Book Highlight: Becoming Cultural Brokers
People come her penniless but not cultureless. They bring us gifts. We can synthesize the best of our traditions with the best of theirs. We can teach and learn from each other to produce a better world. - Mary Pipher, The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community
Happy Thursday! Today we are kicking off a series highlighting a few books focused on welcoming new neighbors to the United States. With each book, we’ll share a brief summary and what our biggest takeaways were from reading. Our hope is that this introduces texts that you and our larger Oklahoma City community can turn to as we reflect, learn, and make Oklahoma a place of belonging for all people.
Today we’re focusing on The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community by Mary Pipher. Mary Pipher is a clinical psychologist and writer who lives and works in Lincoln Nebraska. For over 30 years, Pipher has volunteered and provided support to many new neighbors arriving through refugee resettlement in Nebraska. Using her volunteer experience and background in clinical psychology, she shares stories and reflections about her experience. What we find most helpful in her book is the concept of cultural brokers. Pipher writes that we should try to become cultural brokers as we welcome new neighbors to the United States.
Being a cultural broker means helping individuals and families navigate life in the United States and bridge cultural divides. This looks like teaching about what to accept and what to reject in the US, helping folks ease into life in the United States while also preserving home cultures, and navigating complex systems that are woven together but not necessarily coordinated. Culture is nuanced! Pipher writes a list over five pages long in her book about how she has been a cultural broker for new friends. Some examples include:
Knowing what mail is junk and what are important bills
What food to put in freezers, refrigerators, and pantries
Learning US traffic and driving laws
How to check out books from a public library
How local political systems work in the US
What restaurants to tip in
What to do during tornado sirens
How to interview for a job in the US
What to wear outside in winter
How to carve a pumpkin
The ins and outs of buying a car in the United States
How to enroll a child in a soccer league, high school applications, etc.
Helping families understand rental leases and finding affordable housing
Serving as a language tutor for adults or children
Where to go to play basketball
How to make a medical appointment
And many, many more!
Information is power, and by providing information like the above list to new neighbors to make informed decisions about life in the United States, cultural brokers share power with new neighbors. Cultural brokers do not have to be full time volunteers or refugee resettlement case workers. Cultural brokers leverage the position they currently hold in their community. We know dentists who partner with the community to offer dental care, teenagers who tutor young children and share about US culture, retirees who help new neighbors navigate shopping experiences, and community members who offer rides to basketball practice, assistance reading mail or school letters, or who simply are available to answer questions as they come up. These are all ways cultural brokers share information that can empower new neighbors. And, cultural brokers learn a lot, too. Pipher writes about all of the ways home culture is a strength and asset for neighbors as they navigate new life and how grateful she is to experience and learn from new friends.
Cultural brokers are important members of new neighbors’ relational networks. Pipher writes that all relationships are real relationships, and being a cultural broker is just one facet of becoming a welcoming friend and community member. By helping new neighbors navigate US culture, cultural brokers are saying: “Everyone is welcome here. We all belong to each other.”
