In Nuer Journeys, Nuer Lives: Sudanese Refugees in Minnesota, Jon Holtzman describes the contemporary migration of the Nuer people into the United States. Holtzman relies on comprehensive anthropological studies of the Nuer people of the southern Sudan and their migration to Minnesota. The Nuer people now part of a growing number of groups from sub-Saharan Africa resettling in the United States. Consequently, these groups provide an opportunity to make detailed anthropological studies that could have significance in evaluating and managing migration patterns to the United States in the near future.
In his book, Holtzman contends that the Nuer may be the most important case study in the history of anthropology. Holtzman writes that the migration may become a "sort of touchstone in anthropology" (Holtzman 3). The Nuer have become refugees as a result of a bloody civil war in southern Sudan. The migration to the United States seeking political asylum makes them a compelling contemporary case study in the American immigrant experience (Holtzman 2).
Several hundred Nuer now live in Minnesota, and many more reside in other Midwestern cities. The immigrant and refugee population in the United States coming from sub-Saharan Africa has continued to increase since Holtzman published his book. The major wave of resettlement in Minnesota that Holtzman studies began in November of 1994 when the Nuer began to arrive in unprecedented numbers both as primary resettles and as secondary immigrants from other American cities (Holtzman 33). Minnesota became a gathering point for the Nuer because in comparison to other areas of the country its wages and employment availability were good (Holtzman 34). As more Nuer settled in Minnesota, a sense of community among the Nuer began to develop which in turn attracted more Nuer families to Minnesota.
Despite certain similarities to the traditional lifestyle of Nuer society of fifty years ag...