Newcomers to Neighbors: Migrants and Refugees from the Middle East in Southern California

Fear is all around us. We feel it most in settings in which we feel culturally different. Women, girls, men and boys from Middle Eastern countries have, in the last decade, felt the suspicion, the mistrust, even the hate of those around them in this country. Southern California has become a magnet for cultures of all parts of the world, and this book explores how it feels to be of Middle Eastern background but living in a place where life falls far short of the Hollywood fictions that shape much of our misperception of those different from us. Writers and photojournalists who compiled this book, all students at Biola University in Los Angeles County, explored the stories of Middle Eastern people in greater Los Angeles and the San Diego area. Through many visits, many conversations, much listening, they stepped into the journeys, the arrivals, the unique ways immigrant communities embrace each other and cultivate identity among those who rarely take time to understand – let alone experience – the cultures, traditions and beliefs of the Middle East.