A Situated, Comparative Approach to the Everyday Transcultural Experiences of Migrant Youth

Abstract Drawing on mixed-level data gathered through surveys and in-depth interviews with migrant youth from Melbourne (Australia), Toronto (Canada), and Birmingham (the UK), this paper offers deep socio-cultural insights into our understanding of everyday diversity and difference in reframed transformative, positive terms. Moving away from a dominant public discourse of disruptive, transgressive characterisations, this paper emphasises the relational possibilities and transcultural opportunities inherent in the emerging fluid identities and self-reflexivity of migrant youth. The paper focuses on migrant youth across diverse temporal characteristics along the settlement and integration journey. Synthesising from theories of transculturation, cultural adaptation, and social inclusion, the paper argues for new critical framings around belonging and relationality of the complex and multifaceted nature of transcultural being and living with everyday difference amongst migrant youth.