Drawing understanding: utilizing narrative-based practices to cultivate humanizing relationships between educators and students who are refugees

Abstract

Refugee youth actively navigate through their lives within and beyond interlocking structures of oppression and violence. They are subjected to narratives about them but not by them, that describe refugees as threats or victims of trauma. Educators must create intentional spaces, while considering youths’ gender, where refugee youth can construct their own narratives and be their own healing agents. Drawing upon critical pedagogy, critical refugee studies, intersectionality, and Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST) scholarship, this qualitative study explores how a trauma-informed narrative-based activity enabled educational youth mentors to engage with students who are refugees in ways that facilitate humanization and healing. Data were used from interviews with tutors (n = 3) who completed the activity with youth ages 13 to 15. Findings suggest that educators felt that refugee youth reflected about their experiences, aspirations, and their emotions, confirming the need for this type of activity in educational spaces.