FBU-2017-09-14
Interviewer
Ben Moore
Date of Interview
Summer 9-14-2017
Interview Location
St. Louis, MO
Length of Interview
111:25
Date of Birth
1989
Gender
Female
Religion and/or Ethnicity
Muslim
Description
Born in Prijedor 1989 to Muslim parents. Her mother took her and fled Bosnia in Spring 1992 right before her 3rd birthday. She remembers spending her third birthday in Berlin refugee camp. The family remained in berlin until 28FEB1998. Her parents had returned to Bosnia iin 1997 but decided that it was not safe to return and decided to seek asylum in America. They came to St. Louis. She finished 3rd grade and had learned English by the time she started the fourth. She was made fun of by American peers for wearing clothes multiple days in a row. Her parents insisted on speaking Bosnian in the home. She has suffered what she calls a “crisis of identity”. She just tried to fit in with Americans at school, tried to be Bosnian, and when she goes to Bosnia she is considered American. She began writing poetry in college and continues to write poetry about the Bosnian experience in graduate school.
Keywords
Refugee, Generational Trauma, Indentity Crisis, Student, Poetry, Creative Writing, Musician, Refugee Camp
Pre-War Residence
Prijedor
Wartime Residence
Berlin
First Country of Residence
Germany
First US Residence
St. Louis, MO
Document Type
Oral History
Collection
Fontbonne University
Digital Format
MP3,MP4
Digital Publisher
Center for Bosnian Studies
City
St. Louis, MO
Copyright Note
These oral histories are made available by the Center for Bosnian Studies for research, educational, scholarly, and/or creative purposes only. All uses should adhere to the principle of fair use established under Section 107 of Title 17 the 1976 Copyright Act. More on fair use is available here: https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/.
Rights Statement
