This study explores the interactions of four Liberian youth with the public education system in Ontario since their arrival as refugees. Using life histories developed with each participant, I have sought to understand and engage with the ways that these students negotiate their social and personal identities within the context of the majority discourses and practices of education in Ontario. By foregrounding the experiences and voices of the participants, it becomes possible to critically analyze the power relations that exist both to limit and empower these youth as they navigate their social and educational contexts. It becomes clear in the life histories that society’s dominant discourses of normalcy work to ignore or make irrelevant the complex identities that these youth inhabit and exhibit in their daily lives. However, they creatively exercise their individual agency to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities they feel are available to them in Canada.

This study explores the interactions of four Liberian youth with the public education system in Ontario since their arrival as refugees. Using life histories developed with each participant, I have sought to understand and engage with the ways that these students negotiate their social and personal identities within the context of the majority discourses and practices of education in Ontario. By foregrounding the experiences and voices of the participants, it becomes possible to critically analyze the power relations that exist both to limit and empower these youth as they navigate their social and educational contexts. It becomes clear in the life histories that society’s dominant discourses of normalcy work to ignore or make irrelevant the complex identities that these youth inhabit and exhibit in their daily lives. However, they creatively exercise their individual agency to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities they feel are available to them in Canada.