Converting cultural capital among teen refugees and their families from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to identify the processes by which teen refugees adapt and apply cultural capital in conditions of refuge in order to develop preventive interventions for refugee youths.

METHODS

The study was a multisite ethnographic study in Chicago that involved observation of Bosnian participants in schools, community sites, service organizations, and households as well as in-depth interviews with a subsample of 30 Bosnian adolescents and their families. Field notes and interview data were subjected to thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The concept of converting cultural capital emerged as a useful construct for representing the cultural resources that Bosnian teen refugees and their families bring to the refugee trauma experience. Conversion of cultural capital refers to processes of adapting and applying the meanings, knowledge, customs, achievements, and outlooks that teen refugees and their families bring to new environments in order to enhance teens' cultural vitality and social incorporation. Nine mechanisms of converting cultural capital were identified, labeled, and defined in emic terms: using our language, obliging family, sticking together, returning to religion, going ghetto, building a future, taking pride in tradition, critiquing America, and seeking freedom. These mechanisms represent cultural strategies by which teen refugees attempt to manage enormous historical, social, cultural, economic, familial, and psychological changes associated with refugee trauma.

CONCLUSIONS

Ethnography is an important methodologic tool in mental health services research, and the concept of converting cultural capital is useful in designing preventive interventions for teen refugees and their families.