Mano CandappaInstitute of Education, University of London

Refugees and asylum-seekers are physically and symbolically ‘out of place’ , the ‘other in our midst’…

(Benhabib, 2004)

Families 'Out of Place'

Displacement and changes in families Displacement and education in a broad

sense Displacement and struggles for formal

education

Two Research Studies: I

‘Extraordinary Childhoods’• ESRC-funded research on the social

roles and social networks of refugee children (Candappa and Egharevba, 2000)

• London-based study• Individual in-depth interviews with 36

refugee girls and boys aged 11-14

Two Research Studies: II

Education and Schooling for Asylum-Seeking and Refugee Pupils in Scotland (Candappa et al., 2007) funded by the Scottish Government• Focus on two Scottish cities• Total of 28 interviews with asylum-

seeking young people and 14 interviews with parents across the two cities

Asylum legislation and policy◦politically sensitive area◦5 major parliamentary acts on asylum since

1990◦progressive reduction in financial and material

supports; compulsory dispersal of people seeking asylum from London and the SE; marginalisation of people seeking asylum from mainstream services

Families 'Out of Place'

Displacement and changes in family Changes in gender role Loss of status of breadwinner Emotionally absent parents Loss of kin networks and implications for

children Loss and family separation Making new families – unaccompanied

children

Displacement and Education in the Broad Sense Original meaning of education

◦ To foster and support the general well-being and development of children and young people

◦ A process of upbringing Parents as providers for children's needs

(material, social, emotional) children as their dependants

Relationships between generations in family can be conceptualised as governed by hierarchical, informal, inter-generational contracts (Alanen and Brady, 1991)

Family Role Reversal through Displacement

Refugee children as language brokers◦ Children's knowledge of language of host country

through schooling makes parents dependent on children in host country

◦ Children's language brokering tasks (Vasquez et al., 1994) become critical to functioning of families, e.g., GPs, hospitals, local authorities

◦ Children's language brokering could involve parents having to reveal intimate details about themselves for transmission to a doctor, previously seen as culturally unacceptable

Family Role Reversal through Displacement Fatma's story

◦ Fatma is a 14 year old Kurdish girl from Turkey. She takes care of her little brother, does housework, cooks the evening meal, while her parents are at work and her older sister is at college

◦ Fatma crucially negotiates with Home Office over her father’s deportation order

◦ Fatma finds herself in ‘intercalary’ position (Gluckman, 1973) facing parent as child and carer at the same time through language brokering

Displacement requires a re-thinking of family roles◦ Different kinds of knowledge created under different

circumstances

Displacement and Struggles for Formal Education

Case study of a dispersal area in Scotland Large numbers of AS in a city where previously

few refugees resided Dispersed AS to be found mostly in deprived

areas of city With dispersal some schools changed almost

overnight from being monolingual and mono-cultural to being multilingual and multicultural

City is now one in only three LAs outside London with more than 2,000 ASR pupils in school population

Displacement and Struggles for Formal Education Case study of a dispersal area in Scotland

Focus on four inclusive schools Compulsory dispersal meant AS highly visible in

community and schools Experiences of ASR students and families ranged

from very positive to very negative Schools largely played a positive part in students'

lives Schools reported to be welcoming to new students and

provided help with settling in Structured supports provided to students new to English

Negative experiences in Displacement Racism and bullying

◦ Evidence that low-level racism and bullying can go unreported for fear of worsening the situation

Out of school issues◦ Racism outside school meant that ASR students

sometimes do not access after-school activities because of perceived personal danger

◦ Fear of street danger restricted children's social lives◦ Some parents believed that racist attacks, though

unreported, happen within as well as outside the school ◦ Somali parents in a deprived area reported stones being

thrown at them and constant verbal abuse

Positive Experiences in Displacement

London: Fatma's hopes for the future◦ ‘From my standing, everyone wants to study and

wants to go off to university and become .. someone (..) I want to continue studying, I want to become an archaeologist, I love that job!'

Glasgow: Irfan's achievements◦ 'I am now the school captain .. the first Asian

school captain, and as school captain I chair the school's Pupil Council. I am also the leader of the Glasgow Student Council...'