Educational Participation, Self-Identification, and Linguistic Practices of Middle Eastern Refugee Youth in Canada

Abstract

This research explores the educational participation, cultural identification, and linguistic practices of Middle Eastern refugee youth in Vancouver, Canada. Twenty refugee youth aged 15 to 30 participated in this critical ethnography that provided new information about the impacts of pre- and post-migration experiences on their educational attainment, language, and identity construction. Evidence reported here indicates that refugee youth are subject to institutional challenges in both their home and host countries. The youth experienced educational assimilation, biased curriculum, and language discrimination with devastating impacts on their educational participation and overall well-being. In response, this study indicates that young people resist assimilation and racism in educational and wider social settings. This study further suggests that refugee youths’ educational experiences, linguistic practices, self-identification, and well-being should be examined in relation to their pre- and post-migration experiences, and the dominant meta-narratives of their home and host countries (e.g., nationalism).

Citation

Kayaalp, D. (2023), "Educational Participation, Self-Identification, and Linguistic Practices of Middle Eastern Refugee Youth in Canada", Wiseman, A.W. and Damaschke-Deitrick, L. (Ed.) Education for Refugees and Forced (Im)Migrants Across Time and Context (International Perspectives on Education and Society, Vol. 45), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 253-271. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-367920230000045014