Читать книгу Educating Students with Refugee and Asylum Seeker Experiences - Maura Sellars - Страница 17

Individuals with refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds and experiences know about power. They have first -hand experiences of the abject terror and brutality of the powerful who physically and emotionally abused and oppressed them, denied them of their human rights and homelands and condemned them to contribute to the great diaspora in history (see http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/figures-at-a-glance.html). These manifestations of power are overtly brutal, flagrantly uncaring and indifferent to the human misery that is widely inflicted on others. They are also aware of the power of dominant cultural and social mores in the new homeland situations in which they are placed and of the exclusionary discourses and decision making that affect individuals, families and entire communities ( Anders, 2012; Anders & Lester, 2015; Bevir, 1999). This chapter examines the discourses of power, epistemologies and societal control as manifested in the educational institutions of the western societies in which students with refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds are placed. This examination mainly focusses on aspects of the theoretical work of Foucault and reflects the implications of these discourses for individuals, families and entire communities.