Abstract:

There are more than 117 million people worldwide who are forcibly displaced or stateless (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2023). The refugee crisis has placed many countries under considerable pressure to accommodate and integrate large numbers of refugees. This is a contemporary reality, and South Africa is no exception. Moving to a new country, forcibly or voluntarily, is a life-changing experience that comes with multiple challenges, ranging from difficulties in integration, language barriers, xenophobia, sexual abuse to isolation (Van Raemdonck, 2018; Yacob Haliso, 2016). Feminist scholarship has shown that wars are gendered. Women and men experience conflict differently (Asaf 2017, 1). Women in host countries take on new gender roles and are often sole breadwinners. Many women are the main caretakers of their young children as they rebuild their lives in the host country. Increasing reports show these women have low literacy in their first language, limited English language abilities, and minimal formal schooling (Islamic Women’s Welfare Council of Victoria 2005, Jenkinson, Silbert, De Maio and Edwards 2016, Milos 2011). The purpose of this study is to explore how refugee women encounter their social spaces and socialize in host communities through their language and literacy practices. In so doing, the study also aims to recognise their funds of knowledge (Gonzales, Moll, & Amanti, 2005), or unseen practices. The aim of this investigation is ultimately to strengthen and challenge negative discourses that represent them as ‘vulnerable victims and cunning crooks’ (Horst, 2013: 228-9). Gaining insight through the women’s life stories, funds of knowledge and language and literacy practices has the potential to contribute to an understanding of what factors may contribute to their socialisation and becoming agentive participants in the community (Ochs, 2000, p. 230; Leymarie, 2014).

Keywords:

Refugee women, agency, socialization, funds of knowledge.