Mrs Prabha Bogoda Arachchige1
1Monash University, Australia, Clayton, Australia
Using Crenshaw’s intersectionality approach, Levitt and Glick Schiller’s framework of transnational social fields and Bourdieu’s cleft habitus, this presentation focuses on belonging and social inclusion for highly skilled migrant women from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB). It examines the experiences of social exclusion faced by migrant women both in their origin and host communities, what is referred to as ‘double social exclusion’ in the literature. Specifically it considers the process by which NESB women transfer their social and cultural capital in to host society and further how they mitigate social exclusion in Australia. Through a series of ethnographic in-depth interviews, the proposed research offers further insights into how highly skilled migrant women traverse parallel worlds and in so doing, (re)negotiate and transform their identity in a new country.
Biography:
I am a human geographer, specialised in Cultural and Political Geography. I obtained my undergraduate qualifications in Sri Lanka and currently pursuing a PhD at Monash University, Australia. I am attached to the school of Social and Political Sciences and Monash Migration and Social Inclusion centre. Currently I am researching on migration and social inclusion of highly skilled migrant women.