Belonging or Not? West African Youth's Negotiations of Everyday Spaces

• In Event: 81.032 - MTCC Roundtable Session 37
  In Roundtable Session: 81.032-6 - Cartographies of Black Educational Experiences: Spaces, Memories, and Mentorship

Abstract

This paper expands research on immigration by specifically studying the spatial experiences of belonging among African youth. The racial and cultural challenges of African youth are under-researched. Among existent literature, scholars attend to how families, schools, peers, and media act on youth and make different identities salient across contexts. We bring a spatial lens to this literature. Through discussions and activities in an afterschool Africa Clubs at two NYC schools, we explore processes and spaces of belonging. In continuing attention to family, school, and technology, we examine these as place-worlds wherein people’s identities and bodies interact with the intentions of place. We look at how the youth move and identify themselves within and against dominant conceptualizations of these places.

Authors

• Sandra Schmidt, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Michelle G. Knight-Manuel, Teachers College, Columbia University