Refugee youth identities and ‘Identification’ complexities

Abstract

Horn of Africa (HOA) youth are represented as “misfits” in conventional hosting societies; and “backward” when they retreat to their traditional identities and cultural practices. The ways in which the youth talk about themselves vary, yet they are rarely explored. This study explored how HOA youth represent themselves, and how those identities vary cross cultural spaces. The need to better understand refugee youth beyond conventional 'cultural competency' formulations in social work practice is discussed.The presentation focuses on how refugee youth from the Horn of Africa embody identities that may facilitate and/or limit their survival strategies in hosting societies. Focus groups were conducted to explore how the youth represent themselves. Unlike conventional images and representations of refugee youth, HOA youth talked about themselves as embodying American and cultural identities, including those they embrace from varied cultural practices in their environment. The identities the youth talked about are complex in that they didn’t represent themselves as American or African, this or that; but rather as this and that, and beyond. Considering such complexities of HOA refugee youth identities in social work practice becomes essential to better understand the youth, and inform policy-practice, beyond the required cultural competency in our practice.