Yātrā: a Phenomenology of Acculturation and Sojourner Experience of Indian International Students in the U.S
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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Educational Administration: Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research Educational Administration, Department of Spring 4-21-2021 Yātrā: A Phenomenology of Acculturation and Sojourner Experience of Indian International Students in the U.S. Pankaj Amrut Desai University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cehsedaddiss Part of the Educational Leadership Commons, and the Higher Education Administration Commons Desai, Pankaj Amrut, "Yātrā: A Phenomenology of Acculturation and Sojourner Experience of Indian International Students in the U.S." (2021). Educational Administration: Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research. 335. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cehsedaddiss/335 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Educational Administration, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Administration: Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. YĀTRĀ: A PHENOMENOLOGY OF ACCULTURATION AND SOJOURNER EXPERIENCE OF INDIAN INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN THE U.S. by Pankaj Amrut Desai A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: Educational Studies (Educational Leadership and Higher Education) Under the Supervision of Professor Elvira J. Abrica Lincoln, Nebraska April, 2021 YĀTRĀ: A PHENOMENOLOGY OF ACCULTURATION AND SOJOURNER EXPERIENCE OF INDIAN INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN THE U.S. Pankaj Amrut Desai, Ph.D. University of Nebraska, 2021 Advisor: Elvira J. Abrica This dissertation study utilized Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to understand the acculturation and sojourner experience of undergraduate Indian international students in the U.S. Midwest. Focusing exclusively on the lived experience of these students, this study engaged Berry’s Fourfold Model of Acculturation (Berry, 1992, 1994) and the ABC Model of Acculturation as presented by Ward et al., (2001) to amplify the voices of three participants to bring forth the meaning they attach to their experiences. This study made use of the concept of Yātrā to signify the multidimensional journey that these international students undertake while migrating from their heritage culture in India to the receiving culture in the U.S. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews, these students have shared their personal stories of adapting to change, learning along the way, and witnessing growth through their Yātrā in the U.S. Employing the process of double hermeneutics, meaning was made of the meaning attached to their Yātrā to understand their acculturation and coping strategies to overcome their acculturative stressors. This study has generated findings that would not only shed light on the acculturative process of these students but would also have implications for practice for educational leaders and practitioners. The findings of this study indicate that these students demonstrate a strong focus on doing well in the U.S. and exercise their grit and resilience to overcome their challenges. iii Dedication For my loving parents who have been my pillars of strength through my educational journey. Amma, you have taught me what nonjudgmental love is through your support for my Yātrā through its highs and especially through its lows. Your life is a model of selflessness and love that inspires me to dedicate myself to the service of others. Appaji, you have always inspired me to dream without inhibitions and invest myself fully into life. Together, both of you continue to remain my model for leading a life of service, love, and gratitude. I also dedicate this work to the memory of my late grandparents who did not receive a college education but at the same time, shared values, knowledge, and wisdom that continue to guide us even to this day. || Oṃ Śri Gurubhyọ Namāḥ || iv Acknowledgements This dissertation has been the result of countless hours of dedication and is a testimony to how individual achievement is often a product of collective effort. Foremost, I would like to thank my doctoral program advisor and dissertation committee chair, Dr. Elvira Abrica for spending many hours helping me hone my ideas for a dissertation that I could completely identify with. She has been a constant source of support and encouragement to me in this doctoral journey and has been a prime example of a dedicated scholar and guide who is genuinely invested in the overall progress of her advisee. I am also grateful to Dr. Brent Cejda who provided me with the initial support while starting this doctoral program. I have also benefitted from Dr. Deryl Hatch- Tocaimaza’s scholarship and guidance through his multiple courses that I have had the opportunity to be a part of, for which I am grateful. I am immensely grateful to Dr. Ajai Ammachathram for his friendship and insightful guidance on my dissertation emerging from his own lived experience as an international student and scholar in the U.S. I am grateful for the life-transforming education that I received through Prof. Rekha Rai and the trust infused in me by Prof. Vatsala V.S. at M.E.S. Degree College that helped me reinvest myself in the pursuit of excellence in higher education. I am indebted to Dr. Amy Trawick, Dr. Martha McCaughey, and Dr. Anthony Jones who played an important role in shaping my career in higher education at Appalachian State University and then again in helping me decide that this Ph.D. program would be in my best interest. Similarly, Dr. Venkat Srinivasan, Andrew Keaveney, Dr. Dinesh Dave and Sita Dave ji, and Gunwant Gosai ji have supported my Yātrā in the U.S. with love that transcends v familial bonds. My mind also goes back to when my Tabla Guruji Pandit Ravindra Yavagal, a master percussionist, shared in a moment of inspiration that “one must place their fingers appropriately to get the right sound” which helped me reshape my own attitude towards life and direct my energies towards enabling my own potential. I am deeply indebted to him for his love and blessings that only a Guru can shower on the disciple. This discipleship and reverence for knowledge have enabled a humbling experience of achievement that continue to facilitate greater learning in my life. Looking back, I reflect on how my educational journey has seen many crests and troughs that have enhanced my understanding of the challenges faced by students on their way to educational attainment. I am grateful to moments of life which posed as failures and infused me with deeper introspection and insight about my own life. My parents, Amrut and Jayashree Desai, have been unconditional in the manner that they have stood behind me during the most challenging of times during my Yātrā and encouraged me towards progress. When I have made genuine progress, I have seen how shared joy multiplies through their presence in my life. I bow down to them. My sister, Priyanka, has been a true friend and confidante along the way and reminded me from time to time that no obstacle is large enough to obstruct one’s dreams. I am immensely grateful to Georgia, my fiancé and soon-to-be wife, my sakhi, who has been my constant cheerleader during these past two years of my doctoral journey and has lovingly reminded me of my own potential. She has endured countless hours of my thinking aloud and offered genuine feedback for which I am really thankful to her. Her capacity for empathy and advocacy for the underrepresented continues to infuse me with inspiration. I am also grateful to her vi for her loving family, who I now call my own, who have added to my strength and feeling of gratitude. Without the love and support of all these beautiful individuals, I know this long mission to achieve academic excellence would have been even more arduous. I have drawn much strength from the knowledge that I have been provided with so much in my life and that millions more exist in India who see constant struggle in their lives to find access to higher education and achieve this upward mobility in life. I have drawn inspiration from the indigenous knowledge traditions of India and their vision of the world as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam or One World Family to prepare myself for a career dedicated to service and uplifting others around me through education. In this, I am in deep gratitude to my beloved Guruji Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a humanitarian who has inspired millions of people around the world to live one’s life as an expression of joy rather than as a pursuit of happiness. His message of a “violence-free society, disease- free body, quiver-free breath, confusion-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, trauma-free memory, and sorrow-free soul is the birthright of every human being” resonates with me and fills me with a sense of purpose and mission. I bow down to all teachers who have taught me without me even realizing it in the moment and contributed to my own Yātrā. With gratitude and looking within, I offer this prayer with reverence and heartfelt gratitude: || Asato Mā Sadgamaya || From the unreal lead me to the real. || Tamaso Mā Jyotirgamaya || From the darkness lead me to the light. || Mṛtyormā'mṛtaṃ Gamaya || From death lead me to immortality. || Oṃ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ || Oṃ. May peace be with all. vii Table of Contents List of Figures ..................................................................................................................