Paper short abstract:

Processes of belonging and integration of migrant and refugee children occur both in schools and in informal public spaces. Combining tools from urban studies and classic school ethnographies, and drawing on studies from Uganda, Israel and USA, I look at interrelations of place-making and learning.

Paper long abstract:

In this presentation I wish to share a comparative look at three different studies in Uganda, Israel and USA, focusing on displaced children in capital and border urban areas. Sharing methodological insights and empirical findings, I aim to provide a layered understanding of refugee integration by focusing on the varied perceptions of migration, locality, and senses of belonging that children have in the school and neighborhood spaces. Based on in-depth neighborhood analysis, school ethnography, and GIS mapping techniques, I looked at how refugee and migrant children are affected by local history and geographies of migration, educational opportunities in their specific localities, as well as the relative vulnerabilities and histories with donor organizations.

As integration is inherently contextualized, I investigated both their intersecting identities and how the local, social, and political context shapes the schooling experiences of refugee children, linking their experiences to broader ‘lived everyday geographies’ (Mankiw, 2015). These not only define children’s access and quality of education, but their opportunities for social mobility, interaction opportunities with other city residents and the way their sense of place shapes their learning and wellbeing . Analyzing these experiences within the specific contexts, but also comparing transnationally, provides insights on how place and education interrelate in different national-historical contexts. Expanding the scope of inquiry beyond legal migration boundaries and beyond the school premises, exemplifies how anthropology of education can be repurposed to look at the lived experiences of displaced children in urban contexts.