Becoming Myat: A Resettled Refugee Frames, Integrates, and Authors Her Identity

• In Event: 16.028 - Examining Identity to Enhance Learning Opportunities Among Resettled Refugee Youth

Abstract

In this paper, we examine how one resettled refugee teen frames her identity during an after-school writing workshop series entitled Writing our Identities for Successful Endeavors (WISE). In this instructional context, teens voluntarily came together to draft college application essays. Developing an integrated identity, or “a sense of internal consistency of who one is across time and multiple social identities” (Nagaoka et al., 2015, p. 28) can promote young adult success; however, this identity integration may be particularly difficult for resettled refugee youth who are often marginalized in schools (McBrien, 2005).
Viewing identity as a multifaceted collection of multiple understandings (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 2003), we conducted discourse analysis (Erickson, 1992; Wortham & Reyes, 2015) of Myat’s (pseudonym) participation across ten weekly writing workshops. Myat, a Burmese resettled refugee teen, framed her identity around her goal of becoming a teacher. Over time, Myat integrated other features of her identity into her vision of the future. In this identity integration, Myat also recognized the tension of identity as performance versus others’ perceptions and the tension between freedom and responsibility.
Integrating Pieces of Identity: Myat consistently identified as a future teacher in writing and discussion. When questioned why teaching was her aim, Myat initially responded, “What? I’ve never thought…That’s hard to answer.” In later sessions, Myat linked her goal with her community, hobbies, and culture. Connecting her goal with her experiences prior to her resettlement in the US, Myat shared, “I wanna become a teacher, coz like you know, how like, in my lifetime, like our, like in our community, there’s not much teacher … And then, the education wasn’t as much as available like in this country.” Myat also integrated her joy in teaching her younger sister and her desire to pass knowledge on to future generations, creating a more consistent self-image.
Managing Tensions: When a friend asked her what “characteristics” were, Myat explained, “the thing you wanna show people,” indicating a framing of identity as performance. Then, the group discussed how others perceive them as “Chinos” who “know Kung Fu,” which are stereotypes that powerfully contradict who Myat is as a Karenni-Burmese-American youth. Myat also noted that people perceive her as unapproachable, even though she likes making friends.
In another session, Myat discussed adulthood as holding both freedom and responsibility, explaining, “Well, if you are an adult, you have to be more serious. But then, if you are a teenager, you just, like, go out and party. Or, it can be the other way. If you are a teenager, you have to like, graduate that, so then you can move on your life.”
Myat provides an illustrative example of the possibilities for refugee teens who are integrating their identities. By working through the writing of an identity text with peers, Myat was able to think through and bring together multiple aspects of her identity, strengthening her opportunities for young adult success. Implications for identity text workshops are discussed.

Authors

• Caitlin Eley, Vanderbilt Peabody College

• Shannon Mary Daniel, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College