Beyond Survival: Centring an Anti-colonial, Anti-orientalist and Trauma-Informed Approach for Muslim Refugee Students

This chapter explores the challenges and lived experiences of Muslim refugee students and their caregivers in the schooling system through an anti-colonial, and anti-orientalist framework. Drawing upon the work of Edward Said, George Dei and other anti-colonial scholars, the authors question the deficit-based perception that educators hold of Muslim refugee students. Schooling becomes a site of discrimination, systemic barriers, racism and Islamophobia often reducing refugee students to poverty, trauma, lack and backwardness. The intersection of being a refugee and Muslim heightens the impact of oppression on students as they experience on-going alienation. This deficit thinking and preconceived notions for refugee students often hinder their academic success, progress and overall well-being. When students’ identities and their sense of belonging are in question and are devalued, the very notion of integration becomes problematic. The authors come together as three deeply concerned Muslim women, two as educators, one social worker – moved by both frustration and hope, to delve on our own experiences with refugee students and their ongoing challenges. With an anti-colonial, anti-orientalist and trauma-informed lens, the authors hope to offer some possibilities for a more equitable, just and affirming future for our refugee students. This chapter will end with recommendations for educators, policymakers, school boards, teachers, guidance counsellors and settlement workers to interrogate current practices, resist marginalization, and centre an inclusive healing space for all refugee students to succeed.