African Refugee Youth’s Experiences of Navigating Different Cultures in Canada: A “Push and Pull” Experience

Abstract

Refugee youth face challenges in navigating different cultures in destination countries and require better support. However, we know little about the adaptation experiences of African refugee youth in Canada. Accordingly, this paper presents the adaptation experiences of African refugee youth and makes recommendations for ways to support youth. Twenty-eight youth took part in semi-structured interviews. Using a thematic analysis approach, qualitative data revealed four themes of: (1) ‘disruption in the family,’ where youth talked about being separated from their parent(s) and the effect on their adaptation; (2) ‘our cultures are different,’ where youth shared differences between African and mainstream Canadian culture; (3) ‘searching for identity: a cultural struggle,’ where youth narrated their struggles in finding identity; and (4) ‘learning the new culture,’ where youth narrated how they navigate African and Canadian culture. Overall, the youth presented with challenges in adapting to cultures in Canada and highlighted how these struggles were influenced by their migration journey. To promote better settlement and adaptation, youth could benefit from supports and activities that promote cultural awareness with attention to their migration experiences. Service providers could benefit from newcomer-friendly and culturally sensitive training on salient ways of how experiences of multiple cultures affect integration outcomes.

Future Anxiety Among Young People Affected by War and Armed Conflict: Indicators for Social Work Practice

“…Also, several factors affect the adaptation of immigrant youth, such as turmoil in the family, different culture, the search for identity in the new society, and learning the new culture. Therefore, effective programs are needed to help immigrant youth from diverse cultural backgrounds reduce their fears about the future and facilitate their integration into the new society ( Woodgate & Busolo, 2021 ). Young people who witnessed the events of the conflict need mental health services and appropriate clinical interventions that help them integrate into the new society and eliminate their fears about their future with the continuation of conflicts in their country of origin.…”

South Sudanese or Australian or Both or Caught in Between? A Qualitative Study Examining Identity Among South Sudanese Refugees Living in Sydney, Australia.

“…Employment barriers were exacerbated considering the youth of South Sudanese, with most arriving in Australia under 25 years of age. Our ndings on the relationships between identity formation in relation to work for refugees in different countries are not unusual (43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48). Wehrle et al describe how multiple integration barriers in relation to work and society can also threaten refugees' fundamental identity needs for worth, distinctiveness, continuity, and control (49).…”

Procedures for claimant asylum within Canada, acceptance and rejection

“…Stewart et al (2018) call for additional educator training in intercultural communication and anti-discrimination. Amthor (2017), Lam (2018), Walker and Zuberi (2020), and Woodgate and Busolo (2021) call for teachers to adopt an intersectionality lens (Hankivsky, 2014) as well as a cross-cultural lens to understand the vastly different experiences of each refugee group and individuals within the group. Teachers of students of refugee background would benefit from learning more about the lived experiences of various groups of refugees such as Afghani, Syrian, Tamil, Roma or Sudanese refugees in Canada.…”

“…Several studies have highlighted the importance of recognizing students' backgrounds and pre-migration and post-migration experiences as well as their multiple identities through an intersectional lens (Crenshaw, 2017). For example, Woodgate and Busolo (2021) explain that it is critical for Canadian educators to create opportunities for youth of refugee backgrounds to share their migration experiences and histories of living in other countries to help them adjust to their new life that will contribute to their evolving sense of who they are. Woodgate and Busolo (2021) suggest that this may counter some of the impact of feeling 'othered'.…”