nuer will have equal opportunities to education and living in financial safety as their fellow white neighbours. During the period of the 1990s when the Nuer developed, Holtzmann explains that the economic environment “made it relatively easy

While the Minnesotan legal system has done its best to ensure that all Nuer children have equal rights to education, some of the academic choices made can hurt a child’s progress. Christian communities in Minnesota have continuously supported the Nuer, but the Minnesotan public school system sometimes fails to accommodate Nuer children and prioritises the needs of white children over theirs; seeing as Nuer children have never had formal American education before, they do not need to be placed into the grade that corresponds to their age in the United States, but rather the appropriate grade for their learning level. In the end, it comes down to careful communication between the Nuer and the Minnesotans; while there has been much of it, the system is nowhere near