IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v10y2021i8p296-d608903.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Renegotiating Identity and Agency in Everyday Oppression: Experiences of Forced Migrant Youth in Malaysia

Author

Listed:
  • Debra Torok

    (Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada)

  • Jessica Ball

    (School of Child and Youth Care, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada)

Abstract

This study explored how forced migrant youth in transit renegotiated their identity and agency after fleeing their homes and sociocultural connections, and while enduring ongoing precarity in a new, oppressive sociopolitical environment in Malaysia. As Malaysia is a non-signatory state that denies legal status to forced migrants, youth face significant structural barriers that constrain their capacities to participate in society and explore their identity. Using an innovative Peer Mediated Storyboard Narrative method (PMSN), thirteen adolescents visually depicted and then explained how their experiences of forced migration affected their sense of self, belonging, and future. Participants were receiving non-formal education and services from a migrant-serving agency in Malaysia while awaiting UNHCR adjudication of their application for resettlement. Youths’ transcribed narratives were the focus of analysis using constructivist grounded theory (CGT). Youth described a process whereby renegotiating identity was inextricably linked to (re)claiming agency, if only in situated ways, as they navigated oppression, discrimination, and rejection. Their renegotiation of identity involved (re)evaluating loss and opportunity, (re)constructing belonging, and working through prescribed identities. As youth renegotiated identities, they continuously sought to recreate agency, or a sense of ownership, over their experiences and stories. Their agency was situated within seemingly ordinary assertions of preserving and expanding their identities, forging spaces of belonging, and defining their own narratives rather than accepting prescribed identities. Perceived family support, duration of stay in Malaysia, and experiences as a girl or boy within their communities were key elements that shaped youths’ negotiation. Far from being passive recipients of circumstance, forced migrant youth strategically navigated systemic oppression and actively strove to reconstruct their identity and ownership over their experiences.

Suggested Citation

  • Debra Torok & Jessica Ball, 2021. "Renegotiating Identity and Agency in Everyday Oppression: Experiences of Forced Migrant Youth in Malaysia," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:8:p:296-:d:608903
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/8/296/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/8/296/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. DiFulvio, Gloria T., 2011. "Sexual minority youth, social connection and resilience: From personal struggle to collective identity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(10), pages 1611-1617, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Motalebi, Nasim & Martin-Shields, Charles, 2023. "Refugee-led organisations and intersectionality: Feminist development policy in the lives of refugees," IDOS Policy Briefs 5/2023, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Bonn.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Noble-Carr, Debbie & Barker, Justin & McArthur, Morag & Woodman, Elise, 2014. "Improving practice: The importance of connections in establishing positive identity and meaning in the lives of vulnerable young people," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P3), pages 389-396.
    2. González Álvarez, Rodrigo & Hofman, Sterre & ten Brummelaar, Mijntje & López López, Mónica, 2023. "Care professionals’ perspectives and roles on resilience among LGBTQIA+ youth in out-of-home care: A multidimensional perspective," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    3. Tina Fetner & Athena Elafros, 2015. "The GSA Difference: LGBTQ and Ally Experiences in High Schools with and without Gay-Straight Alliances," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-19, August.
    4. Chan, Randolph C.H. & Mak, Winnie W.S., 2021. "Resistance as a form of resilience in sexual and gender minorities: Differential moderating roles of collective action on the discrimination–depression relationship among sexual minority men and women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    5. Francisco Perales, 2016. "The Costs of Being “Different”: Sexual Identity and Subjective Wellbeing over the Life Course," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 827-849, June.
    6. Rice, Jessica L. & Tan, Tony Xing & Li, Yanzheng, 2021. "In their voices: Experiences of adolescents during involuntary psychiatric hospitalization," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    7. Zeev Hille & Hannes Ulrich & Vera Maren Straßburger & Pichit Buspavanich, 2024. "Social networks of men who have sex with men engaging in chemsex in Germany: differences in social resources and sexual health," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:8:p:296-:d:608903. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.