'The Happiest Refugee' By Anh Do

Displaced people are people who are forced to leave their home, often due to war, persecution, neglect or abuse. To be displaced is to be separated from a physical place of belonging, one's self, one's friends and family, one's belongings or to be divided from other aspects of their life. Anh Do's memoir ' The Happiest Refugee' and Missy Higgins' song 'Oh Canada', along with the video clip express ideas and experiences of displaced persons.

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Displacement often leads to experiences of dehumanisation, racism, fear, loss of family and friends, alienation, physical harm and, in severe circumstances, death. Despite these negative experiences, positive aspects also exist, such as escaping danger, finding safety and living a better life.

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Anh Do’s memoir, ‘The Happiest Refugee’, explores ideas of displacement by retelling his

Three-year-old Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi was found on a beach in Turkey, face-down in the sand. Alan and his family were fleeing Syria to escape the war and the occupation of Syria by the Islamic State, in hopes of reaching Canada. Impacts of this displacement include dispossession, fear, dehumanisation, despair, loss of identity and the tragic death of Alan, his brother and his mother.

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The lyrics make symbolic references to arms and include rhetorical questions along with metaphoric representations and personifications of Canada. “Won’t you open up your arms towards the sea?” is a metaphor which refers to Canada and other developed countries embracing and accepting refugees to prevent tragedies like Alan Kurdi’s case from reoccurring. In the film clip, this is symbolised as literal hands rising from the ocean, supporting the refugees and carrying the boat towards the moon, a representation of hope and the future, and as an angelic being, made from the sun, physically embracing the boat.