HAJI MOLANA, HANIEH., PH.D., AUGUST. 2020 GEOGRAPHY EVERYDAY NARRATIVES OF IRANIAN WOMEN ON BELONGING IN THE UNITED STATES (108 PP.) Dissertation Advisor: David Kaplan The acculturation process and psychological aspects of cultural change and adaptation have become the center of diaspora and immigration scholarship over the past decades. The goal of this piece is to amplify the voices of female immigrants who have experienced both cultural and physical separation from their home country. Specifically, assessing the ways in which the acculturation process in a host society has impacted their psychological health and well-being. The primary focus of this study is on the two factors of gender and ethnic enclave, to answer the research questions: 1) How does gender play a role in encountering and adopting new socio- cultural values? 2) How does the existence of an established ethnic enclave and living among people with similar ethnic backgrounds in a host society affect the acculturation process and the psychological aspects of it? Data was collected through an in-depth interview method called collective biography, executed with seventeen Iranian women in Los Angeles, CA and Cleveland, OH. The research findings allow for a new way to approach the acculturation studies; precisely, an evaluation of the levels of importance of factors such as gender, existence of ethnic enclave, current political climate, religion, family support and marital status. The overall findings will be beneficial in expanding acculturation theory and highlighting the important role of gender and women’s issues in studying immigrants’ post-migration. Future policy-making institutions and organizations that study immigration will benefit from the knowledge of potential risks to the personal and social lives of their subjects after migration. VOICES OF ACCULTURATION: EVERYDAY NARRATIVES OF IRANIAN WOMEN ON BELONGING IN THE UNITED STATES A dissertation submitted To Kent State University in partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree in Doctoral of Philosophy by Hanieh Haji Molana August 2020 © Copyright All rights reserved Except for previously published materials Dissertation written by Hanieh Haji Molana B.A., University of Tehran, 2014 M.A., Kent State University, 2016 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2020 Approved by Dr. David Kaplan _______________________________, Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. James Tyner _______________________________, Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Dr. V. Kelly Turner ________________________________ Dr. Richard Adams ________________________________ Dr. John Updegraff ________________________________ Accepted by Dr. Scott C. Sheridan ________________________________, Chair, Department of Geography Dr. Mandy Munro-Stasiuk _______________________________, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………...…………………………………………………iv LIST OF FIGURES…………….……….………………………………………………….……vi LIST OF TABLES………………...…….………………………………………………………vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………….…………………….………………….……………viii CHAPTERS: I. INTRODUCTION………...……..…..………………………..………………………1 Background of the study ……………………………………………...………………1 Significance of the study ……………………………………………………………...4 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE…….………….…………………..……………………5 Acculturation and cultural adaptation…………………………………………………5 Acculturation strategies ……………………………………………………………....9 Berry’s model …………………………………………………………………….9 Nishida’s cultural schema theory……………………….………………………..10 Acculturation and psychological level ………………………….……..…………….12 Factors affecting the degree of acculturation ………………………………………..16 Connecting gender to acculturation process……………………………...………….18 Connecting ethnic enclaves and ethnic identity to acculturation process ……….…..21 III. IRANIAN IMMIGRANTS AND DIASPORA IN THE U.S………………………..25 History of Iranian diaspora ………………………………………………………….25 Iranian ethnic enclave in Los Angeles, CA …………………………..……………..34 Iranian ethnic enclave in Northeast, OH …………………………………………….37 IV. RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE ………….…………………………..40 iv Collecting data ……………………………………….………………………..…….40 Interviews …………………………………………………………………..………..41 Interview analysis …………………………………………………….……………..43 Limitations and strengths ……………………………………………………………45 Ethical considerations ……………………………………………………...………..47 V. LOS ANGELES, CA ……………..…………………………………………………49 Narratives ……………………………………………………………………………49 Leaving behind life in Iran …………………………………………………...….49 Searching for a balance in the U.S.: Adapting to American culture …………….52 Cultivating and abandoning the cultural pieces ………..………………………..55 Summary of key findings ……………………………………………………………58 VI. CLEVELAND AREA, OH ……………………………………...…………………..62 Narratives ……………………………………………………………………………62 Reasons behind migration and life in the U.S. …………………………………..62 How do you describe your experience so far? …………………………………..66 Do you feel like you belong here? ………………………………………………69 Summary of key findings ……………………………………………………………74 VII. CONCLUSION AND FINAL DISCUSSION ………………………………………78 Key findings ………………………………………………...……………………….78 Dimension 1: Gender, acculturation process and acculturative stress ………………79 Dimension 2: Ethnic enclave, acculturation and acculturative stress ……….………82 Final thoughts ……………………………………………………………………….85 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………….87 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Relationship among terms associated with cross-cultural adaptation ……………...….8 Figure 3.1: Reports on International Educational Exchange is a comprehensive information resource on international students …………………………………………………….……..…..38 Figure 5.1: Factors affecting the acculturation process in Los Angeles, CA …...………………61 Figure 6.1: Factors affecting the acculturation process in Cleveland, OH ……………….……..77 vi LIST OF TABLES 4.1. Interview questions …………………………………………………………………………42 4.2. Participants information ……….………………..…………………………………………..44 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Firstly, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. David Kaplan, for providing guidance and feedback throughout this research project. I would also like to thank my husband, for putting up with me being in the office for hours and giving me all his love and support. Finally, kudos to all the women who participated in this research. Without their bravery and participation this study would not have been possible. viii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background of the study The United States has the largest number of immigrants in the world. Today, over 44 million foreign born individuals live in the U.S., making up about 13.6% of the total population. 51.7% of immigrants in the U.S. identify as female, with a median age of 44 (Pew Research Center, 2017). Based on the most recent data, 1.8 million of the immigrants hail from the Middle East region (consisting of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Yemen, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Turkey, Syria and Israel/Palestine). There is no accurate number of Iranian immigrants, but according to a 2016 study, it is estimated that 210,405 of the total number of immigrants from the Middle East were born in Iran (Malek, 2019). The cultural depictions of Iranians and Middle Easterners in Western society has often been colored by orientalism and xenophobia. People from this area of the world are sometimes perceived as posing a threat to the Western values. Such notions have led to increasing levels of marginality from the rest of society. As a result it can negatively affect migrants’ feelings of belonging and membership in U.S. society (Mahdavi, 2006; Sadeghi, 2016). The research of Mobasher (2012) on Iranians living in Texas has described the double pressure on Iranian immigrants in American society; one characterized by exile and loss of homeland, and secondarily experiencing rejection, humiliation and loss of cultural pride in the U.S. On the contrary, the study of Mostofi (2003) described that discrimination faced by Iranians in the U.S. 1 may encourage them to move toward incorporating American ideologies and cultural norms. In the long run they become more fully connected and integrated to the mainstream society. These immigrants have crossed cultural and political boundaries to find a home in a new society. They often face complex challenges in navigating novel cultural norms in an unfamiliar environment. This process of learning and acclimating to a new culture is described as acculturation. The psychological challenges accompanying the adaptation process is called acculturative stress (Abouguendia & Noels, 2001; Kim, 2001; Berry, 2003). There is a foundational conflict over how stress effects psychological health and acculturation process. The research of Bhunga (2003) indicated that the stress negatively affects the acculturation process. In other words, when individuals experience trauma and severe stress they go through a harder time in adjusting to the host society. As a result, they feel marginalized and alienated. On the contrary, the research of Kim (2001) has found the acculturative stress is positively correlated with learning, growth and the. acculturative process; it provides an individual with the impetus to involve themselves in the host society and build a more complete feeling of belonging and membership. As demonstrated above, the vast number of studies on acculturation endeavor to understand the complexity of the post-migration life and its psychological effect on individuals. This research breaks down the components that affect the post-migration experience. The two main factors of ethnic enclave and gender are used