(Re)Imagining Educational Futures for Refugees and Asylum-seekers: A Photovoice Study of Forced Displacement and Schooling

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 1:45 pm - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Explorations of identity and belonging in/through arts based educational research

Abstract

Our research utilizes photovoice to explore how refugee and asylum-seeking students discuss navigating integration in American schools and broader society after forced displacement, with a focus on a school district in North Dakota. Given the current political climate affecting the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers across the United States, it is essential for the educational research community to critically (re)imagine the learners’ educational futures in ways that center justice, belonging, and human dignity. Drawing from a feminist postcolonial lens, our study examines how the students define and construct support in their U.S.-based host communities. We collaborated with 20 high school students to co-create knowledge through visual and textual narratives that center on their lived experiences.

Authors

• Pempho Chinkondenji, University of North Dakota

• Giovanni E. Whyte, University of North Dakota

• Celine Mudahakana, University of Massachusetts - Amherst