Poetic inquiry into the role of mentorship for marginalized migrants

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the role of mentorship on inclusivity and belonging among marginalized migrants, through the experiences of a Pakistani Muslim woman academic in Canada. Using storytelling and poetic inquiry, it examines identity shifts and cultural adaptation, calling for empathetic and inclusive mentorship.

Tangled thoughts freefall in poetry,

An outsider amongst new faces,

Rebuilding my life on my own,

I wish to be home,

Empty spaces beneath my colored skin,

Wearing a migrant suit upon Muslim roots,

Like a dandelion in the breeze,

The day I heard my own heart break,

As its pieces scattered on the concrete,

Then my head dropped on a mentors’ shoulder,

Where I was heard and seen.

Another mentor pulled me up the wobbly ladder,

Another introduced me to inclusivity,

See the sunlight dance thru the cracks?

As I outstretch my safe space,

And now my heart overflows with gratitude,

For my community of mentors.

KEYWORDS:

• Migrants
• inclusion
• mentoring
• marginalization
• writing differently
• poetic inquiry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).