Seeking a place on the island. Refugee children's experiences of diaspora in England

Lewis, L, 2005. Seeking a place on the island. Refugee children's experiences of diaspora in England. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

This thesis seeks to understand how asylum seeker and refugee children experience the diasporic condition in England. Departing from the post-modern perspective of identity, I examine how their multiple positionalities, such as ethnicity, gender, country of origin, language and religion are appropriated by the host country situating the children as different. I suggest that underlying this process is the issue of racism, which associated with institutional practices and discourses such as discipline, multiculturalism, assimilationism and a belief in child innocence constitute and position these children as the other. I argue that they do not simply accept the deterministic practices that locate them as the other but rather that they act as agents in responding to the discourses and practices.

The main ethnographic work was undertaken in a primary school. This is because of the role and significance the school plays as an institution in producing and reproducing concepts of childhood as well as determining the social spaces to be occupied by different children.

To understand the experience of diaspora in England, other settings and institutions, such as, the house, the family and a charity organisation which works with refugees were also taken into consideration in the interviews and my interactions with the children. Questions related to other conditions were also taken into account like reasons for migration and life history in the country of origin, instead of producing a rigid set of generalisations, I privileged the complexity of what was seen and heard. Thus, deep and contextualised case studies were undertaken with seven children with the purpose of drawing a rounder and more insightful picture of their lives.

Item Type: Thesis
Creators: Lewis, L.
Date: 2005
ISBN: 9781369315905
Identifiers:
Number
Type
PQ10183385
Other
Divisions: Schools > School of Arts and Humanities
Record created by: Linda Sullivan
Date Added: 22 Sep 2020 14:13
Last Modified: 16 Aug 2023 10:26
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/40882

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