Exploring the lives and educational aspirations of marginalised migrant youth: a case study in Johannesburg, South Africa

[摘要] English: As the migration phenomenon gains momentum, South Africa processes high volumes of refugee applications, particularly from neighbouring countries. One of the largest groups migrating is that of youths, in search of alternative livelihoods and opportunities in education and employment. In pursuit of these opportunities, challenges such as obtaining official documentation as well as resistance, intolerance and animosity from local residents are faced. Consequently, many unanswered questions remain on how the experiences of migrant youth influence their aspirations and desire for educational continuation or achievement. Although there are a number of studies on educational aspirations of migrant youth, most of these have focused on the Global North; there has not been an in-depth focus on individual educational aspirations of youth in the South-to-South migration context. Thus, this thesis seeks to provide additional insight into South-to-South mobility and marginalised migrant youths' educational aspirations. Through exploring the educational aspirations and developmental opportunities available to this group of youths, I argue that the capabilities approach (CA) provides a comprehensive framework, which incorporates diverse and complex challenges of migration, cutting across and beyond social, political, cultural and economic contexts. The use of the CA in this study not only acknowledges the complex nature of migration, but also demonstrates that human mobility, in addition to being a capability on its own, is an integral part of human development. This is illustrated by an assessment of available opportunities for migrant youth to expand their choices, as well as their capacity to improve other dimensions of their lives, such as an opportunity for education.The study adopts an interpretivist paradigm, which draws on concepts that are important in understanding people's actions and behaviours, such as agency, opportunities, and being and doing in seeking to answer the following questions: (i) what are the everyday experiences of marginalised migrant youth in Johannesburg, South Africa? (ii) What educational aspirations do the marginalised migrant youth have? (iii) Which capabilities and functionings do they value? (iv) What advocacy strategies do the participants suggestbe put in place to support their educational aspirations? Data was collected using in-depth narrative interviews with 26 migrant youth who had accessed refugee services at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. After preliminary open coding of individual interviews, a focus group was conducted to discuss some of the issues that emerged from individual interviews. Additional interviews were conducted with representatives from the refugee centre and Albert Street School respectively in order to gain detailed insight into migrant experiences.Two key findings emerged from this study. Firstly, resources to achieve educational aspirations for migrant youth remain constrained in all key dimensions: political, social, and economic. With these constraints, opportunities for accessing higher education also become limited. As such, these narratives on educational aspirations have also shown that a gap in the literature on marginalised migrants and education extends to other dimensions. These include issues of access, experiences within higher education institutions, as well as achievement in higher education for the few migrant youth that have opportunities to progress further in education. Secondly, aspirations are complex and multidimensional, as is the environment that shapes them. Such complexity requires an in-depth and comprehensive analysis, as a simplistic understanding may overlook the lived realities of marginalised groups. Thus, I provide a new conceptualisation of aspirations intersecting along the axes of agency and structural conversion factors. Based on this conceptualisation I present an argument for four types of aspirations, namely resigned, powerful, persistent and frustrated aspirations. This construction of aspirations provides a different way of thinking about aspirations formation in contexts of marginalisation, disadvantage and vulnerability experienced by migrant youth in the study, as well as others living in similar environments. Furthermore, the thesis presents the intersectionality of conversion factors in the migrant youths' lives and how this intersectionality influences their educational aspirations.

[发布机构] University of the Free State