Outcasts United
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8. How does Mandela Ziaty’s struggle with issues of identity differ from that of many American-born teenagers? Are there more similarities than differences? How does his dual identity as a defacto American and a displaced Liberian complicate this struggle?
9. In chapter 24, Jeremy Cole, a case manager at one of the refugee agencies in Clarkston, challenged his traditional beliefs by converting to Islam. How were he and other Americans working with the refugee communities provoked to reexamine their own identities based upon their interactions with different cultures?
10. Discuss the problems involved in the Fugees’ search for a home field. Did the Clarkston government violate their human rights? What about the situation of the Lost Boys and the use of the soccer field?
WARREN ST. JOHN has written for the New York Observer, The New Yorker, Wired, and Slate, in addition to his work as a reporter for The New York Times. His first book, Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania (2004), was named one of Sports Illustrated‘s best books of the year and ranked number one on the Chronicle of Higher Educations list of the best books ever written about collegiate athletics. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and attended Columbia College in New York City, where he now lives with his wife, Nicole, and daughter Serena.
Copyright © 2009 by Warren St. John
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
SPIEGEL & GRAU is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
St. John, Warren.
Outcasts united: a refugee team, an American town / Warren St. John.—1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-385-52959-4
1. Mufleh, Luma. 2. Soccer coaches—Georgia—Clarkston—Biography. 3. Refugee children— Georgia—Clarkston. 4. Refugees—Africa. I. Title.
GV942.7.L86 2008
796.334092—dc22
[B]
2008040697
www.spiegelandgrau.com
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