Belonging and Becoming in a Multicultural World: Refugee Youth and the Pursuit of Identity

Abstract

and sets out to understand whether race and ethnicity are dominant themes in the making of identities and the broader social environments in which young people with refugee background transpire in the framing of “ multiculturalism ” . This book is based on a rich youth-centred ethnography over a four-year period on the everyday lives of refugee youth, predominantly from North East Africa and South East Asia, in Bris-bane, Australia. The research data were collected with participant observation and semi-structured individual and group interviews. A thoughtful, insightful and fresh account of refugee youth presented in this book allows readers to think on how young people draw upon their racial and ethnic identity to articulate a sense of themselves that responds to multicultural discourses in the Australian context. The author successfully demonstrates how the identity-making practices of young people with refugee background emerge in a dynamic response to multicultural framework.