Displaced children represent a particularly vulnerable population forced to adapt to a new way of life. One potential source of support for displaced children is community-based organizations.  Drawing from sociocultural theories of identity that emphasize the interplay between structural factors and agency and the role of discourse as a mediating tool in the construction of identities, this study examines the ways displaced children recreate the meanings of their physical and cultural worlds and how their participation in an educational photography-based project in Colombia influences their construction of meanings about their past and present experiences. The ethnographic data consist of five months of participant observation, focus group and in-depth interviews, and the analysis of multiple artifacts, including narratives, photographs, written texts and everyday talk within the program. The data suggest that children, rather than being passive victims of circumstance, are actively involved in a continuous process of negotiating their identities.

Theoretical perspectives

The theoretical framework for the current study is based on sociocultural theories of identity construction, which sustain that identity is not a stable or coherent entity; instead it is dynamic, fluid, and constructed in and through discursive practice (Holland et al., 1998). Identities are constantly created and recreated through social interaction with others acting in particular cultural contexts, as a consequence, vary across settings and across events. (Gee, 2001; Holland et al., 1998). From this perspective, rather than exhibiting fixed character traits, displaced children take on a variety of social positions or are positioned in certain ways by others during social interaction.

Another notion we draw from is that youth community organizations represent important resources for young people to create a positive sense of themselves where youth are likely to be agents of their own development (Dworkin, Larson & Hansen, 2003; Larson, 2000; McLaughlin, 2000; National Research Council, 2002). Researchers in the US context highlight the benefits of these programs for inner-city youth living in dangerous areas where there is a high incidence of gangs, poverty and crime (Heath & McLaughlin, 1993). While the Colombian context and the circumstances of displaced children are very much different, this literature is particularly relevant for this study in that it is concerned with the exploration of informal learning influence in the constitution of displaced children’s identities.  Heath (2001) found through her research on youth organizations that art activities that take place within these projects are a good place for youth to say something and to find out about themselves. Similarly, Strack et al. (2004) found that the use of the Photovoice method—a process that uses photos to record aspects of people and communities lives - in an after school program in Baltimore provided youth the opportunity for identity development and contributed to increases in their social competences.  Together these arguments support the assumption that youth organizations may hold learning opportunities for displaced children, provide a safe place to express themselves, and to reflect on their transition experiences from their own perspectives.

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