Counterstories to the Refugee Narrative: Syrian Students Speak Back

• In Event: Immigration and Indigeneity: Stories, Knowledges, and Literacies

Abstract

Recent scholarship on refugee education mainly examines K-12 schooling in resettlement contexts in the Global North, neglecting the asylum settings were most refugees reside and the level of schooling with the largest disparity in participation, higher education. Furthermore, the literature focuses on barriers rather than how refugees overcome them, perpetuating a deficit perspective and the image of refugees as a public burden. This paper presents a collective counter-story to dominant narratives about refugees co-written with 11 Syrians studying in Turkish universities. The students speak back to intersectional linguistic, sociopolitical, and racialized oppression, highlighting their dreams for a successful, free, and mobile future. The paper closes with reflections on critical race praxis in educational research with marginalized populations.

Author

• Melissa Hauber-Özer, University of Missouri - Columbia