Abstract
The objective of this research study is to offer a glimpse into the lives of some newly-arrived students of different racial, linguistic and religious backgrounds as they confront the process of immigration and therefore personal and social displacement within the context of a Toronto inner-city high school. These students carry with them hidden but enduring scars that influence all aspects of their educational lives. In many cases their experience is steeped in trauma. Using auto-ethnographic methodology, this research is devoted to giving voice to these students who inhabit a space filled with suffering and loss but also resilience and cautious hope. If we really care about these vulnerable students in our classrooms, we must rethink and reshape our understanding of teaching and learning that is more fundamentally linked to the lived experiences of students coming from places of war and other oppressions. These issues are crucial for the future of nation-building and citizenship education in pluralistic Western societies such as Canada, both in and out of school.
Résumé
Recadrer les espaces de traumatisme : réflexions autoethnographiques sur l’expérience de migrants réfugiés dans un lycée des quartiers déshérités de Toronto – Cette étude de recherche a pour objectif de fournir un aperçu de la vie de nouveaux arrivants issus de divers contextes raciaux, linguistiques et religieux, confrontés à l’immigration et donc à un déracinement personnel et social, dans le contexte d’un lycée des quartiers déshérités de Toronto. Ces élèves portent en eux des stigmates invisibles mais durables qui influencent tous les aspects de leur vie éducative. Leur expérience est souvent imprégnée de traumatismes. Au moyen d’une méthodologie autoethnographique, cette étude s’attache à faire entendre la voix de ces élèves, qui habitent un espace empli de souffrances et de pertes, mais possèdent aussi une faculté de récupération et de timides espoirs. Si nous nous intéressons vraiment à ces élèves défavorisés présents dans nos classes, nous devons repenser et remodeler notre conception de l’enseignement et de l’apprentissage, pour les relier de manière plus fondamentale à l’expérience qu’ils ont vécue, venant de foyers de conflits armés et d’autres contextes oppressifs. Ces préoccupations sont décisives pour l’édification de la nation de demain et pour l’éducation à la citoyenneté, tant à l’intérieur qu’à l’extérieur des établissements scolaires, au sein des sociétés pluralistes telles que le Canada.
Zusammenfassung
Neuabgrenzung von Bereichen des Traumas: autoethnografische Reflexionen zu Einwanderungs- und Fluchterfahrungen an einer High School in der Innenstadt von Toronto – Diese Untersuchung soll Einblick in das Leben einiger vor Kurzem eingewanderter Schülerinnen und Schüler mit jeweils unterschiedlichem ethnischem, sprachlichem und religiösem Hintergrund gewähren, und wie diese sich im Kontext einer High School in der Innenstadt Torontos mit dem Prozess der Einwanderung und damit auch ihrer persönlichen und sozialen Vertreibung auseinandersetzen. Diese Schülerinnen und Schüler tragen versteckte, aber bleibende Narben mit sich herum, die alle Aspekte ihres Bildungsweges beeinflussen. In vielen Fällen sind ihre Erfahrungen von Trauma durchdrungen. Mit autoethnografischen Methoden macht es sich die vorliegende Forschungsarbeit zur Aufgabe, diesen Schülerinnen und Schülern, deren Leben von Leid und Verlust, aber auch von Widerstandskraft und vorsichtiger Hoffnung erfüllt ist, eine Stimme zu geben. Wenn wir uns wirklich um diese verletzlichen Schülerinnen und Schüler in unseren Klassen sorgen, dann müssen wir unsere Auffassung von Lehren und Lernen überdenken und so verändern, dass sie in grundlegender Weise die gelebten Erfahrungen von Schülerinnen und Schülern aufgreift, die aus Gebieten kommen, in denen Krieg und Unterdrückung herrschen. Dies ist entscheidend für die Zukunft des Nation-Building und der bürgerschaftlichen Bildung in pluralistischen westlichen Gesellschaften wie Kanada, und zwar innerhalb ebenso wie außerhalb der Schule.
Resumen
Re-delinear fronteras en espacios del trauma: reflexiones auto-etnográficas de los inmigrantes y experiencias de refugiados en una escuela secundaria de una zona céntrica pobre de Toronto –Resumen. El objetivo de este estudio es ofrecer una mirada a las vidas de algunos estudiantes recién llegados –con trasfondos raciales, lingüísticos y religiosos diferentes–, cuando enfrentan el proceso de inmigración y por lo tanto un desplazamiento personal y social dentro del contexto de una escuela secundaria en una zona céntrica pobre de Toronto. Estos estudiantes llevan cicatrices ocultas, pero persistentes, que influyen sobre todos los aspectos de sus vidas educativas. En muchos casos, su experiencia está compenetrada por el trauma. Usando una metodología auto-etnográfica, esta investigación está dedicada a dar una voz a aquéllos estudiantes que habitan un espacio lleno de sufrimientos y pérdidas, pero también de capacidad de resistencia y prudente esperanza. Si realmente nos preocupamos por estos estudiantes vulnerables en nuestras aulas, debemos reconsiderar y reestructurar nuestro concepto de enseñanza y aprendizaje para que, fundamentalmente, esté más relacionado con las experiencias vividas por estudiantes que vienen de zonas de guerra y otras opresiones. Estos temas son cruciales para el futuro de una construcción de nación y educación ciudadana en sociedades pluralistas occidentales, tales como Canadá; tanto dentro como fuera de la escuela.
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Notes
All participants’ names are pseudonyms.
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Feuerverger, G. Re-bordering spaces of trauma: auto-ethnographic reflections on the immigrant and refugee experience in an inner-city high school in Toronto. Int Rev Educ 57, 357–375 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-011-9207-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-011-9207-y