Bhutanese Refugee Resettlement in the United States : Is This My Shangri-La?

A definitive account of one of the twenty-first century’s most consequential yet frequently overlooked humanitarian stories.
Drawing on a decade of oral histories, archival research, and community immersion, Dr. Lopita Nath examines the complex process of “Third Country Resettlement” for Bhutanese refugees. She moves beyond statistics to reveal the lived realities of migration—the distinct challenges faced by different refugee groups and the persistent, deeply human question of what it means to search for a “Shangri-La” in the American heartland.
Nath argues that refugee resettlement is far more than a bureaucratic endpoint. Instead, it is a continuous, multi-generational journey shaped by what she calls “emotional geographies.” While the resettlement of more than 113,000 refugees worldwide—96,000 of them in the United States—stands as one of the most statistically successful efforts in history, she contends that the so-called “durable solution” remains incomplete on a human level. The transition from refugee camps to American cities requires a delicate negotiation between structural assimilation and cultural preservation.
Through this lens, Nath shows that “Shangri-La” is neither a lost homeland in Bhutan nor an assured reality in the West. Rather, it is a shifting identity forged through resilience. For Bhutanese-Nepali refugees, the meaning of homeland has evolved—from a fractured memory of a betrayed Himalayan paradise to a transnational emotional geography that spans continents. In time, the United States has become not simply a place of exile, but a negotiated, permanent home.
This work stands as both an important scholarly contribution to migration studies and a tribute to the remarkable strength of the human spirit.