Growing up South Sudanese in Victoria after the Moomba 2016 ‘riot’

This post forms part of our series in showcasing abstracts of presentations featured at our annual postgraduate interdisciplinary conference on refugee and forced migration research, hosted in November 2018 at The University of Melbourne.

DIANA JOHNS & NAKIER CHOL

Diana and Nakier presented themes that have emerged from a recent research collaboration between Monash University, the University of Melbourne and the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY). The project explores South Sudanese young people’s experience of the demonising media and political narratives about Moomba 2016 and ‘African gangs’. The just-published report, Don’t Drag Me Into This: Growing up South Sudanese in Victoria after the Moomba 2016 ‘Riot’, brings to light the perspectives of young people for whom such narratives have had a deep and far-reaching impact on their everyday lives.

Diana and Nakier talked about some of these effects, in conversation, as one of the researchers and someone with lived experience of the issues raised. The themes to come out of the research reflect young people’s perceptions in three main areas: the role of the media in creating and perpetuating myths about racialised crime and South Sudanese people; the experience of racism, both at the level of systemic discrimination and in everyday encounters; and issues of belonging and opportunity.

Diana Johns is Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Melbourne. Her research and teaching focuses on imprisonment, post-prison social integration, young people in contact with the justice system, and African communities in Victoria. She recently published her first book, ‘Being and Becoming an Ex-Prisoner’ (Routledge, UK).

Nakier Abraham Chol is 19 years old, from South Sudan. She is a Yarra youth ambassador, young entrepreneur, freelance model, public speaker and voice for her community. Her involvement with community and young people began after she experienced injustice and what it felt like to be treated different because you were different.

Image attribution: Faruqi (2018) https://junkee.com/african-gangs-hashtag/141854