Resilience and social cohesion in a post-covid world: multicultural youth perspectives

What role can culturally-diverse youth play in enhancing resilience and social cohesion in a post-covid world? Dr Kim Lam (Deakin University), Professor Anita Harris (Deakin University) and Edmee Kenny (Centre for Multicultural Youth) sought the views of young people involved with CRIS, who shared their experiences of racism, digital citizenship and resilience.

Young people face blame in the pandemic

In the ongoing battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, sentiment towards young people has been sharply divided. On one hand, media and political commentary has disproportionately blamed young people for recklessly ‘spreading’ the virus. Young people have consistently been urged to ‘do the right thing’ to prevent the spread of coronavirus to older, more vulnerable individuals, and in particular, to avoid mixing with their friends. Young people have also been warned that they too, can become severely ill and also die from the virus.

Young people also face multiple challenges

On the other hand, many working in the youth sector have drawn attention to the dire impacts of the pandemic on mental heath, education, employment, income, digital inequalities, and access to support structures outside the family home. This commentary has highlighted the many challenges young people face, urging more targeted assistance to young people. Such assistance is advocated as the effects of the pandemic are predicted to be experienced by young people for many years to come. Alongside this commentary is an attempt to counter narratives about youth irresponsibility. A report by the South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People, for instance, reports that young people understand the importance of social distancing measures, particularly for the protection of vulnerable communities. A survey conducted by YouthInsight reveals that most young people can separate the facts from the myths about coronavirus, while a UNICEF fact sheet exploring young people’s views of the pandemic has shown that most young people are well-informed about the virus through news and government sources. 

Culturally and linguistically diverse young people

Yet other key strengths possessed by culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) young people in particular have received less attention. Previous research has found that youth are at the forefront of Australia’s social cohesion efforts, expressing greater support for multiculturalism than any other age cohort. They have grown up with diversity, and have developed well-established strategies for engaging productively with cultural difference and building civic bonds in a culturally diverse society. Young people, particularly CALD youth, have shown they are capable, resilient and resourceful during times of crisis.

Research on CALD youth, especially bilingual youth, has found that they often act as ‘cultural brokers’ for non-English speaking and less-technologically-literate parents and elder community members, translating information and assisting with online and digital technologies. They are also highly engaged in civic practices through digital technologies, participating across all key domains of citizenship: social, political, cultural and economic life, that sees them at the frontlines of sharing information, building communications networks and collaborating creatively in practices of social action. Many are proficient in maintaining social bonds across geographical and generational distances, and are often innovators with regard to digital citizenship practices.

The digital citizenship capacities of CALD young people, combined with the enviable social cohesion competencies that are evident amongst Australian youth, point to the central role they can play in maintaining inclusive, tolerant, and engaged communities through on- and off-line means in a time of crisis.  

However, CALD youth are doing so in an environment that is fraught with racism, technologically-generated risks and increased pressures of intergenerational caregiving. CALD youth must and do exercise great sensitivity and compassion in these circumstances, however, this has proven difficult for many when their own education and career trajectories, as well as social wellbeing and mental health, have been affected.

A 22 year-old Vietnamese-Australian we spoke with, Hieu*, said that juggling a role as primary carer for his disabled mother, while also studying and undertaking casual employment, has been ‘really stressful and confusing’. Social distancing restrictions have further compounded tensions, as he currently lives with his mother in the same room of a sharehouse, and is now unable to go to the library or other places as he would have in the past to ‘take a break from home’.

Jane, a 22 year-old Chinese Australian, notes that online spaces have allowed ‘conversations to run wild and proliferate racial stereotypes’. She writes:

‘Because of social media, I haven't needed to be a direct victim of hate crimes to feel their effects - just watching stories of racial attacks go viral has been enough to affect my mental health. It's been distressing to see videos of young Asian women being harassed and physically beaten in Melbourne's CBD, when I'm also a young Asian woman who often passes through that same space. Footage like that has made me more wary of leaving the house and more on edge when I do. I'm frustrated by this because as a young woman, I already feel unsafe and unwelcome in certain public spaces - it angers me that I've now been made even more vulnerable because of my ethnic background.’

Young people as advocates for change

Yet despite these difficulties, both Jane and Hieu remain hopeful about creating structural change, and using their lived experiences to advocate and build communities of support. They describe creating spaces for community, advocacy and resilience online, utilising the digital literacy they have grown up with.

Jane observes that while the pandemic has ‘brought to light some pressing issues that have long affected us but are now more severe than ever’, there is a ‘renewed appetite for action - lots of new online events and media products are cropping up to engage and elevate these discussions’. She reports being able to ‘leverage everyone's newfound expertise in Zoom and other digital technologies to organise spaces for us to meet and discuss issues such as racism - connecting us across different timezones and regions of the world.

‘In light of everything going on, people continue to adapt to the new situation. In particular young people such as myself continue to utilise the digital literacy that we have largely grown up with in many creative ways. Advocacy and social change finds new forms on the digital landscape. Whether through my participation in texting groups, zoom calling parties (where people call and lobby politicians together), or widely accessible online training programs, young people from CALD backgrounds continue to not just advocate online but also build communities of support in difficult and isolating times.’ 

- Hieu*

These examples demonstrate that, while it is important to draw attention to the need for financial, social, cultural and other forms of support for CALD youth during this crisis, it is equally important to recognise their strengths, and to facilitate them to enhance the work they are already doing to assist families and communities and to build resilience and cohesion.

In the big-picture road to recovery from COVID-19, it is vital to engage with CALD youth as part of intergenerational communities to offer culturally-appropriate assistance, and ensure that they are part of broader social cohesion and community-resilience initiatives. Our work as part of the Youth, Diversity and Wellbeing in a Digital Age Stream for the Centre of Resilient and Inclusive Societies (CRIS) shows that CALD youth already have many strategies for dealing with adversity and engaging productively with difference, not only in everyday contexts but increasingly in a digital realm. These strengths will become increasingly valuable as lockdown restrictions ease and diverse groups come into increasing contact with each other again, under the pall of COVID-19 racism and social and economic precarity. 

*Not his real name