Can the Displaced Speak? Muslim Girls Negotiating Identity, Home, and Belonging Through PhotoVoice

• In Event: Photo/Voice, Film, and Visual Literacy in Arts-Based Educational Research

Abstract

This paper reports on a photovoice project conducted with Muslim refugee girls attending one urban community school in Canada to reflect on their identities, displacement, settlement and schooling. Using photovoice allowed these girls to tell their stories. The participants came from different backgrounds, but share being Muslim and becoming refugees. The paper highlights a) the impact of the school environment, culture and leadership in enhancing the sense of (un)belonging among Muslim and refugee youth, b) the different challenges these girls encounter in their settlement journeys as Muslims, refugees, young and racialized women in Canada and c) the potential of Arts -Based /visual participatory methods to engage marginalized students in educational research .

Author

• Neila Miled, The University of British Columbia