This qualitative research project seeks to examine the obstacles faced by educators who come to the U.S. as refugees. The three participants in this study are from Iraq, Sudan, and Turkey. While there are similarities between them, there are also differences in terms of race, sex, and religion. While this work examines practical barriers, such as those related to credentialing, it also considers how these educators negotiate their identity in the workplace. Using labeling theory, the impact of the category of refugee and how that label impacts work life is interrogated. Partially as a result of the labels associated with being a refugee, findings indicate that, for educators from refugee backgrounds, there are significant barriers to credentialing, their knowledge and experience from outside of the U.S. is rarely taken seriously in many workplace environments, and, consequently, a lack of confidence can easily develop. Despite all of this, educators from refugee backgrounds often have extensive experience in education and can more easily connect to diverse student populations and their families. Suggestions for how best to expand the hiring of educators from refugee backgrounds are provided, as well as implications for future research.

Drawing on collective biography, memory work, and diffractive analysis, this chapter examines childhood memories of our entanglements with plants. By approaching research as a ceremony, our goal is to reanimate the relationships we have shared with plants and places, illuminating multiple intra-actions and weaving different worlds together. Our collective ceremony of re-membering brings into focus how plants called us forward, evoked our gratitude and reciprocity, shared knowledge, and offered comfort, companionship, love, belongingness, and understanding throughout life. The process of our collective re-membering and writing has turned into a series of ceremonial gatherings and practices, bringing forth vivid memories, poetic expressions, and creative drawings. As humans, we have often (re)acted to plants’ generous gifts in meaningful gestures and communications that have co-created and made visible our deeply felt inter-species love and care.