Not Just Surviving School: A Community Program as a Third Space for Burmese Refugee Families

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 7:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Early Childhood, Home Language, and Refugee Family Supports in AANHPI communities

Abstract

Burmese refugee families remain one of the most underrepresented and under-researched groups in education, despite histories of forced displacement, disrupted schooling, and cultural marginalization that shape their resettlement experiences. This study, drawn from a longitudinal ethnographic project, explores how these families navigate educational adaptation and cultural negotiation within the U.S. with the support of BridgeHope (pseudonym). Guided by Third Space Theory (Bhabha, 1994), this phase focuses on the experience of Burmese refugee families. Findings reveal BridgeHope as a culturally sustaining Third Space that fosters emotional safety, agency, and belonging amid trauma-linked parenting and institutional exclusion.

Authors

• Jue Wang, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Lan Quach Kolano, University of North Carolina - Charlotte