Representations of the refugee subject in educational discourse

Every year, more people are displaced from their homes and forced to seek assistance from a global community that is increasingly reluctant to help. The refugee has therefore become a common and polarizing symbol in international debate. In the media, politics, and social discourse, refugee portrayals are flat and reductive—a contrast to the diverse backgrounds and experiences I have born witness to in my own work with refugees.

This multiple article dissertation is an attempt to understand, if not reconcile, the differences between refugees’ experiences and their portrayals, and to explore how those portrayals are taken up in educational contexts. All three included studies examine a different site of learning. In the first study, I analyze social studies lesson plans about refugees from 8th-12th grade curricula, and how refugee portrayals subtly reinforce national identity and borders. The second study turns attention to the ways space and time are used in constructing the refugee journey story by analyzing educational videos available online. And in the third study, I talk to volunteer tutors about how racial dynamics enter into the teaching and learning interaction. Individually, these three studies offer snapshots into the ways refugee portrayals are created and communicated in schools and sites of learning. Collectively, they further knowledge about the social creation of boundaries and borders, as well as offering a window into the possibilities for us to intervene and transform the walls between us.