`How Other People See You, It's Like Nothing That's Inside': The Impact of Processes of Disidentification and Disavowal on Young People's Subjectivities

Abstract

In this article we draw on research with young (aged 11 to 18 years old) Somali refugees and asylum seekers currently living in the UK, to explore their narratives of identity in the context of complex histories of mobility. We focus on how processes of disidentification or disavowal impact on young people's subjectivities and are lived out in particular spaces. Specifically, we examine the young people's experiences of having their claims to be British denied, of disidentifying as black, and as having to negotiate the complex ambiguities of being positioned as Somali in the UK but British in Somalia. In the conclusion we reflect on the importance of the young people's emotional investment in the subject position Muslim as an explanation for why they prioritize their faith above their racial, gender or ethno-national identities in their narratives of the self.