Belonging and Becoming in a Multicultural World: Refugee Youth and the Pursuit of Identity [Paperback]

Children and youth are front and center in the context of global mass migration and the social discord around questions of multicultural inclusion that it often ignites. Imprecise portrayals of their inclination to either embrace diversity or to incite racism are used to exemplify both the success and failures of the multicultural project. In the context of young people’s heightened politicization, Open Access volumeBelonging and Becoming in a Multicultural Worldshifts the focus to a group of Sudanese and Karen refugee youth’s own insights, explanations and practices as they attempt to create a sense of identity and belonging in Australia. These young people engage race, racism and national identity in creative and unexpected ways as they are confronted with the social and moral implications of multiculturalism.

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 Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Brisbane, Australia,Belonging and Becoming in a Multicultural Worldprovides a critical analysis of the shortcomings and underpinning contradictions of modern multicultural inclusion. It demonstrates how creating a sense of identity among young Sudanese and Karen refugees is a continual process shaped by powerful social forces.LAURA MORAN is a cultural anthropologist who researches issues of youth and identity, race and ethnicity, the refugee experience, and multicultural inclusion. She lives in the northeastern United States.