"This, What We Go Through. People Should Know:" Refugee Girls Constructing Identity

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dc.contributor.authorBoutwell, Laura R.en
dc.contributor.committeecochairPowell, Katrina M.en
dc.contributor.committeecochairSmith, Barbara Ellenen
dc.contributor.committeememberBrandt, Carolen
dc.contributor.committeememberKiecolt, K. Jillen
dc.contributor.committeememberKim, Minjeongen
dc.contributor.departmentSociologyen
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-22T15:14:41Zen
dc.date.adate2011-06-05en
dc.date.available2016-09-22T15:14:41Zen
dc.date.issued2011-03-30en
dc.date.rdate2015-04-22en
dc.date.sdate2011-04-12en
dc.description.abstractThis study examines ways in which African and Afro-Caribbean refugee girls and young women negotiate and perform identity in varied social contexts. Designed as youth-centered participatory action research, the study draws from three years of engagement with a group of refugee girls, ages 11-23, from Somalia, Liberia, Haiti, Burundi, and Sudan. The research occurred in the broader context of The Imani Nailah Project, a program I initiated for refugee middle and high school girls in May 2008. Through in-depth interviews, youth-led focus groups, and arts-based research, Imani researchers (study participants) and I explored experiences and expressions of gender, race/ethnicity, nationality, age, religion and citizenship status, as well as the intersections among these multiply-located identities. This study spans a wide range of identity negotiations and performances, from micro-level interactions to macro-level impacts of dominant culture. Three interrelated chapters focus on programmatic, methodological, and theoretical components of the dissertation research: (a) how refugee girls and university volunteers pursue mutual learning within a service context; (b) how girl-centered participatory action research can serve as a vehicle towards relational activism, and (c) how broader discourses of othering shape the salience of refugee and citizen identities in the lives of refugee girls. Combined, these articles expand our understanding of how refugee girls narrate self as they participate in and contribute to multiple social worlds.en
dc.description.degreePh. D.en
dc.identifier.otheretd-04122011-232312en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04122011-232312/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/72997en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectArts-Based Inquiryen
dc.subjectBelongingen
dc.subjectCitizenshipen
dc.subjectGirls' Studiesen
dc.subjectIdentityen
dc.subjectMutual Learningen
dc.subjectOtheringen
dc.subjectParticipatory Action Researchen
dc.subjectQualitative Researchen
dc.subjectRefugee Youthen
dc.subjectService-Learningen
dc.subjectWomen's Studiesen
dc.subjectYouth Developmenten
dc.title"This, What We Go Through. People Should Know:" Refugee Girls Constructing Identityen
dc.typeDissertationen
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
thesis.degree.disciplineSociologyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.namePh. D.en

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