Narrating loss, anxiety and hope: Immigrant youth׳s narratives of belonging and citizenship

Abstract

The article offers insights into the cultural, historical and political discourses that shape displaced Bhutanese-Nepali youth׳s reading of what citizenship is and what citizenship can be. The article argues for the need to recognize how displaced communities desire to reclaim legal and cultural citizenship in response to the oppressions they have encountered. The article explores the politics that have produced refugee subjects and how displaced communities interpret the meaning of citizenship in response to the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee climate in the United States (and in the world). The research similarly documents how citizenship narratives can speak of anxiety and loss that communities have experienced and how youth resist interpretations of citizenship that privilege national affiliations. The research advocates that social studies researchers engage with how displaced communities conceptualize citizenship in relation to their experiences and histories of displacement. The article also calls for the need to recognize how transnational and cultural aspect of citizenship shapes marginalized people׳s everyday experiences.