In recent months, xenophobia has fueled legislation, the occupation of cities around the nation, and is the filter through which news is sometimes presented to the public, particularly on social media. How can we discern the truth when information is often presented in a cloud of prejudice and preconceived notions?

One study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that individuals who use social media for news are more likely to stereotype and express prejudice, while those who engage in discussions with diverse groups of people and enjoy a wide social network are less likely to stereotype and express prejudice (Ahmed et al., 2021). Carefully considering where we source our news is one way we can guard against prejudice and seek truth. We can also diversify our social circles and invite difficult conversations that challenge our preconceived notions and opinions.

Another study demonstrated the impact of xenophobic policies at the state-level on immigrant health inequities. Using an established social determinants of immigrant health framework, the authors created a measure of structural xenophobia using 14 policies across five domains—access to public health benefits, higher education, labor and employment, driver’s licenses and identification, and immigrant enforcement—over a ten-year period.

They found that state-level policies were exclusionary toward immigrant populations, significantly impacting the health and well-being of individuals and families (Samari et al., 2021).

Holding the well-being of all of our neighbors in mind is critical to establishing policies that work for everyone. In her novel Good People, author Patmeena Sabit explores the perils of xenophobia, challenging readers to dismantle the misconceptions they might hold about each other. I spoke with her about some of the book's most important themes.

Heather Rose Arthushin (HRA): Share a bit about your background and what inspired you to write Good People.

Patmeena Sabit (PS): I was born in Kabul a few years after the Soviet invasion. When I was a month old, my family fled the fighting and joined the millions of other Afghan refugees in Pakistan. We later moved to the United States and lived in Northern Virginia.

I was inspired to write Good People after reading a news story about an honor crime in Canada. I began researching honor crime cases across the U.S., Canada, and Europe and was struck by the way many of these stories were told by the media as well as by the absence of perspectives from the communities where these crimes occurred.

I wanted to write a story about the possibility of such a crime, and to center the story in the voices of the community, exploring not only the dynamics that could give rise to such a crime, but also the sensationalist media coverage and larger Islamophobic discourse that a discussion of such crimes often gives rise to.

HRA: Your debut novel is described as a “literary game of ping-pong—on one page the reader thinks one thing, then on the next the complete opposite.” How does this approach capture the book’s invitation for readers to reconsider their own preconceived notions and prejudices?

PS: In Good People, the story of the Sharaf family is told by many different people and therefore through many different points of view. In telling their story in this way, I wanted to examine how multifaceted and complex even the “objective truth” of a situation can be, and to challenge the reader, as they’re piecing the story together for themselves from these opposing narratives, to question their own assumptions regarding which points of view they believe as credible and who they perceive to be the tellers of the truth.

HRA: In what ways do generational differences play a role in the Sharaf family’s story? How can families bridge these differences for a stronger community, family, and identity in these divided times?

PS: Within the Sharaf family, there is a great divide and conflict between the parents, Rahmat and Maryam, who come to the United States as refugees from Afghanistan, and their eldest daughter Zorah, who is born in America.

Rahmat and Maryam yearn to survive and succeed in America and to assimilate, but they only want to do that on their own terms and within their own cultural and religious values. They don’t want to assimilate at the expense of casting off their Afghan roots. Zorah however wants nothing more than to live the American Dream without any of the constraints of her parents’ cultural heritage and religion. She yearns for the freedom to be completely herself, without the wrathful judgement of her community watching her every move for even the slightest of false steps.

Although I don’t know if generational conflict on such a level can ever be completely bridged, I believe an attempt on both sides to foster at least some kind of mutual understanding and acceptance of the other—while recognizing that this does not mean agreement with each other—is vital overcoming such intergenerational estrangement.

HRA: What do you hope readers take away from spending time with Good People?

PS: Good People is about the Afghan experience of exile and displacement and about what it means to be Muslim in the West. But it’s also about larger issues of families and loss and identity and prejudice and about the misconceptions that we all have about each other. It is my hope that the book will spark discussion and debate among readers about these very difficult topics.

Saifuddin Ahmed, Vivian Hsueh Hua Chen, Arul Indrasen Chib, Xenophobia in the Time of a Pandemic: Social Media Use, Stereotypes, and Prejudice against Immigrants during the COVID-19 Crisis, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Volume 33, Issue 3, Autumn 2021, Pages 637–653, https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edab014

Samari, G., Nagle, A., & Coleman-Minahan, K. (2021). Measuring structural xenophobia: US State immigration policy climates over ten years. SSM - Population Health, 16, 100938. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100938

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