Real people, real trials
Communication professor’s research focuses on the humanity of refugees.
By Megan Nickel and Shayla Noorgard | Feature Reporters
Ripley Smith passed through the lunch line at the University of Northwestern, St. Paul, when he first heard about Voja, a Bosnian refugee. Smith was coaching soccer at Northwestern and heard about Voja’s interest in soccer. When Voja arrived in the United States, Smith hired him as an assistant soccer coach. Voja showed an elite knowledge of the game, however, it was off the field where he had the greatest impact on Smith’s life.
Voja took refuge in America with broken English, but still loved to sit with Smith and debrief the most recent game. The language barrier made it hard for him to express his ideas. Smith said he would come up with funny expressions to mend the gap. Voja often would say a player was “like a lion” instead of describing him as quick and aggressive. It was during these conversations that a relationship began to form. Their time spent together also gave Smith an opportunity to talk to Voja about Jesus. Before coming to the States, he had little understanding of the Gospel, but through conversation with Smith he accepted Jesus as his savior.
Through their relationship, Smith’s eyes were open to the difficulties refugees endured. He saw how refugees experienced instability and cultural shock when fleeing from their home country. These observations fueled his passion toward refugees and led to his involvement with Arrive Ministries, a resettling agency.
Smith started to research how refugees are able to adjust to a new life when they are removed from their previously established networks. His role as a communications professor at Bethel University has also allowed him to explore such questions. Smith’s research forced him to wonder how he would respond if he were placed in their situation. The purpose of the research is to help understand refugees’ situations, then find solutions.
“I think that it’s (the research) super meaningful and helpful to them,” Smith said. “It’s also rewarding for me. You see such amazing resilience in them. I feel I get so much more than I am able to give, but being an advocate for those communities is important to me.”
Some of these communities are not far from home. Siriyanee Ritnorakan, a Bethel student, was living in a refugee camp in Thailand due to the Civil War that impacted the Karen people. Eventually, she and her family were placed in Minnesota. Once they arrived, Ritnorakan and her sister were forced to adapt to a new culture in school, while her parents had to find ways to make a living with no degree and little language fluency. Within her first ten years in the States, her family had to move six times, and went through seven cars.
“It was hard to find a settled spot, a place to call home,” Ritnorakan said.
School helped familiarize her with American culture, however Ritnorakan found herself to be, in turn, losing her Karen culture. In seventh grade, she realized she was losing her language. Her parents helped start a Karen church to help preserve their culture, but it was still challenging to find a balance. Much of her lost culture could be attributed to a loss of her former social network. When removed from family and friends, she was left without a clear identity, which is one of the dynamics that Smith’s research seeks to solve.
“Why do I have to take away my Karen culture just so I can have an American culture?” Ritnorakan asked.
For Hsa Hser Ku, another Bethel student and Karen refugee, finding a balance between adjusting to American culture and maintaining her Karen culture was also difficult. Her family only allowed their children to speak Karen in their house. While this has helped maintain culture, she still had to overcome the struggles adjusting to American culture and creating a new network.
“When you talk to people in the U.S. you have to make eye contact,” Ku said. “That’s one thing that’s unique because in the Karen culture when you talk to older people you can’t make eye contact because it’s disrespectful.”
“These are not just numbers. They are real people with real trials.” — Bob Oehrig
According to Bob Oehrig of Arrive Ministries, there are 22.7 million refugees in the world today. This year, Minnesota was approved to receive 2,505 refugees, a number that makes Minnesota one of the highest per capita resettling states for refugees.
“These are not just numbers,” Oehrig said. “They are real people with real trials.”
The relativeness of refugees is the foundation for Smith’s research. His hope is that his research will lead to a better understanding of refugees and in turn educate the public in ways to best help them.
“We can walk alongside these people and help build a new life,” Smith said. “The Lord has settled these people in our city. They need us as friends so you can see how the gospel is relevant.”
Smith has taken different routes in his refugee research. Some of his previous research looked at acculturation through social network analysis. Social network analysis takes survey information and displays the social network links between the participants to see how connected individuals are to each other. His most recent research is working to better understand refugee youth.
“He’s focusing on more the humanity and lived experience of the refugees instead of all the political aspects, which are still important. But focusing on the lived experience brings a humanity that I feel like is lost in a lot of discourse about refugees today.”–Kaylee Cosden
Through his interactions with refugee families, he noticed a different power dynamic between the children and parents. Many of the kids come from a culture where they traditionally do not have much power. But when they come to the United States, they tend to adjust to the culture quicker than their parents. This gives the children more power than the parents. Smith wants to examine this dynamic and determine what the kids are connected to and which networks benefit or hurt them. By taking this approach, Smith hopes to better understand the pressures that these kids are facing.
Smith has even involved some of his classes at Bethel, connecting students with refugee families. Through their interactions, his students have had their eyes opened to a world different from their own. One of these connected students is Kaylee Cosden, who had Smith as a professor at Bethel and has seen first-hand the importance of Smith’s research.
“He’s focusing on more the humanity and lived experience of the refugees instead of all the political aspects, which are still important,” Cosden said. “But focusing on the lived experience brings a humanity that I feel like is lost in a lot of discourse about refugees today.”
