This phenomenological study draws from postmodern, and post-positivist theories to describe and explain Somali high school students’ perception and experience of racialization. It explains how the experience of racialization and its impact on embodied perception of self and other are key factors in how Somali youth experience school. Two questions guide this study: 1) How do schooling experiences influence how Somali students are positioned by school staff, peers, and how they position themselves? 2) How do Somali students experience and make sense of racialization. To investigate these questions, I interviewed nine high school Somali immigrant and refugee students about their school experiences. Connecting narrative accounts of lived experience to racialized identities based on visibility of race and religion. My findings show that Somali youth’s interpretation and understanding of racial situations depended on the degree to which they understood and internalized mainstream American discourse about Muslims, and immigrants. My analysis indicates that the production of racialized identities had more to do with how Somali students perceive racial situations in their school communities.
Brief Bio:
Nimo Abdi is a Post Doctoral Associate in Curriculum and Instruction. I am hosted in the culture and teaching program. My research interest explores immigrant and refugee education through lenses of experience and identity.
I engage an interdisciplinary lens in studying the intersection of race, religion, gender and class in immigrant and refugee education. In my research I draw from Postmodern and Post-positivist theories to 1) explore, and rethink about the notion of embodied experiences in the lives of immigrant/refugee youth and their families; 2) to engage social structure and condition both in the school and community and link them to immigrant/refugee youth identity development. By focusing on student voice, my research, teaching and service seek to inform school policies geared toward creating inclusive school environment for all students.
Currently, I am involved in an ongoing phenomenological study that explores 1.5 and second generation Somali immigrant youth in Columbus, Ohio. My primary questions ask how the visibility of race and religion are negotiated in an urban school and community context by Somali youth.