University of Auckland Presenters:

• Mengzhu Fu, MA Anthropology • Sehar Moughal, MSc Psychology
• Raagini Vijaykumar, Undergraduate Student, Sociology and Law
• Sehar Moughal, MSc Psychology
• David Mayeda, PhD, Sociology

Over the last two decades Auckland’s ethnic demographics have shifted dramatically, in large part due to rising immigration of families from diverse Asian, Middle Eastern and African cultural backgrounds. As ethnic enclaves have developed across Auckland, young people from these communities encounter tension between western/dominant cultural norms and their families who frequently encourage children to retain their culture of origin. Balancing at least two cultures, migrant youth engaged in romantic relationships often find themselves in isolated and confused spaces, spaces which are complicated tremendously if they are entangled in a relationship characterised by violence.

This panel will showcase three University of Auckland research projects conducted over the past two years with migrant youth in collaboration with Shakti on the overlapping topics of family violence and dating violence. Mengzhu Fu will discuss her MA Thesis for Anthropology, which focuses on young family violence survivors and their processes of rebuilding their lives in a structurally violent society. Sehar Moughal will present her MSc Thesis for Psychology in which she used video self-modeling to assist young migrant women ensnared in violent relationships with conversational skills and enhance their occupational chances. David Mayeda and Raagini Vijaykumar will overview their sociological study with adolescents and young adults from migrant backgrounds, describing how young people from migrant communities learn and cope with violent relationships while accounting for cultural norms.

All panelists are focusing on transferring their research findings into actual social change.