Going to school in the life of adolescent Rwandans in Brussels.

Abstract

The Rwandese community in Brussels has a specific migration history, which has an influence on the choices that their youth makes regarding their school carrier. This paper talks about how their parents can translate their cultural capital into useful symbolic capital and how the youth can adopt this, and apply it in their own (school)life. The article is based on data that were collected during a yearlong research with 20 Rwandese adolescents in Brussels.

The article concludes that the migration path of Rwandese families has been rather laborious and has been a traumatic experience for most families. Most adolescents are relatively successful during their school career, for which they invoke their parents’ and community’s cultural capital. The parents succeeded in translating the cultural which they possessed before coming to Belgium, into symbolic capital. Most of the Rwandese migrants in Belgium fled their country during or shortly after the 1994 genocide. Therefor the Rwandese community in Brussels is still young. Because most parents, since their arrival in Belgium, have been working or studying here, a positive dynamic towards the youth was created, which caused an atmosphere of trust regarding their new country. The youth believes that they are getting the chance to build a future of their own, as long as they work for it. Combined with the high educational level of the parents, this creates a positive study climate in the community and the families.