New Zealand Geographer (2009) 65, 73–82 doi: 10.1111/j.1745-7939.2009.01149.

Geo-Ed
Geo-Ed
A ‘culturally
Blackwell unsafe’ space?
Publishing Asia

A ‘culturally unsafe’ space? The Somali experience

of Christchurch secondary schools

Louise Humpage
Department of Sociology, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland,
New Zealand

Abstract: School should be a ‘culturally safe’ place, particularly for those students in
Christchurch who challenge the city’s reputation as a culturally homogeneous space and are
thus frequently open to discrimination. A case study focusing on Somali refugee adolescents
highlights that Christchurch’s secondary schools – like those elsewhere in New Zealand –
are not a culturally safe, certain space for all students but rather spatially reconstruct
inequalities of gender, class and ethnicity. Yet, Somali students are not passive victims, for
they have actively renegotiated these spaces within their schools with varying degrees of
success.
Key words: Christchurch, ‘cultural safety’, education, Somali refugee.

The ‘garden city’ and ‘English city of the South’ New Zealand’s nursing programmes. It incor-
images used to characterize Christchurch evoke porates three key understandings. First, each
a particular geographical and cultural space person offered a service (such as nursing or
embedded with Anglo-centric, middle-class teaching) is part of a social, economic and
values and norms. This imaginary geography historical framework. Second, it is the respon-
has long been challenged by the diverse ethnic, sibility of the service provider, rather than
gender and class identities of its residents yet those people made powerless by illness,
it continues to shape the city’s institutions. poverty, age, youth, sexual orientation, ethnicity
Drawing upon the experiences of Somali or disadvantage, to identify barriers and work
refugee adolescents, this article considers one towards eliminating them in the interests of
site, Christchurch secondary schools, where improving service. Third, it is the user of the
these prevailing cultural values, norms and service, rather than the service provider, who
identities create exclusionary spaces in which holds the power to say whether or not they feel
some are made to feel unwelcome. It argues safe (Ramsden 1995). Although not previously
that while Christchurch may be a ‘safe haven’ applied in an educational context, ‘cultural
from the persecution or hunger they faced safety’ shares many similarities with antiracism
before arriving, school is not a ‘culturally safe’ and radical multiculturalism educational
space for Somali refugees and others who philosophies (see Giroux 1994; Bishop & Glynn
embody cultural and religious difference (see 1999) in highlighting the need to not only
Ramsden 1995). improve our understanding about the past and
The concept of ‘cultural safety’ was developed present contexts of the student, but also place
as a means to promote biculturalism within the spotlight on teachers and their schools as

Note about the author: Louise Humpage is a sociology lecturer at the University of Auckland interested in refugee
and indigenous affairs policy in New Zealand and Australia, as well as changing attitudes to social citizenship.
E-mail: [email protected]

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Journal compilation © 2009 The New Zealand Geographical Society Inc.
74 L. Humpage

the bearers of personal, corporate and dominant the 1980s and 1990s (see Kaa 1989; Jamieson &
culture, attitudes, preconceptions and power Peters 1997), education policy was still focused
(Ramsden 1995). on meeting their language needs, rather than
The contention that school in Christchurch addressing the adaptation processes through
is a ‘culturally unsafe’ public space for Somali which both refugee students and schools must
refugee students builds on three decades of pass. This reflected the broader context in
evidence that education in New Zealand which New Zealand resettles refugees: although
remains a site for reinforcing inequalities of it ranks highly in the world according to the
gender (Alton-Lee & Praat 2000; Jones 2000) number of refugees accepted per capita (up to
and class (Harker 1990; Dale 2000), as well as 750 per year on the current refugee quota), the
cultural uniformity (Jones 1991; Humpage support available for refugees once they arrive
& Fleras 1999). In response to such evidence, is far less generous and heavily reliant on non-
a range of pluralist initiatives have been profit organizations and volunteers. Greater
implemented both in education policy and in focus has been placed on resettlement in the
individual schools. Claiming to foster a more 2000s, but funding and support still remains
inclusive education system in New Zealand, inadequate for the task of helping refugees
school is increasingly constructed as a ‘neutral’ to overcome years of psychological, emotional,
space in which individuals of any given gender, physical and social deprivation (see Chile 2008).
ethnicity, class or religion are treated in a non- Somali were one of the larger refugee
discriminatory manner. Linked to this notion groups serviced by RRS and their population
of neutrality is the concept of ‘equality’; included a significant number of adolescents.
although increasingly articulated in terms of With support from the Somali community
‘equal outcomes’, the notion of ‘equal oppor- and relevant Christchurch schools, RRS pro-
tunity’ also remains strong (Simon et al. 2000). vided access to refugee participants through
Some achievements have been made, but an after-school study class with the exception
the policy principles and practical initiatives of four students recruited directly through
implemented have also made it harder to pin schools. The ‘adolescents’ were aged between
down the processes of exclusion that persist 14 and 20 years, with all but two beginning
in schools. Under the guise of ‘neutrality’ or their New Zealand education at a Christ-
‘equality’, educators and students continue to church secondary school. In total, individual
practise and defend institutionalized rules and or group interviews were conducted with eight
procedures which are mistakenly based on a female and nine male Somali adolescents
culture perceived to be ‘normal’ and ‘neutral’, and three Somali parents. Interviews were
but in fact reflect the priorities of the dominant also conducted with 15 professionals, including
culture. As a result, less powerful minority two school principals, seven ESOL teachers, a
groups – who do not understand the supposedly school counsellor, Ministry of Education and
‘neutral’ rules and norms of education – are Work and Income representatives and a social
frequently excluded, however, inadvertently, worker.
from the official and unofficial curriculum of All of the refugee participants arrived in
schools (Eckermann 1992). New Zealand under the refugee quota or
This article is based on a small, Christchurch- family reunification category. Refugees are
based qualitative study that grew out of the always vulnerable research participants due to
need for better acknowledgement of the the painful and traumatic experiences they
particular challenges refugee adolescents face have experienced and uncertainty about their
in adapting to these unwritten rules. In con- rights in their host country (Hopkins 2008). A
sultation with the non-governmental agency, Somali interpreter working for RRS acted as a
Refugee Resettlement Support (RRS), refugee cultural advisor to ensure that I, a New Zealand-
adolescents were identified as a group ‘falling born, Pâkehâ, non-religious woman, was aware
between the cracks’ and the research con- of these vulnerabilities and also avoided any
ceived as a platform from which to lobby the misunderstandings regarding the Islamic faith
Ministry of Education. Despite a variety of of my Somali participants. The inclusion of
initiatives targeting refugee students through adolescents also required special consideration,

© 2009 The Author

Journal compilation © 2009 The New Zealand Geographical Society
 A ‘culturally unsafe’ space? 75

with student interviews conducted either in overcome their past experiences or background.
the presence of a parent or under the auspices While admirable on one level, Brough et al.
of a school or RRS but with informed consent (2003, p. 206) dispute this distinction between
gained from each individual student. Most of ‘present’ and ‘past’ spaces, arguing that for
them were interviewed in groups of two or young refugees:
three people they already knew, so they felt
more comfortable with the research process, The past mingles with the present too in
and discussion avoided unnecessarily focus- terms of the meanings and interpretations
ing on their preflight history given this was young people give to life events as they
an inevitability traumatic time (see Hopkins unfurl. Sense of success or failure, notions of
2008). freedom and independence, identity and
Based on these empirical data, the article physical and emotional security may be
first argues that schools tended to be con- played out in the present, but contain salient
ceived as a space in the ‘present’ time, with meanings generated by the past.
students said to be treated ‘equally’ regardless
of their past circumstances or background. In Certainly, an emphasis on overcoming the
that the refugee past of Somali students con- past appeared to silence the continuing impact
tinued to have a presence in their everyday it had on the lives of Somali students. Like
lives, this focus on the present meant many of many refugees, they had endured multiple
the barriers they faced were not fully acknow- hardships, including war, civil conflict and
ledged. Second, the article asserts that the long-standing poverty in their home country
religious beliefs and practices of the Somali (Guerin & Guerin 2002). This history led many
students contested the dominant understand- New Zealanders to assume that they came from
ings of state schools as a secular, religiously ‘primitive’ backgrounds. Yet most Somali
‘neutral’ space. Third, it argues that the Somali resettled in Christchurch were members of the
students provided different interpretations of middle- and upper-classes struggling with the
the gendered nature of ‘private-public’ space loss of class status in Christchurch.
which correlate with Islamic norms of modesty Most frustrating was the realization that the
and appropriateness and these understand- cultural capital gained from their middle-class
ings were often framed by teachers in terms experience in Somalia did not translate well in
of rigid boundaries between ‘traditional’ and their lives as ‘poor refugees’ in Christchurch
‘Western’ even while it did not reflect the reality because they lacked the appropriate know-
of the students’ lives (see Dwyer 1999). Having ledge required for educational success. For
considered threats to the ‘cultural safety’ of example, the Somali education system privi-
Somali students, the article finally highlights leged a more stratified approach to learning
the different ways in which the young Somali reliant on the memorization and recitation of
women and men reworked their own cultural notes taken under the teacher’s instruction.
boundaries within Christchurch’s social spaces. Many students thus found it very difficult to
Indicating that schools are ‘border institutions adapt to the more student-centred approaches
in which teachers, students and others engage to learning evident in New Zealand schools,
in daily acts of cultural translation and negotia- including group discussion and independent
tion’ (Giroux 1994, p. 329), it demonstrates completion of exercises from text books. Some
that the Somali students responded to the differences were appreciated – one student
cultural messages offered at school through noted, ‘[if] you are right, and the teacher is
both conformity and resistance. wrong, you can tell them’ – but most were still
figuring exactly how they were expected to
learn in New Zealand. A male student said: ‘I
‘Present–past’ space
think [I spent] two terms, three terms, most of
With education regarded as a crucial mecha- the whole year, trying to understand what is
nism for social mobility, school is increasingly really going on.’
constructed as a ‘neutral’ space where students This confusion was not helped by the fact
treated in a non-discriminatory manner may that a focus on the ‘present’ saw students

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76 L. Humpage

quickly mainstreamed according to their assumed that Somali students were lazy or tak-
current age, rather than past experience of ing advantage of the more relaxed rules and
schooling. Given that many Somali adoles- punishments that New Zealand teachers and
cents have poor literacy in their own language schools exhibited. One teacher also lamented
resulting from disruptions to their education that Somali students lacked ‘the understand-
and the relatively recent adoption of Somali ing of what it was to behave in a fair way within
as a written language (Samatar 1991; Guerin [the classroom]’ because they sometimes
& Guerin 2002), this was a major issue for demanded one-on-one instruction. The socially
the students and parents interviewed. A girl of constructed notion of ‘fair play’ central to New
nearly 16 of age could not understand the Zealand national identity sits in contrast with
rationale behind mainstreaming: the ‘survival skills’ that were more relevant for
Somali in refugee camps.
‘When they put me in Sixth form I wasn’t To their credit, some schools made attempts
able to take Sixth form, because I didn’t do to bridge the gaps in knowledge that resulted
Fifth form, and Fourth form and Third from the past histories of Somali students. For
form, and I didn’t go [in] Somalia or even example, schools provided segregated classes
New Zealand ... so the whole year I didn’t and/or subject-specific support in class for
learn anything. ... I was only going to school, Somali and other refugee students so that
[learning] nothing, and I was taking too they were able to receive more individualized
eliter classes. So then again, the teachers attention. Such measures were implemented,
put me in Seventh form and I have to tell however, only when a large number of Somali
my family, that I not ever go to school be- students enrolled at once and lasted only a short
cause I was thinking that’s not where I am, time. While indicating that these measures
so the first you have to find where I am ...’ seemed to help Somali students, some teachers
emphasized the need for them to be treated
Having endured years of disruption and ‘equally’ (the same as other students) as soon as
unreliability – because of civil war, a short- possible, not least because non-refugee students
age of teachers and considerable corruption – complained about the ‘special’ treatment
within their home country and then the aimless- refugees received. The clash between the extra-
ness of refugee camps, many Somali students ordinary past histories of Somali students and
also found it difficult to see the relevance of the explicit emphasis on ‘neutrality’ and ‘equality’
the time-driven, rule-bound environment of underlying Christchurch schools put these
New Zealand educational establishments. For teachers in a very difficult moral position.
instance, a teacher noted: ‘they don’t see the
connection between having a complete set of
‘Secular-religious’ space
notes, having a folder and having it organized
and success at school because they had no In addition to contesting the expectation that
experience of this’. In this case, they were school be a ‘present’ space, Somali students
disadvantaged by a paper-based system that challenged the notion that schools should be
frequently favours style and organization over a site of religious-‘neutrality’. New Zealand
content (Harker 1984). state schools are not, of course, ‘neutral’ to
Although this teacher appeared relatively religion for they reflect a dominant culture
aware of her students’ past background, which is heavily influenced by Christianity.
another teacher noted that ‘we get the odd Important dates in the Christian calendar,
handout’ about refugees from the Ministry of such as Easter and Christmas, are taken as
Education but ‘usually they seem to come to school holidays and the weekend break is
us for information’. This means many teachers organized to include Sunday, the Christian day
were working with a limited understanding of of worship. Nonetheless, there is a strong belief
their students’ past. As a result, some attributed that state and religion are best regarded as sepa-
the present behaviour of Somali students to rate, with religion largely a personal choice
personal disposition, rather than the ‘past’ that should be relegated to the private sphere.
spaces they had occupied. Teachers sometimes As a result, some schools are specifically

© 2009 The Author

Journal compilation © 2009 The New Zealand Geographical Society
 A ‘culturally unsafe’ space? 77

religion-based, but the majority of New Zealand students were provided with whatever office
state schools are ‘secular’ institutions that do or class space was available. This meant that
not involve religious instruction or prayer. the same room was not used each time and
In contrast, Somali students told how school students often ended up praying in the class-
in their home country was an explicitly reli- room among their classmates, opening them
gious space. Half the school day was devoted up to ridicule. Somali students also found that
to religious study and time for prayer was prayer room provision could be withdrawn if
incorporated into the school day, including the they did not conform to expected behaviour
requirement for young men over the age of 15 for the allotted prayer space. While it is possible
– pray at the mosque on Friday afternoons. that some mischief was occurring, such moves
School in Somalia was consequently a ‘safe’ seemed to assume that Somali students were
space where the religious needs of Muslim trying to ‘trick’ teachers and demonstrated
students were accommodated and indeed were little awareness of the varying degrees of
integral to the school day. In New Zealand, religiosity or the fact that Somali children do
these same religious needs frequently conflicted not have to pray five times a day until the age
with school curriculum requirements. For of 15.
example, young Somali males were usually absent
from school on Friday afternoon because they
‘Private–public’ space
attended the mosque. Missing out on a
half-day’s study each week created academic New Zealand expectations that religion
problems for the students and administrative remain a ‘private’ interest have been further
ones for teachers. A young male told how a challenged by Islamic prohibitions concerning
teacher informed him there would be a test set the interaction between men and women.
on Friday afternoon: ‘Public’ and ‘private’ spaces tend to be gendered
but in different ways dependent on cultural
... and she said ‘You have to make a time for context. Femininity in Somali culture is con-
this period, because [otherwise] you have to structed in terms of the private/home even
lose some marks for exam’. Sometimes, more so than in New Zealand, with Islam
most of the exams are on Fridays, and she influencing Somali understandings of ‘private–
said ‘If you can’t make a time on Friday, I public’ space and affecting the bodily experience
don’t know what to do’. of both young Somali women and men. For
example, Somali parents and students told
This student chose to miss prayers at the how males and females over the age of 15
mosque in favour of sitting the test. He was usually socialize separately, unless they are
then forced to decide between the values of direct family members. There is no ‘dating’
his home culture and those of the educational between the sexes, marriage takes place only
culture. It is in this way that the Christian bias after parental consent and young women are
within the school system continued to dis- offered less freedom than young men to go out
advantage Muslim students such as Somali, alone or with friends. Strict Muslim families
seemingly based on the assumption articulated were consequently distraught to find that the
by one teacher that: ‘Well, they’ve got to two state single-sex schools for girls in the city
conform to our society, because they’re going could not always accommodate their daughters,
to live there’. because of their popularity and ‘neutral’
This fact sits in tension with other initiatives zoning and entrance requirements. As a result,
that appeared to accommodate Somali needs. the young women had to enrol at a coeduca-
For example, some schools responded to the tional school where mixed-sex interaction
need for Somali students to pray at regular was unavoidable. There appeared to be little
times during the school day by designating a recognition by schools that such ‘neutral’
room to be used for prayers. While the school entrance rules created significant discomfort
accommodating the largest number of Muslim for Somali and other Muslim students, contri-
students offered two single-sex, permanent buting to school becoming ‘culturally unsafe’
prayer rooms, schools with only a few Muslim for them.

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78 L. Humpage

One area of particular concern was the odds with the prevailing social and religious
New Zealand expectation that males and norms. Symbolizing the intrusion of alien beliefs
females participate in physical education classes contrary to the prevailing religious tradition,
together. Some of the young men really appre- female Somali students were obvious targets
ciated the opportunity to play sport: ‘they have for abuse or criticism (Dwyer 1999; Roald
soccer team, sports team, you can play here on 2001). This was the case even when schools
sports team for school, and I like there’s made policy adjustments to accommodate
lots of teams for basketball and soccer so that’s modesty requirements. Some schools allowed
good’. But they attempted to protect their Somali girls to wear mufti, but educators told
‘safety’ by refraining from physical activities, how this solution angered a small number of
such as swimming, when women were present. non-Muslim students because they were not
A father described his eldest son’s reaction to granted such leniency concerning uniform.
the expectation he must play sport with women: Two Christchurch schools provided modified
‘He was ... surprised, very, very, shocked, he uniforms for Somali students in an effort to
couldn’t say no, he couldn’t understand it, so defuse such complaints of discrimination.
it was a surprise ... It’s not our culture’. Despite But the young women’s ‘difference’ was still
their attempts to avoid it, these young men represented by their longer skirts and head-
continued to be subjected to greater exposure scarf, raising the question of whether school
to young women and their bodies than was uniforms, which are intended to blur socio-
culturally appropriate for them. economic boundaries between students, are
It was the young Somali women, however, inappropriate in an increasingly multicultural
who found it most difficult to transcend the New Zealand.
different cultural delineations of ‘private’ and Some of the teachers, however, questioned
‘public’. This is because, in embodying such why the young Somali women continued to
difference personally through their clothing, wear such clothing, suggesting that: ‘[w]hen in
their religion and culture were readily iden- Rome, do as the Romans do, kind of thing’.
tifiable by mere visual inspection (Guerin & They believed that the Somali community
Guerin 2002). Somali women don long, colourful could make life less difficult for their young
gowns, which conceal their arms and legs, and women by relaxing restrictions on their cloth-
a scarf or head-dress that covers their hair. ing, demonstrating the difficulty teachers had
This modest clothing functions as a way to in reconciling their culturally specific ideals
‘protect’ the sexuality of Somali women by concerning ‘gender equality’ with the Somali
covering those body parts considered to be women’s own culturally specific needs to
attractive to men, both Somali and non-Somali. monitor their own behaviour as regards clothing
In this way, bodies are considered private in and sexuality. Indeed, teachers often constructed
ways considered out-dated in New Zealand the Somali students, whether male or female,
society. Somali men, while usually avoiding as passive victims rather than participants in
short trousers for modesty’s sake, wear Western an active process of interacting with and re-
style clothing. Their attire thus does not act negotiating the spaces within their schools. This
as a distinctive ‘marker’ of both ‘difference’ may be associated with the refugee experience
(external boundaries) and ‘sameness’ (internal being framed as involuntary, rather than the
boundaries) to the same extent as the women’s result of an active choice, as well as media
clothing, even though their physical character- images associating Islam with patriarchy and
istics might (see Dwyer 1999; Humpage 2000). terrorism (Dwyer 1999; Hopkins 2007).
The wearing of Western clothing was not
essential for women to participate in physical
Negotiating ‘unsafe’ spaces
activity, but the social implications of dressing
differently from other participants still constituted Brough et al. (2003) note that the resettlement
a barrier for Somali women from taking process is enormously difficult for young
part in sport. It also led them to having little refugees, for they ‘must locate themselves
positive interaction with non-Muslim students within a new social, cultural, geographical and
because they were perceived as being at adult space, yet also try to find security within

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Journal compilation © 2009 The New Zealand Geographical Society
 A ‘culturally unsafe’ space? 79

the spaces of their own families and ethnic has to make you do it, but it is something
communities’. In the case of the Somali students, each person does believe it, like here in New
young men and women tackled this process Zealand you can do whatever they want to
of location and negotiation in different ways but if ... every person believes religion, some
as each group reworked and ‘protected’ their form of belief, if you don’t do it, you are
own cultural and religious practices in the geog- thinking of hell after, because you believe in
raphical and social space that Christchurch your judgement day.
represented (see Roald 2001).
For instance, the modest clothing worn by This young woman’s religious and cultural
the young Somali women set them apart from beliefs were clearly influenced by her parents
their non-Muslim counterparts and provided and Somali children are expected to obediently
opportunities for discrimination. But they respect parental wishes. Yet, her desire to follow
continued to wear such clothing because it was her faith was no less significant. For young
bound up with the religious beliefs that provided Somali women like her, the long gown and
them with a sense of ‘safety’. To understand head-scarf are more liberating than Western
why, it is necessary to consider that the modest clothing because they protected them from
clothes they wore were not ‘traditional’ for cultural shame and freed them from the prying
most of the middle- and upper-class urban eyes of men (Dwyer 1999; Roald 2001). In that
Somali women who resettled in Christchurch. their clothing provided them with a ‘safe’ space
Indeed, there was a ban on long skirts and in an often hostile and unsafe environment,
head-scarves and the introduction of a school the young Somali women in Christchurch
uniform which included trousers for both thus continued to resist pressure from both
sexes during the seven years Somalia spent as teachers and ‘Kiwi’ students to ‘fit in’ by dressing
a ‘Scientifically Socialist State’ between 1970 and in Western attire. The ‘false universalism’
1977 (Samatar 1991). In a country where 98% of the liberal rights discourses articulated
of the population were Sunni Muslim (Bell by teachers in this study, however, tended
1998) and where the Qu’ran was an important to ignore this agency and negated the impor-
part of a student’s schooling, religious faith tance of religio-cultural differences and identity
was so central to many Somali cultural practices (Freedman 2007).
that external markers, such as clothing, were Indeed, the literature regarding young
a relatively unimportant demonstration of Muslim women in Western countries is often
religious conviction. characterized by a ‘culture conflict’ model where
Years of famine and civil war resulted in young women are defined as ‘caught between
Somali now residing in Christchurch leaving two cultures’ of home and school or perhaps
their homeland and finding refuge in neigh- as more active ‘cultural synthesisers’ between
bouring countries. As a result, many found opposing environments (see Brah 1996; Dwyer
solace in the Islamic faith while in the refugee 1999). However, the Christchurch study high-
camps. At this time, many Somali women lighted a more ambiguous reality. The continued
adopted the modest dress code that Islam inclusion of young Somali women and girls
promotes, as an outward sign of their inner within their home culture benefited them
faith. They found that it is necessary now that academically; close monitoring of their lives
they no longer lived in a country where Islam and their heavy involvement in familial and
dominated the society and could therefore be religious activities forged a strong group iden-
taken for granted to a large degree. Resettle- tity that made it difficult for Somali girls to
ment in New Zealand – where Christianity drop out of school or get into serious trouble.
dominates religious and social life – furthered The young Somali women thus appeared to
this need for external signs of faith and culture. study harder and spend more time in school,
A 19-year-old female student explained it this which enhanced their likelihood of academic
way: success.
The young Somali men experienced a different
... we are wearing this because it is some- journey of negotiation and adaptation. Their
thing to me, it’s not something like somebody religious and cultural beliefs were less visible,

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Journal compilation © 2009 The New Zealand Geographical Society
80 L. Humpage

with no male equivalent of the head-scarf. the mosque on Friday afternoons, migration
Their responsibilities for transmitting and and resettlement also left Somali young men
reproducing their religious and cultural tradi- without many of the daily props and support
tions were also less restrictive on their time or mechanisms of Islam that could help them
personal freedom. This meant the young men ‘make sense’ of the cultural ambiguity in
had greater opportunity for positive interaction which they were enveloped.
with New Zealand students and society and As a result of these factors, educators
were much more likely to indicate that they and RRS reported that young Somali males
had ‘Kiwi’ friends with whom they socialized appeared more inclined than their female
outside of school than the young women. The counterparts to truant and drop out of school
emphasis on sport at New Zealand schools had because they were bored in class or found
provided a particularly important space within school too difficult (see also Hopkinson 1996).
which the young Somali men were able to mix This is a problem associated with male students
freely with other students. Ironically, however, across the board but one enhanced by the
the interaction with non-Muslim students and disadvantages the young Somali men faced
the adoption of some aspects of Kiwi culture as refugees, making their chances of educa-
that enabled the young Somali men to negotiate tional or employment success very low. Somali
the ‘unsafe’ spaces of school also proved males, but not females, had also been involved
‘culturally unsafe’ for them. This is because it in the few episodes of criminal and violent
involved them entering cultural spaces where behaviour brought to the attention of teachers
activities – such as drinking alcohol, smoking and the police. Again, this is not only the case
and going to parties – were undertaken for Somali men, for the city as a space has
that fundamentally challenged their religious traditionally permitted greater sexual and
beliefs. An 18-year-old boy said his friends other freedoms for young men than young
did not pressure him to drink or smoke and women, while at the same time involving them
the problem ‘comes from my side, not from in gender practices that may actually be hostile
them’. This is because his greater knowledge to their well-being, such as drinking alcohol
and experience of non-Somali cultural prac- and driving recklessly (see McDowell 1999;
tices placed him in the situation of leading a Hopkins 2007). But it is clear that the greater
double life, leading to considerable cultural leeway for ambiguity in the young men’s
ambiguity. cultural identity had severe consequences on
Somali young men are not the first to be their academic adaptation and continued inte-
caught in this ambiguous transitional state (see gration in both the New Zealand and Somali
Hopkins 2007), but in the Somali case, familial communities.
dislocation and the mental and physical toll of
years in refugee camps resulted in many lack-
Conclusion
ing the positive male role models needed to
provide cultural socialization and reinforce- This article has highlighted the way in which
ment. The type of roles through which young questions of identity are very often connected
Somali men ‘do’ ethnicity and gender were not to place and space by demonstrating that
as readily transferable or adaptable to the schools in Christchurch represent a contested
New Zealand context as the feminine roles of space, where identities of ‘race’ or ethnicity,
nurturing and socializing. For example, young gender and class intersect. In challenging
men aged 12 and over were recruited into the dominant understandings of ‘past–present’,
army in Somalia, where they felt they had a ‘secular–religious’ and ‘private–public’ space,
real and powerful role in life. This occupation, Somali students found school was often an
which endorsed both notions of masculinity ‘culturally unsafe’ place. They attempted to
and also national/ethnic identity, is clearly not negotiate this space through bodily practices
valid in New Zealand; instead these young that provided some form of ‘safe’ haven.
men were put into school and expected to However, in continuing to be dominated by the
behave like ‘Kiwi’ children. Although still Anglo-centric, middle-class norms of Christch-
expected to play their formal prayer role at urch’s dominant group, school proved to be an

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Journal compilation © 2009 The New Zealand Geographical Society
 A ‘culturally unsafe’ space? 81

ambiguous space in which the ‘safe’ and Dwyer C (1999). Veiled meanings: Young British
‘unsafe’ were not always certain or well-defined. Muslim women and the negotiation of differ-
This was clear from the way in which young ences. Gender, Place and Culture 6, 5–26.
Eckermann A-K (1992). One Classroom, Many
Somali male and females tried to negotiate
Cultures: Teaching Strategies for Culturally
these ‘unsafe’ places in different ways, but with Different Children. Allen & Unwin, St Leonards.
similarly ambivalent results. Freedman J (2007). Women, Islam and rights
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