Borders and Belonging: Displaced Syrian Youth Navigating Symbolic Boundaries in Lebanon

 

Summary

This research article examines the ways young Syrian refugees perceive and navigate the symbolic boundaries of belonging when displaced in Lebanon.

The authors identify three dimensions of belonging for refugees: safety, dignity, and relationships. They find that educational spaces, such as formal school and informal volunteering experiences, are places where refugee young people are at times able to blur bright boundaries of belonging. They also find that this belonging is tenuous and serves to reinforce boundaries of citizenship, rights, and everyday practices that exclude refugee young people.

Key Takeaways

We offer the following practical steps and actions based on this research below (click to expand).

+ For Policymakers


INSIGHTS ACTIONS
Syrian young people describe an aspirational sense of belonging, rooted in safety, dignity, and relationships. ➟ Enact and enforce policies that provide support and justice for those living in fear of persecution.
While host countries expand spaces of inclusion, such as access to schools, they also exclude refugees from work or legal status, thus shrinking spaces for belonging. ➟ Extend spaces of belonging to economic, political, and social contexts through policies that grant legal status and the right to work.
Syrian young people aspire for their education to help confront and navigate the ways in which they felt excluded from Lebanese society and institutions. Educational spaces are places where refugee young people are at times able to overcome these boundaries that prevent belonging. ➟ Equip schools to advance inclusion efforts and provide leadership in creating spaces of safety, dignity, and relationships, supporting collaboration with other actors.

+ For Educators


INSIGHTS ACTIONS
Young Syrian refugees experience boundaries in daily life. They encounter physical and psychological risks of sharing their identities and political views, struggle to find dignity and work, and face challenges in pursuing an education. ➟ Foster safe and welcoming classroom communities that account for refugees’ experiences without sensationalizing. Model respect of identities and views in discussions and address discrimination.
Teachers can act as an ally for refugee students, who may not have allies to turn to in their other daily settings. ➟ Communicate an openness to refugee students’ realities, while countering exclusion explicitly in classroom interactions.
Young Syrian refugees found spaces for safety, dignity, and relationships within Syrian organizations, rather than Lebanese institutions. ➟ Help connect refugee students to organizations with which they can find belonging. Explore opportunities for collaboration with home country organizations that students enjoy and feel comfortable with.

+ For Researchers


FURTHER RESEARCH IS NEEDED TO EXAMINE:
  • How schools can actively resist and counter boundaries of belonging established in interactions in the host country to instead serve as spaces that blur and redefine those boundaries;

  • Ways that informal learning can afford opportunities to develop the “navigational capacities” to negotiate and blur boundaries of belonging and how transferable these skills might be to formal educational spaces, especially when these skills are not explicitly taught.

Citation (APA): Chopra, V., & Dryden-Peterson, S. (2020). Borders and belonging: Displaced Syrian youth navigating symbolic boundaries in Lebanon. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 18(4), 449–463.

 
Integration & BelongingSarah Dryden-PetersonBelonging, Citizenship, For Educators, Civic Education