From Streets to Developing Aspirations:How does Collective Agency for Education change Marginalised Migrant Youths’ Lives?

Mkwananzi, Faith and Cin, F. Melis (2020) From Streets to Developing Aspirations:How does Collective Agency for Education change Marginalised Migrant Youths’ Lives? Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 21 (4). pp. 320-338. ISSN 1945-2829

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Abstract

This paper provides an account of migrant youths’ experiences of access to education through a social initiative-driven school and highlights how these youths developed pathways of aspirations to work for the good of the community. In doing so, the paper also provides a lens to the issues of migration in Southern Africa and a context in which to understand how collective action (agency) for education can deeply transform marginalised migrants’ aspirations and offer spaces of equality and agency for change. Drawing on data collected over a span of three years, the paper aims to illustrate how Albert Street School (Authority obtained to use original school name), established as a part of grass-root collective action, supports and impacts on migrants’ capabilities and how these capabilities lead to aspirations for public good. The narrative methodology used to understand migrant youths’ lives and experiences illustrates that collective capabilities have the potential to address different forms of disadvantage and distribute diverse and incommensurable good to local communities.