Dis/Continuity: Language and Displacement, from the DRC to Chicago

The United States has received more refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo than any other country in recent years, and with the conflict ongoing, understanding their perspectives and experiences continues to be increasingly important. In this paper, I follow a thread of semiotic activity and the formation of an axis of differentiation around the refugee figure and the process of assimilation in the United States. I do so by tracing this narrative through sources considered as both sites of semiotic activity and as text-artifacts; from human rights declarations, to ensuing U.S. policy, to the websites of refugee-serving organizations in Chicago and interviews they have done with refugees from the DRC, ending with an analysis of In the Midst of the Congo War, which serves as a contrasting perspective to the previous sources. In doing so, I seek to answer the question: "What do the narratives surrounding language use by refugees from the DRC tell us about the language ideologies in the United States and these refugees' position in U.S. society, what might we learn through comparing this with their language use in their home country, and what implications does this have for their lives and well-being here in the United States?". The paper ends with an exploration of the potential implications of the formation of this axis of differentiation, and the resultant erasure of narratives that fall outside of its scope, on refugees' mental health and well-being