Uprooted and Unwanted: Bosnian Refugees in Austria and the United States

The tragedy of war does not end when the soldiers put down their guns. Among the after-effects, the dislocation and relocation of civilians often loom large. The aftermath of the Bosnian conflicts has left many refugees needing to establish new lives, often in radically different cultures. In Uprooted and Unwanted, Barbara Franz offers a cogent look at how these refugees have fared in two representative cities—Vienna and New York City.

Between 1991 and 2001, some 30,000 Bosnian refugees settled in Austria, and 120,000 found their way to the United States. Franz focuses on the strategies, skills, and informal networks used by Bosnian refugees, particularly women, to adapt to official policies and administrative practices in their host societies. Her analysis concludes that historically inaccurate ideas on how to deal with displaced persons have led to policies in both Europe and North America that have adversely affected those whose lives have been devastated by war.