Media
Young immigrants thrive in small-town New Brunswick
CBC Radio Maritimes, October 6, 2016Radio/Podcast
URL: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/shift-nb/segment/10380132
Fredericton native Stacey Wilson-Forsberg talks about her research on the experience of newcomers in Florenceville-Bristol and Fredericton.
As Mexico appeases Trump, migrants bear the brunt
The Conversation, July 14, 2019Online
URL: https://theconversation.com/as-mexico-appeases-trump-migrants-bear-the-brunt-119920
U.S. President Donald Trump’s politics of control and fear toward Mexico and other Latin American countries has resulted in serious consequences.
Mexico’s frontera sur: Life carries on in this place of permanent mobility
The Conversation, March 13, 2019Online
We are two researchers: one in human rights from Canada and the other in social anthropology from Mexico. We visited the border region last month to observe daily life and to gather information with the hope that these details will help us to change the media narrative that often dehumanizes Central American migrants.
Hope and anguish in a Mexican refugee shelter: Researcher records stories of Central American asylum seekers
The Conversation Republished in National Post, January 30, 2019Online
A human rights researcher documents the stories of Central American migrants leaving behind endemic poverty and high homicide rates. In limbo in Mexico, many use art therapy to express their anxiety.
Canada must share responsibility for resettling Central American refugees
Ottawa Citizen, August 2, 2018Online
We join critics in calling on the Trudeau government to suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States and direct more financial support to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada to process asylum claims as quickly and objectively as possible. We also encourage the government to take a leadership role in the Western Hemisphere by working with the UNHCR to open Canada as a safe third country for the resettlement of Central American refugees.
Getting Used to the Quiet: Immigrant Adolescents' Journey to Belonging in New Brunswick, Canada.
by S. Wilson-Forsberg
McGill-Queens University Press
March 1, 2012
ISBN 9780773540002
In Getting Used to the Quiet, Stacey Wilson-Forsberg looks at the integration experiences of immigrant adolescents in one small city and one rural town in New Brunswick's St John River Valley where the youths find no earlier immigrant communities with shared cultural backgrounds. Emphasizing themes including social capital, social networks, and citizen engagement, Wilson-Forsberg highlights the teens' gradual involvement in their new communities as they confront the challenges of dealing with an unfamiliar environment, learning a new language, and reaching out to their New Brunswick-born peers. In-depth interviews with over thirty teens give readers new insights into the integration process.
Focusing on a crucial and underexplored area of immigration studies, Getting Used to the Quiet is a valuable resource for understanding the ways in which newcomers join unfamiliar communities and how the communities, in turn, respond to their presence.
Immigrant Youth in Canada: Theoretical Approaches, Practical Issues, and Professional Perspectives.
by S. Wilson-Forsberg and A. M. Robinson eds.
Oxford University Press
January 1, 2018
9780199022151
Immigrant Youth in Canada is designed to help students gain a better understanding of the complexities, challenges, and opportunities of the immigrant and second-generation youth experience in Canada. Thirty-five Canadian researchers and practitioners offer strategies to respond to the challenges immigrant youth face, and explore ways to recognize the assets these youth bring to Canadian society.
From Class Assignment to Friendship: Enhancing the Intercultural Competence of Domestic and International Students through Experiential Learning
by Wilson-Forsberg, S., Power, P., Kilgour, V., and Darling, S.
Published by Comparative and International Education
August 1, 2018
This study explored growth in the intercultural competence of domestic and international students who participated in an intercultural experiential learning initiative for academic credit. The initiative paired Canadian students in a second-year multiculturalism class at Wilfrid Laurier University with international students enrolled in the Laurier English and Academic Foundation (LEAF) program. Qualitative data derived from the oral and written reflections of three cohorts of students inform the study. The data were coded using pre-existing codes derived from learning objectives and reflection questions based on Deardorff’s (2006) Elements of Intercultural Competence Model. The findings suggest that while exposure to different cultural values and practices deepens domestic and international students’ knowledge and challenges their assumptions about each other, creating optimal conditions for meaningful intercultural contact between the students at a university may not adequately reflect everyday contact between them in complex real-life situations.
Disrupting an Imposed Identity or Performing the Model Minority? The Pursuit of Postsecondary Education by Young African Immigrant Men in Southern Ontario, Canada.
by Wilson-Forsberg, S., Shizha, E., Masakure, O., Lafrenière, G., and Mfoafo-M’Carthy, M.
Published by Race, Ethnicity and Education,
August 1, 2018
This article examines how young African immigrant men in Southern Ontario cope with the dominant racial identity at school in an effort to improve their academic performance and access postsecondary education (PSE). Critical race theory in education is employed to explain how the young men distance themselves from stereotypes about Black masculinity by regulating their own behaviour and differentiating themselves from their Caribbean immigrant peers. Sixty-seven young men who had immigrated to Southern Ontario from several African countries over the last 10 years were interviewed individually and in focus groups for the study. The findings suggest that the research participants adopted a model minority status within an educational system that clearly embodies racist and systemically oppressive frameworks.
URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13613324.2018.1497965
Biography
Stacey Wilson-Forsberg is an Associate Professor in the Human Rights Human Diversity program at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her research broadly focuses on Immigration and multiculturalism. She is especially interested in the experiences of immigrant youth in schools and smaller communities, migrants with precarious immigration status in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and the development of intercultural competence in university students. Her ongoing research includes a qualitative study of the challenges and opportunities faced by African refugee youth when attempting to access postsecondary education in Canada, and a study of asylum seekers waiting in temporary shelters in Mexico. Recent publications include a textbook published by Oxford University Press called Immigrant Youth in Canada: Theoretical Approaches, Practical Issues, and Professional Perspectives. She has also published in several peer reviewed journals including Race, Ethnicity and Education.
Recognition/Reconnaissance
Donald F. Morgenson Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in Internationalization (2018) | Professional
Award for Teaching Excellence