Paperwork Selves and Arab Refugee Girls’ Experiences of Resettlement in Tennessee

Abstract

For refugees, the experience of displacement does not always end with resettlement. Multidisciplinary research with educators and refugee students at a Tennessee high school demonstrates how some school personnel prioritized the alienating concept of so-called paperwork selves when talking about their refugee students, highlighting exotic stereotypes of innocence, ignorance, and a lack of educational history. I focus here on educators’ perceptions of Arabic-speaking refugee girl students, and contrast these with the girls’ own words about their experiences and self-understanding. The girls’ narratives demonstrate their keen sense of identity as young women connected to real places, remembered histories, and imaginaries of a future as transnational young women with global possibilities.