Description
How do you foster healing and belonging amongst displaced youth who have little or no memory of where they come from? Often overlooked are the ways that inter-generational symbiosis within communities has been severed, which in itself can compound social and cultural isolation, particularly in displaced communities. In this presentation we explore the ways that the knowledge systems carried by elders from Nigeria’s rural Glavda community can be conveyed to younger generations, in a context of displacement. The Glavda community are originally from Borno State in Northeast Nigeria, and were displaced by Boko Haram between 2010 and 2013. Not only are displaced Glavda facing the challenges of finding purpose and belonging in new locations, they are also alienated from their own practices of cultural preservation, creating a double-edged experience of alienation – both within their new environments, and from their old practices. This alienation is even greater amongst Glavda youth and children, most of whom were either born in displacement camps, or have very little memory of their home.
