Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Finding Better Ways to Support Resettled Refugee Families: Dealing with Intergenerational Conflict

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Children and Forced Migration

Abstract

This chapter considers the experiences of resettled refugee families dealing with intergenerational conflict. Based on multisited ethnography with Australian South Sudanese youth, adults, and the workers supporting them, the author demonstrates how well-intended, yet inappropriate, intervention from authorities led to negative results. The chapter explores how transitions within settling families take place in the context of cultural, economic, social, and legal structures, which can support or constrain their efforts to reconstruct their lives. It chapter concludes by identifying alternative strategies from government and social institutions to better support refugee children and youth navigating their developmental transition in the context of resettlement.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The category includes unmarried, single, separated, divorced, and widowed (Lucas et al. 2013).

  2. 2.

    Although, it needs to be acknowledged that as a consequence of colonization, civil wars, and subsequent destruction, the transference of a nuanced conception of culture has suffered and often what has remained is a more one-dimensional interpretation of the original culture (Deng 1998).

  3. 3.

    There are more than 200 ethnic groups in South Sudan. Although culturally diverse, nearly all tribes there are part of the Nilotic culture. Thus, the presentation of South Sudanese cultures in this chapter is the dominant shared understanding among the Nilotic people originating from South Sudan.

  4. 4.

    Unmarried men and women in their 20s are considered youth in South Sudanese cultures; they live with their family and are subject to their parents’ authority (Deng 1972, 1990; Hutchinson 1996).

Works Cited

  • Ager, A., and A. Strang. 2008. Understanding Integration: A Conceptual Framework. Journal of Refugee Studies 21(2): 166–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atwell, R., S.M. Gifford, and B. McDonald-Wilmsen. 2009. Resettled Refugee Families and Their Children’s Futures: Coherence, Hope and Support. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 40(5): 677–697.

    Google Scholar 

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2011. QuickStats Country of Birth. Census Data, 2011. Canberra: AUS: ABS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, V. 1995. Games of Engagement: Postures Within the Regulatory Community. Law and Policy 17: 225–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2009. Defiance in Taxation and Governance: Resisting and Dismissing Authority in a Democracy. Cheltenham, UK/Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, J. 2011. The Essence of Responsive Regulation. UBC Law Review 44(3): 475–520.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braithwaite, V., N. Harris, and M. Ivec. 2009. Seeking to Clarify Child Protection’s Regulatory Principles. Communities, Children and Families Australia 4(1): 5–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bronfenbrenner, U. 1979. The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassity, E., and G. Gow. 2005. Making Up for Lost Time: The Experiences of Southern Sudanese Young Refugees in High Schools. Youth Studies Australia 24(3): 51–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. 2006. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colic-Peisker, V., and F. Tilbury. 2003. Active and Passive Resettlement: The Influence of Support Services and Refugees’ Own Resources on Resettlement Style. International Migration 41(5): 61–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danermark, B., M. Ekström, L. Jakobsen, and J.C. Karlsson. 2002. Explaining Society. Critical Realism in the Social Sciences. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deng, F.M. 1972. The Dinka of the Sudan. Prospect Heights: Waveland Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1990. A Cultural Approach to Human Rights Among the Dinka. In Human Rights, Southern Voices, ed. W. Twining, 44–52. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1998. Human Rights, Universalism and Democracy. In Human Rights, Southern Voices: Francis M. Deng, Abdullahi An-Na’im, Yash Ghai and Upendra Baxi, ed. W. Twining, 30–44. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doney, G., R. Eckert, and E. Pittaway. 2010. African Women Talking: “We Want the Best Thing for Our Family”. Sydney: University of New South Wales, Centre for Refugee Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Earnest, J., T. Housen, and S. Gillieatt. 2007. Adolescent and Young Refugee Perspectives on Psychosocial Well-Being. Perth, Western Australia: Centre for International Health, Curtin University of Technology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hebbani, A., L. Obijiofor, and H. Bristed. 2009. Generational Differences Faced by Sudanese Refugee Women Settling in Australia. Intercultural Communication Studies 28(1): 66–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutchinson, S.E. 1996. Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War, and the State. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hwang, W. 2006. Acculturative Family Distancing: Theory, Research and Clinical Practice. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice and Training 43: 397–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kotchick, B.A., and R. Forehand. 2002. Putting Parenting in Perspective: A Discussion of the Contextual Factors that Shape Parenting Practices. Journal of Child and Family Studies 11: 255–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambert, W. 1987. The Fate of Old-Country Values in a New Land: A Cross-National Study of Child Rearing. Canadian Psychology 28(1): 9–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewig, K., F. Arney, and M. Salveron. 2010. Challenges to Parenting in a New Culture: Implications for Child and Family Welfare. Evaluation and Program Planning 33(3): 324–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Losoncz, I. 2013. Absence of Respect: South Sudanese Experiences of Australian Government and Social Institutions. PhD dissertation, Australian National University, Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, D., M. Jamali, and B. Edgar. 2013. A Statistical Profile of the Sudan-Born in Australia. In Sudanese Diaspora in Australia and New Zealand: Reconciling the Past with the Present, ed. J.M. Marlowe, A. Harris, and T. Lyons, 48–66. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Makwarimba, E., M. Stewart, L. Simich, K. Makumbe, E. Shizha, and S. Anderson. 2013. Sudanese and Somali Refugees in Canada: Social Support Needs and Preferences. International Migration 51(5): 106–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marlowe, J.M. 2013. South Sudanese Resettlement: Acculturation Strategies and Social Capital. In Sudanese Diaspora in Australia and New Zealand: Reconciling the Past with the Present, ed. Jay M. Marlowe, Anne M. Harris, and Tanya Lyons. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Migrant Information Centre. 2008. Family Violence Within the Southern Sudanese Community. Migrant Information Centre, Eastern Melbourne: Project evaluation report. Melbourne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner, K., and N.G. Khawaja. 2010. Sudanese Refugees in Australia: The Impact of Acculturation Stress. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology 4(1): 19–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ochocka, J., and R. Janzen. 2008. Immigrant Parenting: A New Framework of Understanding. Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies 6(1): 85–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olliff, L. 2008. Playing for the Future: The Role of Sport and Recreation in Supporting Refugee Young People To ‘Settle Well’ in Australia. Youth Studies Australia 27(1): 52–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pittaway, E., and C. Muli. 2009. We Have a Voice—Hear Us. The Settlement Experiences of Refugees and Migrants from the Horn of Africa. Sydney: Centre for Refugee Research, University of New South Wales.

    Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A., and P. Landholdt. 1996. The Downside of Social Capital. The American Prospect 26: 18–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R.D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Run, P. 2012. ‘Out of Place’?An Auto-Ethnography of Refuge and Postcolonial Exile. African Identities iFirst: 1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, D., B. Dooley, and C. Benson. 2008. Theoretical Perspectives on Postmigration Adaptation and Psychological Well-Being Among Refugees: Towards a Resource-Based Model. Journal of Refugee Studies 21(1): 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steinberg, L. 2001. We Know Some Things: Parent–Adolescent Relationships in Retrospect and Prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence 11(1): 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNHCR. 2006. The State of the World’s Refugees: Human Displacement in the New Millennium. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varela, R.E., E.M. Vernberg, J.J. Sanchez-Sosa, A. Riveros, M. Mitchell, and J. Mashunkashey. 2004. Parenting Style of Mexican, Mexican American, and Caucasian-Non-Hispanic Families: Social Context and Cultural Influences. Journal of Family Psychology 18: 651–657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet), Australian National University (ANU), Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Ibolya (Ibi) Losoncz

Authors
  1. Ibolya (Ibi) Losoncz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

    Marisa O. Ensor

  2. Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA

    Elżbieta M. Goździak

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Losoncz, I.(. (2016). Finding Better Ways to Support Resettled Refugee Families: Dealing with Intergenerational Conflict. In: Ensor, M., Goździak, E. (eds) Children and Forced Migration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40691-6_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40691-6_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40690-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40691-6

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation