Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T22:36:03.321Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 4 - Higher Education in Exile

Developing a Sense of Self, Belonging and Purpose for Newcomer Youth

from Part I - Encountering Marginalisation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2020

By
Vidur Chopra  and
Sarah Dryden-Peterson
Edited by
Jacqueline Bhabha ,
Wenona Giles  and
Faraaz Mahomed
Jacqueline Bhabha
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Wenona Giles
Affiliation:
York University, Toronto
Faraaz Mahomed
Affiliation:
FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
Get access

Summary

This chapter examines higher education opportunities and inequalities encountered by recently arrived immigrants in the United States. Through the portrait of one recently arrived Syrian youth in the United States, the chapter examines experiences of public education, particularly within the context of community college, an important social institution for newly arrived newcomer youth to the United States. The authors develop a conceptual framework that situates newcomers’ educational and life experiences at the intersections of a sense of self, belonging and purpose. Rarely do educational institutions recognise the confluences of these different factors, address newcomer youth’s pre-arrival experiences and educational trajectories or provide explicit support to navigate the socio-cultural scripts young people experiencing forced migration confront in unfamiliar host societies. The chapter argues that the obligation for building caring, inclusive and welcoming communities rests not only on newcomers but equally on long-time residents, particularly those within higher educational institutions. With community colleges and other higher education institutions in the United States poised to educate increasingly diverse student populations in the near future, this chapter begins filling gaps in understandings to enable higher education programmes that develop newcomer youths’ sense of self, belonging and purpose in connection with their academic institutions.

Keywords

Belongingcommunity collegeshigher educationSyriayouth
Type
Chapter
Information
A Better Future
The Role of Higher Education for Displaced and Marginalised People
 , pp. 84 - 105
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abu El-Haj, T. R. (2007). ‘I Was Born Here, but My Home, It’s Not Here’: Educating for Democratic Citizenship in an Era of Transnational Migration and Global Conflict. Harvard Educational Review, 77(3), 285–316.Google Scholar
Abu El-Haj, T. R. (2015). Unsettled Belonging: Educating Palestinian American Youth after 9/11. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Addams, J. (2008 [1908]). The Public School and the Immigrant Child. In Flinders, D. J. & Thornton, S. J. (eds.), The Curriculum Studies Reader (pp. 25–27). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging Adulthood: A Theory of Development from the Late Teens through the Twenties. American Psychologist, 55(5), 469–480. DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.55.5.469Google Scholar
Bajaj, M., & Bartlett, L. (2017). Critical Transnational Curriculum for Immigrant and Refugee Students. Curriculum Inquiry, 47(1), 25–35. DOI:10.1080/03626784.2016.1254499Google Scholar
Bajaj, M., Ghaffar-Kucher, A., & Desai, K. (2016). Brown Bodies and Xenophobic Bullying in US Schools: Critical Analysis and Strategies for Action. Harvard Educational Review, 86(4), 481–505.Google Scholar
Bartlett, L., Mendenhall, M., & Ghaffar-Kucher, A. (2017). Culture in Acculturation: Refugee Youth’s Schooling Experiences in International Schools in New York City. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 60, 109–119. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2017.04.005Google Scholar
Bigelow, M. (2010). Mogadishu on the Mississippi: Language, Racialized Identity, and Education in a New Land. Chichester, West Sussex, UK; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Brinkerhoff, J. M. (2011). Diasporas and Conflict Societies: Conflict Entrepreneurs, Competing Interests or Contributors to Stability and Development? Conflict, Security & Development, 11(2), 115–143.Google Scholar
Camarota, S. A., & Zeigler, K. (2017). 1.8 Million Immigrants Likely Arrived in 2016, Matching Highest Level in U.S. History. Washington, DC: https://cis.org/sites/default/files/2018–01/numbers-dec-17_0.pdfGoogle Scholar
Chopra, V. (2018). Learning to Belong, Belonging to Learn: Syrian Refugee Youths’ Pursuits of Education, Membership and Stability in Lebanon. Unpublished Dissertation (EdD), Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Council on American-Islamic Relations (2017). Unshakable: The Bullying of Muslim Students and the Unwavering Movement to Eradicate It. California Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and is an online report https://ca.cair.com/sacval/news/2017-bullying-report/Google Scholar
Crawley, H., & Skleparis, D. (2018). Refugees, Migrants, Neither, Both: Categorical Fetishism and the Politics of Bounding in Europe’s ‘Migration Crisis’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44(1), 48–64. DOI:10.1080/1369183X.2017.1348224Google Scholar
Dryden-Peterson, S. (2017). Family–school relationships in Immigrant Children’s Well-Being: The Intersection of Demographics and School Culture in the Experiences of Black African Immigrants in the United States. Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(4), 1–17. DOI:10.1080/13613324.2017.1294562Google Scholar
Dryden-Peterson, S., Dahya, N., & Adelman, E. (2017). Pathways to Educational Success among Refugees: Connecting Local and Global Resources. American Educational Research Journal, 54(6), 1011–1047.Google Scholar
Dryden-Peterson, S., & Reddick, C. (2017). ‘When I am a President of Guinea’: Resettled Refugees Traversing Education in Search of a Future. European Education, 49(4), 253–275.Google Scholar
Dryden-Peterson, S., & Reddick, C. (2019). ‘What I Believe Can Rescue that Nation’: Diaspora Working Transnationally to Transform Education in Fragility and Conflict. Comparative Education Review, 63(2), 213–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durrani, M. (2016). Normalization is Control: Telling Stories to Survive. http://religiondispatches.org/normalization-is-control-telling-stories-to-survive/Google Scholar
Erisman, W., & Looney, S. (2007). Opening the Door to the American Dream: Increasing Higher Education Access and Success for Immigrants. Washington, DC: www.ihep.org/sites/default/files/uploads/docs/pubs/openingthedoor.pdfGoogle Scholar
Freedom House (2011). Freedom in the World: Syria. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2011/syriaGoogle Scholar
Gahungu, A., Gahungu, O., & Luseno, F. (2011). Educating Culturally Displaced Students with Truncated Formal Education (CDS-TFE): The Case of Refugee Students and Challenges for Administration, Teachers, and Counselors. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 6(2), 1–19.Google Scholar
Ghiso, M. P., & Campano, G. (2013). Coloniality and Education: Negotiating Discourses of Immigration in Schools and Communities through Border Thinking. Equity & Excellence in Education, 46(2), 252–269. DOI:10.1080/10665684.2013.779160Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2011). World Report 2011. New York: Human Rights Watch. www.hrw.org/world-report/2011/country-chapters/syriaGoogle Scholar
Isik-Ercan, Z. (2012). In Pursuit of a New Perspective in the Education of Children of the Refugees: Advocacy for the ‘Family’. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 12(4), 3025–3038.Google Scholar
Iskander, N. N. (2010). Creative State: Forty Years of Migration and Development Policy in Morocco and Mexico. Ithaca: ILR Press.Google Scholar
Katsiaficas, D., Suárez-Orozco, C., & Dias, S. I. (2015). ‘When Do I Feel Like an Adult?’: Latino and Afro-Caribbean Immigrant-Origin Community College Students’ Conceptualizations and Experiences of (Emerging) Adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 3(2), 98–112. DOI:10.1177/2167696814548059Google Scholar
Lawrence-Lightfoot, S. (2005). Reflections on Portraiture: A Dialogue between Art and Science. Qualitative Inquiry, 11(1), 3–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence-Lightfoot, S., & Davis, J. H. (1997). The Art and Science of Portraiture. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Levitt, P., & Jaworsky, B. N. (2007). Transnational Migration Studies: Past Developments and Future Trends. Annual Review of Sociology, 33, 129–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyons, T. (2007). Conflict-Generated Diasporas and Transnational Politics in Ethiopia. Conflict, Security & Development, 7(4), 529–549.Google Scholar
McBrien, J. L. (2005). Educational Needs and Barriers for Refugee Students in the United States: A Review of the Literature. Review of Educational Research, 75(3), 329–364.Google Scholar
McBrien, J. L. (2011). The Importance of Context: Vietnamese, Somali, and Iranian Refugee Mothers Discuss Their Resettled Lives and Involvement in Their Children’s Schools. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 41(1), 75–90.Google Scholar
Mendenhall, M., Bartlett, L., & Ghaffar-Kucher, A. (2017). ‘If You Need Help, They are Always There for Us’: Education for Refugees in an International High School in NYC. The Urban Review, 49(1), 1–25. DOI:10.1007/s11256-016-0379-4Google Scholar
Nielsen, T. M., & Riddle, L. (2009). Investing in Peace: The Motivational Dynamics of Diaspora Investment in Post-Conflict Economies. Journal of Business Ethics, 89(4), 435–448. DOI:10.1007/s10551-010-0399-zGoogle Scholar
Nykiel-Herbert, B. (2010). Iraqi Refugee Students: From a Collection of Aliens to a Community of Learners. Multicultural Education, 17(3), 2–14.Google Scholar
Olneck, M. R. (2008). American Public Schooling and European Immigrants in the Early Twentieth Century: A Post-Revisionist Synthesis. In Reese, W. J. & Rury, J. L. (eds.), Rethinking the History of American Education, 1st edn (pp. 103–141). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Portes, A. (1998). Children of Immigrants: Segmented Assimilation and Its Determinants. In Portes, A. (ed.), The Economic Sociology of Immigration (pp. 248–279). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Prior, M. A., & Niesz, T. (2013). Refugee Children’s Adaptation to American Early Childhood Classrooms: A Narrative Inquiry. The Qualitative Report, 18(39), 1–17.Google Scholar
Shafer, L. (2016). Dismantling Islamophobia. www.gse.harvard.edu/news/uk/16/11/dismantling-islamophobiaGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, D., Dundar, A., Huie, F., Wakhungu, P. K., Yuan, X., Nathan, A., & Hwang, Y. (2017). Tracking Transfer: Measures of Effectiveness in Helping Community College Students to Complete Bachelor’s Degrees. Herndon, VA: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/SignatureReport13_corrected.pdfGoogle Scholar
Szelényi, K., & Chang, J. C. (2002). ERIC Review: Educating Immigrants: The Community College Role. Community College Review, 30(2), 55–73. DOI:10.1177/009155210203000204Google Scholar
Szente, J., Hoot, J., & Taylor, D. (2006). Responding to the Special Needs of Refugee Children: Practical Ideas for Teachers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(1), 15–20.Google Scholar
Teranishi, R. T., Suárez-Orozco, C., & Suárez-Orozco, M. (2011). Immigrants in Community Colleges. The Future of Children, 21(1), 153–169.Google Scholar
UNHCR (2018). Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2017. Geneva: UNHCR.Google Scholar
Van Hear, N. (2006). Refugees in Diaspora: From Durable Solutions to Transnational Relations. Refuge, 23(1), 9–14.Google Scholar
Walker-Dalhouse, D., & Dalhouse, A. D. (2009). When Two Elephants Fight the Grass Suffers: Parents and Teachers Working Together to Support the Literacy Development of Sudanese Youth. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 25(2), 328–335.Google Scholar
Yuval-Davis, N. (2006). Belonging and the Politics of Belonging. Patterns of Prejudice, 40(3), 197–214. DOI:10.1080/00313220600769331Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×