African Refugee Youth's Experiences of Navigating Different Cultures in Canada: A "Push and Pull" Experience.

Roberta L Woodgate,David Shiyokha Busolo

doi:10.3390/ijerph18042063

Abstract

Refugee youth face challenges in navigating different cultures in destination countries and require better support. However, we know little about the adaptation experiences of African refugee youth in Canada. Accordingly, this paper presents the adaptation experiences of African refugee youth and makes recommendations for ways to support youth. Twenty-eight youth took part in semi-structured interviews. Using a thematic analysis approach, qualitative data revealed four themes of: (1) ‘disruption in the family,’ where youth talked about being separated from their parent(s) and the effect on their adaptation; (2) ‘our cultures are different,’ where youth shared differences between African and mainstream Canadian culture; (3) ‘searching for identity: a cultural struggle,’ where youth narrated their struggles in finding identity; and (4) ‘learning the new culture,’ where youth narrated how they navigate African and Canadian culture. Overall, the youth presented with challenges in adapting to cultures in Canada and highlighted how these struggles were influenced by their migration journey. To promote better settlement and adaptation, youth could benefit from supports and activities that promote cultural awareness with attention to their migration experiences. Service providers could benefit from newcomer-friendly and culturally sensitive training on salient ways of how experiences of multiple cultures affect integration outcomes.

Highlights

Refugee youth form a considerable proportion of the migrant population and their adaptation to the Canadian society is crucial
In 2016, 1.2 million new migrants had settled in Canada in the preceding five years and refugee youth made up 12.4%
The youth arrived in Canada as refugees with 7 (25%) of them being unaccompanied, 15 (53.6%)

Summary

Introduction

Refugee youth form a considerable proportion of the migrant population and their adaptation to the Canadian society is crucial. The youth experience challenges with education [5], careers [6], legal, and employment system [7]. They must work at finding a balance between the culture from their country of origin and the mainstream culture of Canada. Refugees may utilize acculturation processes of integration, assimilation, marginalization, and separation [8]. Assimilation involves immigrants and refugees seeking distance from their heritage, while placing effort into blending into the mainstream culture. Marginalization involves situations where immigrants and refugees may not want to associate with either the mainstream, or their heritage culture. Separation on the other hand, refers to circumstances where newcomers seek to stay with people from their culture while avoiding the mainstream culture [2]

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