Confronting stereotypes: the dual narratives of ethnic minority youth in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

Ethnic Minority Youth (EMY, i.e. Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African ethnic origins) constitute 20% of the youth population in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) and yet their experiences remain invisible in the mainstream discourses. Interviews with 17 EMY with additional marginalized identities (EMYi) indicated significant diversity and fluidity in their lived experience. Participants felt ‘othered’ by the wider NZ society for their ethnic identity, and thus adapted themselves to be perceived as less different from the majority ethnic group (New Zealand European). In contrast, EMYi felt more marginalized within their ethnic communities and less so by the wider society when navigating their additional minoritised identities. Overall, experiences of marginalization appeared to have a stronger effect on girls, and religious minorities. This is the first study in NZ to explore how confronting stereotypes from both the wider NZ society and ethnic minority communities impacts the lived realities of EMYi.

Keywords

• Ethnic minority
• youth
• wellbeing
• intersectionality
• interpretive phenomenology