Settlement Strategies for the South Sudanese Community in Melbourne: an Analysis of Employment and Sport Participation
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Settlement Strategies for the South Sudanese Community in Melbourne: An Analysis of Employment and Sport Participation William Bol Deng Abur College of Art and Education Victoria University Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March, 2018 i Abstract People from refugee backgrounds face a range of settlement-related issues. These issues include limited language proficiency, unemployment, constrained recreational opportunities, and an overall lack of community connectedness. These issues can not only be troublesome on a day-to-day basis, but also adversely affect the long-term wellbeing of refugees. On the other hand, being employed, and having the opportunity to engage with the broader community can enhance the settlement process by giving refugees the resources to navigate their settlement, as they are often confused by the foreign values, protocols, and social practices in their new countries. This study tested the above proposition by examining the work and leisure practices of a sample of the South Sudanese community in Melbourne, Australia. Specifically, the research question was: how has employment and sport participation affected the settlement process of Melbourne’s South Sudanese community? The study has three inter-connected strands: first, to identify the scope and scale of these practices; second, to explore the individual and social outcomes that arise from these practices; and, third, to examine the ways in which these practices impact on settlement outcomes. A mixed methods approach – using questionnaires and interviews – was adopted in order to answer the research question. The questionnaires were used to illuminate the role played by work and sport in the lives of members of Melbourne’s South Sudanese community, and to inform the design of in-depth interviews. The interviews were the pivotal conduit for exploring the respondents’ journeys, understanding their resettlement challenges, examining their responses to these challenges, and assessing their current levels of community engagement. The survey and interview questions were framed by a model of capital building and personal power. Based on the work of Pierre Bourdieu (1986) and other scholars, five forms of capital were identified as instrumental in shaping the settlement experiences of refugees: economic, cultural, social, psychological, and physical capital. In each instance, they represent a resource, and a source of power that would – in principle, and as theory would predict – enable refugees to more effectively engage in the settlement process. The ii questionnaire was completed by 243 respondents, while 20 questionnaire-respondents also participated in the in-depth interviews. The findings of this study show that participation by refugees in employment and sport assisted them in accumulating capital, which they considered vitally important for addressing settlement challenges. Most of both survey respondents and interviewees reported that being employed, and participating in sport, were important contributors to their effective settlement in Australia. Respondents understood the importance of integrating into the broader community and building their stocks of capital, but they also found that there were many structural and social barriers to overcome. These barriers – which undermined the capacity of refugees to build their stocks of capital and enhance their settlement – included a lack of language and support services, financial difficulties, racism and discrimination, poor connection to mainstream services, and social isolation. Respondents also believed that these barriers could not always be side-lined and removed by employment and sport participation. In the light of these results, it was concluded that structural and social barriers must also be addressed if there is to be any long-term positive impact from employment and sport participation on South Sudanese refugee settlement in Melbourne. iii Student Declaration I, William Bol Deng Abur, declare that the PhD thesis entitled ‘Settlement Strategies for the South Sudanese Community in Melbourne: An Analysis of Employment and Sport Participation’ is no more than 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work. Signatur rch, 2018 iv Acknowledgements Although I remain the sole author of this thesis, it is in my interest to acknowledge several individuals who have provided some support during the journey of writing this thesis. Some made their contributions throughout my research passage in different ways, including encouragement from elders and young people, and some with simple academic advice and correction. Therefore, I take great pleasure in acknowledging as many individuals as possible, and to thank them for their encouragement, support, and guidance during my busy years of working on this thesis. I thank my initial supervisors, Professor Ramón Spaaij and Professor Bob Stewart, and my supervisors’ Dr Charles Mphande and Dr Paola Bilbrough for their support, guidance, patience, and understanding. You have both persevered with my way of working as each and every individual has her/his own way of doing things. I would also like to thank Dr Peter Ochieng for his input as one of my first supervisors, and all participants who agreed and offered their time to participate in this research in their voluntary capacity. Thank you so much for the extraordinary stories and knowledge that you all shared with me during my data collection. I am moved and inspired by your knowledge of settlement issues and experiences that you collected while struggling with settlement issues in Australia. There are no words to describe how talented you are and how grateful I am to each of you for sharing such small but meaningful stories. I sincerely hope I have done justice to your descriptions of settlement experiences. I thank Dr Diane Brown for copyediting the thesis in accordance with the Australian Standards for Editing Practice (2013) and national IPED/DDOGS university guidelines. I further thank Dr Grant O’Sullivan for formatting the thesis. To my family, I would like to acknowledge and thank each and every one of you for your patience throughout my studying and working life: Elizabeth, Deng, Abur, Awan, and Abitei. You have made life easier and meaningful for me by understanding how important it is for me to complete this study. Elizabeth, I know there were times when it was difficult for you, caring for our children, while I was in the library or elsewhere working on this study. You are a winner and champion of my dream. v Dedication It is my pleasure to dedicate this thesis to my lovely family members, my wife Elizabeth Nyandeng Abuoi, my children Deng, Abur, Awan, and Abitei, and my uncle Marial Abur for his educational dream for me and his guidance from a distance. Also to my late Aunt Akudum Abur, for her blessing when I left my village while my father was sobbing and my siblings crying. I still remember her words of blessing: “Go and you will come back educated like your Uncle Marial Abur; things may happen around you and you will always survive.” I survived a long civil war and many other hardships including life in refugee camps because of your blessing, aunt. Thank you so much for being a great aunt to me; I will always remember you for encouragement and leadership in our family. vi Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................ i Student Declaration ....................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ iv Dedication ......................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................... xii List of Tables ................................................................................................................ xiii List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................ xv Terminology and definitions ....................................................................................... xvi Chapter 1 : Setting the Scene.......................................................................................... 1 1.1 The refugee experiences ....................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research problem and aims ................................................................................ 3 1.3 Statement of significance and research gap ....................................................... 5 1.4 The researcher’s position as an insider and motivation to take the study ...... 6 1.5 Concluding remarks ............................................................................................. 7 1.6 Thesis structure ...................................................................................................