The Canadian Adolescent Refugee Experience
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Living Within Hyphenated Paradoxes – The Canadian Adolescent Refugee Experience SOFIA NOORI A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO September 2020 © Sofia Noori, 2020 ABSTRACT In 2018, the Canadian government admitted 46,500 refugees. This followed a remarkable record resettlement of Syrian refugees in Canada from 2015–17, with just under half aged 17 or younger. This dissertation addresses how adolescent refugees negotiate the issues and aftermath of living in civil unrest, war, migration, transitory states, refugee camps, and resettlement. I analyze published memoirs and vlogs by Canadians who were adolescent refugees when they arrived in this country. By highlighting the life stories of ten Canadians who experienced varying degrees of “refugee-ness,” I argue that these asylum seekers contend with paradoxical claims to their subjectivities. While witnessing conflicts and camps traumatizes these young people, they successfully achieve independence and greater stability after settling in Canada. Shifting cultural practices informed by their native and host countries are factors that influence refugee’s sense of identity liminalities: being too young, too old, not westernized enough, not native enough, lacking schooling and wanting academic accolades. Readings of their narratives informed by psychoanalysis and postcolonial theory show that young refugees employ ancestral coping mechanisms, intellectualization, and sublimation to make meaning from their experienced losses and grief. Fanon’s and Said’s theories address the violent colonial context of exile and alienation. Anna Freud and Winnicott explain the internal mechanisms of resistance. In the native land, children inherit epistemologies of coping to survive and make sense of the atrocities they witness. During escape plans, young asylum seekers come to face their greatest fear and reality of losing their loved ones and voices. The disorganized and inhumane conditions of refugee camps further develop an inferiority complex. For the fortunate ones who make it to Canada, they must navigate through refugee boards, schools, and formalities that position them as outsiders. Ultimately this dissertation provides a platform for the various socio- political complexities and challenges (acculturation, enculturation, racism, sexism, relationships, learning) that adolescent ii refugees must bring to a functional cohesion as they form a sense of self and stability from the chaotic marginal world they are emerging from. iii DEDICATION In loving memory of the Muhajirin children of Salih Noor & Mariam Mohamed Ali and the Ansar who helped these children establish homes away from home. May all your love and sacrifices be accepted and rewarded with countless returns in this life & the hereafter. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must acknowledge the Almighty for the innumerable blessings I have had and especially the ability, health and good fortune to create and complete this research project. I appreciate my parents so much but especially for their selfless sacrifices, patience and dedication to raising me with strong values and high ambitions. Their perseverance and love for their faith and education will forever be characteristics that I wish to emulate. Masouma and Sadiqa Nooristani have been sources of incredible female strength and inspiration. Heartfelt thank you to my siblings their ongoing support and love. I would like to thank members of my committee. I extend my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Professor Livy Visano for his guidance. I am very thankful for his personal and emotional support, on which I could always rely. I am grateful to my first reader Distinguished Research Professor Deborah Britzman, who shared with me her time and expertise. Her honest and critical reading of my work coupled with a genuine interest and respect for my personal and professional growth has been invaluable. Thank you to Professor Aparna Mishra-Tarc for her insight. I am also grateful to the member of my examining committee for their careful reading and consideration of my work. For the friendships that became kinship, I am eternally grateful to my peers Dr. Sabina Mirza for consistently blurring and analyzing the lines between fantasy and reality and Dr. Tim Brian for his constant critical questioning and stretching our academic capabilities. Dr. Ritvo has been incredibly thoughtful in counseling me. Special thanks are due to Dr. Daniel McNeil for remaining a kind teacher since my first year of undergrad, Dr. Gamal Abdel-Shahid and Dr. Zahir Kolia for mentoring me throughout my graduate studies. I am indebted to my editing team Dr. Jonathan Adjemian and Michael Bannon. I am grateful to Dr. Aziz Guzel, Dr. Savitri Persaud, (Dr.) Onyekachi Nwake, Dr. Ola Mohamed, Anam Nomani, Sylvan Fanor and Freddy D. for being integral parts of my support system. The Ally and Mirza families have been my home away from home and I could not have reached this point without their constant encouragement. It is important to thank York University’s Faculty of Graduate Studies, York University’s Department of Social and Political Thought, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903 for funding support throughout my the years of study. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ……………………………………… ii Dedication ……………………………………… iii Acknowledgements ……………………………………… iv Table of Contents ……………………………………… v A Preface Afterwards ……………………………………… viii Abbreviations ……………………………………… xvi Chapter 1: Issues within the Hyphenated Paradox ................................................... 1 2015: A turning point ……………………………………… 4 Literature Review ……………………………………… 8 Adolescence ……………………………………… 8 Refugee ……………………………………… 11 Trauma ……………………………………… 12 Resilience ……………………………………… 15 Psychoanalysis and Postcolonialism ……………………………………… 17 Central Argument ……………………………………… 20 Chapter Summaries ……………………………………… 22 Chapter 2: Subjectivity- Analytic Approaches & Designs ………………………….. 25 Refugees as the Colonial Other ……………………………………… 28 Adolescent State of Mind ……………………………………… 34 Nascence of Subjectivity ……………………………………… 38 Compounded Trauma ……………………………………… 46 From Melancholy to Resilience ……………………………………… 52 Narrative Methodology ……………………………………… 56 Textual Analysis vs. Interviews ……………………………………… 58 Limits to Voicing ……………………………………… 60 Biographies ……………………………………… 63 Carmen Aguirre ……………………………………… 63 Nahlah Ayed ……………………………………… 63 Nguyen An Tinh ……………………………………… 64 Ayenda Dube ……………………………………… 65 Stephanie Gasana ……………………………………… 65 Deeqa Ibrahim ……………………………………… 65 Meryem Saci ……………………………………… 66 Vox Sambou ……………………………………… 66 Leontine Uwababyeyi ……………………………………… 66 Sundus Abdul Hadi ……………………………………… 67 Yassin Alsalman ……………………………………… 67 Conclusion ……………………………………… 67 Chapter 3: Birthing Refugee Subjectivity.................................................................. 68 Delinking Empire ……………………………………… 68 Overcoming Crippling Estrangement .….………………………………… 74 Deracinated by Degrees ……………………………………… 75 Dreamers’ Desires ……………………………………… 77 Nostalgia ……………………………………… 78 vi Conclusion ……………………………………… 82 Chapter 4: War ……………………………. ………………………………… 83 … in the Streets ………………………………… 84 … on Family ………………………………… 89 … on Dress ………………………………… 91 … in School ………………………………… 94 rebelling against… ………………………………… 95 Conclusion ………………………………… 100 Chapter 5: Escape and Homelessness ……………………………. .......................... 101 Wade in the Water …………………………………… 101 Pretoria …………………………………… 105 Money Matters …………………………………… 108 Secrecy …………………………………… 113 Honor Thyself …………………………………… 117 Imaginative Retreats …………………………………… 121 Take Half an Onion to School …………………………………… 124 Conclusion …………………………………… 129 Chapter 6: Paradoxical Spaces for Paradoxical Subjects ………………………….. 131 Judgment …………………………………… 132 Shattering Silent Racism …………………………………… 136 Janitors …………………………………… 142 Right to Safe Haven …………………………………… 145 Somebody’s Future Success …………………………………… 148 In-Between-ness …………………………………… 152 Community …………………………………… 157 Sublimation …………………………………… 161 Writing Stories …………………………………… 162 Music …………………………………… 165 [(in) formal] Schooling …………………………………… 169 Intellectualization …………………………………… 177 Conclusion …………………………………… 181 Chapter 7: Interrogation of Hyphenation …………………………………………..…. 182 Theory of Paradoxical Hyphenated Subjectivity ……………………………… 182 Approaches to Identity Crisis ……………………………… 186 Learning from the Adolescent Refugee Narratives ……………………………… 191 Recommendations ……………………………… 193 References ………………………………………………………….……….. 199 Vitae Auctoris ………………………………………………………….………… 214 vii A Preface Afterwards A girl is born into a family with a long history of anticolonial, socio-political participation. Her father’s organizing against the Soviet-led military invasion wins him a position on a blacklist and makes the family move underground. A few months after the birth of his daughter, he receives word that the family is at risk of being found out. This time, they make arrangements to leave the country. The infant child goes with her mother and grandmother on a bus across the border and he travels separately across the mountainous terrain, on foot. The girl’s parents reunite at a family friends’ house in the neighboring country, several weeks later. The husband and wife work tirelessly as educators to support and develop the refugee camp schools for the next three years. The little girl grows very fond of schooling and after the family