African Refugee Youths’ Stories of Surviving Trauma and Transition in U.S. Public Schools

Abstract

The educational landscape for the United States has continued to shift with the arrival of African Muslim youth with refugee status. This phenomenological study examines the lived experiences of college-aged refugees (ages 18-22) attending various public (community and 4-year) colleges in the western United States. The participants' (N=12) narratives address the carryover effects of trauma including the challenges of racism, discrimination, and Islamophobia. This discussion further explores the ways in which African refugee youth navigate and survive these sometimes discouraging challenges within their school setting. The findings suggested that strong parental bonds, religiosity, ethnic and cultural solidarity, as well as youths' determination and motivation to attain their academic goals counterbalanced hostile experiences from their U.S.-born peers. This article concludes by (a) proposing that educators look beyond curriculum goals and the depersonalized structures, and (b) reasserting the important role of social workers in academic institutions providing culturally responsive mental health services to African Muslim students from refugee backgrounds.

National Immigration Receiving Contexts

“…A study in Norway demonstrated a positive effect of cultural competence and social support on refugee youth’s abilities to handle discrimination, even with high levels of overall mental distress (Oppedal & Idsoe, 2015). In the US, African Muslim adolescents were interviewed in a qualitative study about their adjustment to public schools; a prominent theme of their narratives focused on Islamophobia, discrimination, and racism (Haffejee, 2015); Somali refugee adolescents also experienced discrimination in the US (Ellis et al, 2016).…”

Divergent paths, same destiny: A Bourdieusian perspective on refugee families' negotiation of urban school transition in the US

“…It was clear that the urban school and its context, filled with danger and crimes, would not help to accumulate the kind of cultural capital that enabled post-secondary education. While some children may make it to college against all odds, most will probably not, as documented in other studies (Gans, 2009;Haffejee, 2015;McWilliams & Bonet, 2016). Similarly, the ESL programme may have subtracted the multilingual cultural capital that these children brought with them and also the academic literacy that they needed to succeed in the mainstream classrooms.…”

“…At the macro level, public funding cuts had led to a lack of support services, resulting in refugee students being left to sink or swim in ‘schools in crisis’ (McWilliams & Bonet, , p. 164). At the micro level, school curriculum and spaces have been unwelcoming to refugee (and immigrant) students with different linguistic, cultural, ethnic, or religious backgrounds (Haffejee, ). As Gitlin, Buendia, Crosland, & Doumnia () documented, these students were marginalised in school programmes; and this marginalisation was ‘motivated by employment issues, the concerns of local businesses, fear of potential violence, and the wish to maintain an academic advantage’ (p. 91) among teachers, mainstream students and the local white community surrounding the school.…”

The educational, social, and emotional impact of COVID19 on Rohingya refugee youth: Implications for educators and policymakers

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