Empath · Huffington Post · Television · Trauma · Zuzu Huffington

Internal And External Displacement: Immigration, Mental Illness, and Netflix’s River

“Immigration doesn’t only externally displace a person from familiar surroundings, language, and culture, it also internally displaces us into a cultural and linguistic limbo that at times can be a horror to navigate. Lives become split into befores and afters, and even if you inhabit a closely-knit immigrant community, immigration forces us into liminal existences often on the social and cultural margins that create perceived differences between us and them, and even causes ruptures between us and the homeland that grow more and more apparent the longer one lives outside.” My 35th article for HuffPost, published in July 2016.

Culture · Expatria · Food · Huffington Post · Istanbul · Movies · Travel · Zuzu Huffington

Towards A Sociology Of Turkish Food: Zeynep Kilic’s Tables of Istanbul

“While food is one of the two fundamental pillars of human survival — water being the other — how often do we stop to think about food in a socio-cultural sense? For Zeynep Kilic, sociology professor, Fulbright Scholar, and Turkish transplant in Alaska, Turkish food has been the link between her new world in the US and her upbringing in Turkey…” My 34th article for HuffPost, and my first feature for HuffPost Taste.

Books · Culture · Expatria · Huffington Post · Repatria · Third Culture Kids · Trauma · Travel · Women · Zuzu Huffington

Complex Legacies of War, Abuse, and Immigration: Nayomi Munaweera’s Island of a Thousand Mirrors and What Lies Between Us

“Where Island of a Thousand Mirrors shone a light on the horrors of war, What Lies Between Us spotlights the equally horrific specter of sexual abuse through a woman’s damaged psyche, and all the damage that is caused by denying survivors the language by which they can share their abuse without being shamed or blamed.” My 22nd article for HuffPost, published in January 2016.

Expatria · Huffington Post · Human Rights · Movies · Politics · Repatria · Spain · Third Culture Kids · Travel · Zuzu Huffington

Putting Faces On the Immigration Debate: The Cortes Family and Ted Roach’s 120 Days

“At the confluence of draconian American immigration policy, law enforcement entitlement, and good old-fashioned racial profiling we meet Miguel Cortes who, along with his family, is the subject of Ted Roach’s new award-winning documentary 120 Days: Undocumented in America.” My 18th HuffPost article, published in November 2015.