| This qualitative research study examines the socio-cultural factors that influence and constrain the success of Somali Bantu male refugee students enrolled at high schools in Central City. Primary emphases for this study have been on the contexts of reception for these students in their local schools and communities, the social networks they use to help them gain information about how to succeed in schools, and the ways in which the cultural capital they possess is valued or under-valued by teachers and other service providers. Specifically this work examines the inherent difficulties Somali Bantu youth face when they try to succeed in public schools in the U.S., but have previously only attended schools sporadically due to discrimination against their ethnic group and civil war within their home country. Through an analysis of their interactions with teachers, their families and their peer group at school and their overall academic performance, gaps in their academic knowledge are highlighted. A rich description of the difficult and complex circumstances under which Somali Bantu young men and their families lived in Somalia, refugee camps in Kenya, and now in Central City provides teachers, teacher educators, and school administrators a contextual framework for understanding the potential difficulties that Somali Bantu students typically face in their transition to formalized schooling in the U.S.;My findings suggest that the Somali Bantu students in the study have an incomplete understanding of the U.S. school system, have not had prior exposure to subject matter crucial to their academic success in school, and exert downward peer pressure upon one another that is hard for them to overcome. Teacher responses to these students include negotiating and bargaining, avoidance, disappointment and frustration, and regret. I argue that continued inattention to the educational and social needs of these students will most likely result in a loss of academic potential and human capital that will affect these students, their families, and the larger communities in which they reside. |
