Anti-Oppressive Social Work Research: Prioritising Refugee Voices in Kakuma Refugee Camp

ABSTRACT

Research studies with refugee young people (RYP) commonly recognise researchers’ theoretical and methodological approaches with respect to their work. Minimal scholarship, however, considers the process of research participation from the perspectives of RYP, particularly in refugee camps. Social work researchers interested in facilitating research with RYP should not only evaluate how participants understand research, but also acknowledge their participants’ potential recommendations for improvement. Adhering to principles of ‘ethical research’ with RYP, this qualitative paper explores (a) the previous research experiences of a sample of RYP living in Kakuma refugee camp and (b) two participant-inspired research recommendations for future research in Kakuma, with implications for other refugee camp settings. Grounded in previous research experiences, RYP interviewees claim that their expectations of participating in research have been largely unmet and that researchers have instilled false promises. Consequently, RYP offered several recommendations for future research/researchers in Kakuma. This study offers two recommendations, which advise researchers to (1) follow up with research recommendations, and (2) reflect on research and researchers’ personal objectives in Kakuma. These recommendations align indirectly with principles of anti-oppressive research (AOR) practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Social justice
• refugee young people
• anti-oppression
• research ethics

Disclosure statement

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

Notes on contributor

Neil Bilotta is a Faculty Member in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His work focuses on two independent and intersecting phenomena: (a) deconstructing racism/White Supremacy in social work practice, education, policy, and research and (b) exploring the overt and subtle effects of Eurocentrism, Colonialism, Whiteness, and Othering on refugee resettlement processes.

Notes

1 This paper denotes “ refugee young people” in reference to Clark-Kazak's (2011) work with Congolese refugees in Uganda. She claims that identifying this population in a chronological age categorisation is often futile because of cultural variations in what signifies "age." Also, many refugees may be unaware of their chronological age if they were displaced while young and lack birth documentation. Clark-Kazak defines "young people" by a "social age" category which represents "those who have passed puberty, but who have not yet married" (2011, 11). For the purposes of this study “young people” is considered 18–30 years of age. 

2 All names are pseudonyms.