Chapter 5: Andy's Story

This chapter offers a narrative account of Andy, an Afghan man who came to Australia as a humanitarian migrant on account of his work for the Australian Defence Force in Afghanistan. It draws on repeat interviews conducted over a 4-year period as part of a longitudinal ethnographic project that explored the refugee students' educational transitions into and through Australian HE (see Baker et al., 2020). In offering a critical description of Andy's transitions into, out of and back into education, we trace his negotiated trajectory between his recent past, his settlement present and his possible (educational and employment) future. Like Aaliyah, this chapter describes Andy's journey in chronological order. Andy's case depicts the real-time challenges of a single man navigating the settlement and tertiary education systems concurrently, while seeking to make himself an employable subject – both in the short and longer term – and coping with the stresses of leaving family and trying to establish a new life in Australia.