Reading the Ink Around Us: How Karen Refugee Youth Are Using Body Art to Express, Contest, and Cope With Resettlement

• In Event: 52.062 - Inclusion and Exclusion Across the Educational Pipeline

Abstract

This study examines refugee youth’s expression of body art to contest and cope with resettlement in the United States. Via informal interviews and artifact analysis, this study found that, through the lens of New Literacies Studies, how youth from the Sgaw Karen of Burma are using tattooing as new communication modes: (a) expressing ethnic, religious, and national identities; (b) telling stories of personal and collective pasts; and (c) contesting stereotypes. Tattoos are seen as agentive portrayal of refugee youth in the resettled society. We encourage teachers and community members to take an inclusive attitude to the diverse population and take a step at better understanding their new students and neighbors.

Authors

• Daniel Gilhooly, University of Central Missouri

• Eunbae Lee, Georgia Southern University