Engaging the “Between:” Working with Refugee-Background Students and Families amid Complexity

• In Event: Rooted in Care: Imagining Inclusive and Sustainable Educational Futures for Refugees

Abstract

Purpose
In line with the conference theme and the reminder that “an important first step is looking back to look forward,” this presentation incorporates this intentionality in examining and suggesting sustainable educational practices for refugee youth. Sustainable practices need to begin with reflection and recognition of current, ongoing work. At the same time, we continue to learn, repeatedly, of the remaining work needed, of the reframing that continues to be necessary, as we aim to work justly and equitably towards educational practices that also sustain newcomers’ identities, agency and flourishing beyond survival.
Theoretical Framework
Too often, refugee-background youth are positioned in the world through the interpretative lenses of others. In this context, we draw on framing principles in critical refugee studies where refugee epistemologies and experiences ground the work (Hong, 2020) with the intention “to center refugee lives and the creative and critical potentiality that such lives offer” (CRSC, 2024).
Modes of Inquiry and Evidence
Through findings from empirical work in educational and community spaces such as classrooms, churches and community classes, we argue for foregrounding newcomers’ self-definition processes as on-going and formative – processes enacted upon both as means of adaptation to the new context of reception and as ways of resistance to confining or dehumanizing labels and narratives. We invite educators to a conversation on educational practices that move beyond labels and seek what is possible in the tensions that occur in the midst of the complex work with refugee youth. These are “in-between” spaces – often uncertain spaces of seemingly opposed approaches or positions – where we need to act in order to sustain and cultivate the youth’s agency to define the parameters of belonging and participation. We examine and highlight these uneasy juxtapositions that make the work with refugees so consistently complex, because they often elude evident or straightforward choices in response and practice, just as refugee families and youth themselves have to often inhabit the “between,” the precarious and the uncertain.
Conclusions and Significance
We invite educators to reflect on and add to them, as we continue to learn alongside refugee youth and their families. First, we invite re-evaluation of student categorizations upon their arrival in school, just as we acknowledge their necessity, discussing how designations might inadvertently limit students and prevent them from receiving appropriate supports. We then encourage a shift from simply providing and encouraging empathy in school communities – while recognizing the important intentions behind such initiatives – to committing to principled and purpose-driven action in schools, including rethinking school structures and operations to better support newcomer youth. Overall, we argue for actively advocating in our work for school initiatives and curriculum that support the agency and highlight the cultural and individual contributions of youth from refugee backgrounds and their families, creating opportunities to develop their own sense of agency in learning, recognizing histories and making space for self-definition and the extent to which newcomers and refugee-background youth wish to engage with these histories.

Authors

• Ramona M. Fruja, Bucknell University

• Kevin C. Roxas, Western Washington University