Abstract:
The notion that identity politics elevates and widens the domain of the democratic self in which universal consciousness exists by rejecting and repressing its ‘other’ is prevalent in poststructuralist thought. The heterogeneous stories about former refugee students as a differentiated group representable are not only multifaceted but these stories provide weight to the idea that previous distressing experience of their parents could be a possible factor in what I call the former refugee students’ claustrophobic identity. This paper draws on the concept of ‘identity and subjectivity’ (Hall, 2000) and how the notion of domain and power politics emphasise the invisibleness of refugee’s predicament as a group of people. In this way, this paper draws on a framework that describes the positioned identity of the ‘other’ in negotiating their identities. The author considers how mediated nature of contemporary social relations and fundamental aspects of the identity-ascribing process impact the refugee students. This paper seeks to carefully analyse and synthesize a range of literature on refugees’ images, restriction and confusion. The outcome of the study tries to explain the misconception and misrepresentation constructed around refugee identities.