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Addressing societal discourses: negotiating an employable identity as a former refugee

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posted on 2021-11-09, 21:09 authored by Emily Greenbank, Meredith Marra
This paper explores a critical area of refugee resettlement, namely securing stable, desirable employment in host nations. When telling their ‘narratives of flight’, our analytic focus, refugees demonstrate discursive agency and identities that conflict with a societal stereotype of vulnerability and helplessness that employers might expect. Insights suggest opportunities for new ways of supporting former refugees to find appropriate employment in a context in which their agency may be constrained and their strengths overlooked. This includes challenges to wider societal discourses and a two-way strategy where onus is placed on ‘hosts’ as much as on newcomers.

History

Preferred citation

Greenbank, E. & Marra, M. (2020). Addressing societal discourses: negotiating an employable identity as a former refugee. Language and Intercultural Communication, 20(2), 110-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2020.1722147

Journal title

Language and Intercultural Communication

Volume

20

Issue

2

Publication date

2020-03-03

Pagination

110-124

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Publication status

Published

Online publication date

2020-02-20

ISSN

1470-8477

eISSN

1747-759X

Language

en

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