Accumulating resilience : an investigation of the migration and resettlement experiences of young Sudanese people in the Western Sydney area

Abstract

This thesis examines the development of resilience among young Sudanese refugees in Western Sydney and how the accumulative nature of resilience contributes to their ability to settle effectively in Australia. For young Sudanese people, resilience is best explored as a set of common and accumulative capacities for recovery, adaptability and growth in relation to experiences of trauma, adversity and hardship in Sudan, en route to Australia, and during settlement in Australia. A defining feature of resilience among Sudanese young people relates to their ability to reinterpret and draw upon "negative" experiences as productive cultural resources, which assists in the acquisition of new educational and vocational skills, knowledges and competencies. Resilience is not a clearly defined category or destination, and as such, the assumption that there are universal or predetermined pathways to some irreversible, absolute state of resilience is problematic. In drawing on Bourdieu's emphasis on the cumulative nature of human capacities, this thesis argues that resilience accumulation is multi-directional and multi-sourced in terms of being highly contingent on pre- and post-arrival migration trajectories. Critiquing the early psychological discourse on resilience that defines the phenomenon largely as an individual trait or set of behaviours, this thesis highlights the interaction between the individual and the sociocultural aspects of resilience. In conceptualising resilience as a broad 'meta-capacity', each chapter explores various sub-components and supporting practices that feed into processes of resilience accumulation. These sub-components attend to key debates around the present- and future-orientation of hopefulness, as discussed by Parse (1999), Hage (2002b) and Zournazi (2002), universalising Western modes and models for classifying and treating trauma, Ahmed (2004) and Probyn's (1996) emphasis on the affective nature of societal belonging, Bottrell's (2007, 2009b) conceptualisation of resistance as a form of resilience, Agier's (2002) ethnographic investigation of symbolic and material resourcefulness among refugee camp inhabitants, as well as the work of Baldassar (2008) and Velayutham and Wise (2005) on transnational obligations, return migration and home visits. Drawing largely on qualitative, face-to-face interviews with young Sudanese people and other relevant community stakeholders, I argue that these sub-components and the broader capacity for resilience are realised through the symbolic ideal and pragmatic acquisition of educational capabilities. "Successful" educational transition and participation is predicated on the acquisition of relevant and valued skills, knowledge and capacities, which can help young people achieve their educational and vocational aspirations as well as participate in caregiving relationships within and across a number of social fields.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	English