Parenting in exile: Narratives of evolving parenting practices in transnational contact zones

Abstract

A sociocultural framework illustrating Bakhtin’s theory of dialogicality informed this article’s interpretation of interviews with refugees discussing their parenting in exile. Multivoicedness is used as a tool for analysing how refugee parents talk about their evolving parenting practices; interview sequences from the parents of two families are presented. The culturally complex context of refugee parenting is understood in terms of transnational contact zones. Bakhtin’s concept of ideological becoming is used to understand how parenting evolves, making visible the parents’ critical assessment of unfamiliar practices, selective appropriation of certain practices, and agentic innovation of their own practices. The analysis adds relevant perspectives on professionals’ contact with refugee parents and may contribute to more culturally sensitive and less repressive treatment of parents while challenging facile conceptions of acculturation.