Language learning and forced migration: an ethnographic approach

Abstract

Most of those who learn Norwegian in the Introduction Programme for recent arrivals are forced migrants. These are people who have fled their homes due to war, persecution or other factors that make escape seem the only means of survival. Through ethnographic research among 14 resettlement refugees from The Democratic Republic of the Congo in Norway, we have become aware of how experiences as refugees may influence their investment in language learning. Based on the story of one of the participants, Joseph, we show in this article how national and international refugee policies not only interact with, but also limit individual agency. We argue that an experience of limited agency may be a key to understand forced migrants’ investment in language learning.