Multiple sources of belonging, difference and resistance: Conceptualising second generation youth identity(s) and experience(s)

Situated within the narratives of ‘home’, and notions of ‘migration’ and ‘settlement’, second generation youth identity construction is bound to both individual and collective experiences. In this paper, we draw on in-depth interviews conducted with second generation youth of New Zealand descent in the Australian context to examine the dynamics of negotiating and ‘establishing’ identities shaped by, and through, access to multiple sources of ‘knowing’ and belonging. We argue that current discourses of second generation identities and experiences purport an essentialised, static notion of second generation ‘youth-hood’ as a ‘culturally conflicted’ stage between migrant family, community and the ‘host’/‘mainstream’ society. Instead, we highlight that second generation youth identities are somewhat bound to migration as a physical process of relocation and a socio-political experience, through the memories and narratives of ‘significant others’, as well as personal imaginaries of the ‘home’, often maintained and fostered through transnational and local linkages and journeys. In particular, the seemingly convivial bilateral relationship and distinct relations of migration, involving a relatively unrestricted migration arrangement, between Australia and New Zealand provides a unique, and equally complex, foundation for the construction of second generation youth identities within and across multiple boundaries. Within this context, the process of identity construction for second generation youth draws on connections to, and engagements within, collective ‘spaces’ of difference and resistance, including ‘cultural’ groups and ‘communities’, virtual spaces and ‘mainstream’ institutions. We thus argue that the identities of second generation youth are ultimately (re)shaped and (re)presented at the intersection(s) of collective spaces and individualised understandings of difference and belonging, located within the socio-political dimensions and narratives of everyday life.