University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Master's Capstone Projects Center for International Education 2012 A Child With Two Motherlands: Child Sojourners and Cultural Identity Krayushkina Tatiana University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cie_capstones Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, and the Disability and Equity in Education Commons Tatiana, Krayushkina, "A Child With Two Motherlands: Child Sojourners and Cultural Identity" (2012). Master's Capstone Projects. 22. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cie_capstones/22 This Open Access Capstone is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for International Education at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Child With Two Motherlands: Child Sojourners and Cultural Identity Master Project Krayushkina Tatiana Project Advisor : Gretchen Rossman University of Massachusetts Amherst. Center for International Education May, 2012 1 ABSTRACT The main focus of the research for my Master’s Project has been children who sojourn in a different culture for several years. When studying social phenomena, social scientists often focus on adults, representing their perceptions and attitudes towards these phenomena. Children are assumed to follow the parents as silent absorbents of the parents’ views, decisions and attitudes. I, however, have foregrounded the perspectives and voices of children themselves. In this research, I have explored the following: • how children view their cultural identity/ies; • how they practice agency in choosing one; • how identity/ies change over time; and • what influences such changes In exploring these questions with sojourner children, the possibility for an individual to develop bicultural identity emerged. This evokes further questions, such as: Does a sense of biculturality mean that children who become familiar with the norms, rules, and social cues of two or more cultures may successfully operate in those cultures without losing their sense of self, or core, initial cultural identity? Or is the situation quite different, and children become rootless pilgrims marginalized in both cultures? I explored these questions through a qualitative research study during which I conducted twelve in-depth interviews with twelve children between ages of 7 and 18 who came to the U.S. from four different countries (Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran and one Western African country) more than three years ago and will most likely return back to their home countries in the near future. My findings suggest that children are able to alter their behaviors to fit the demands of both cultures quite successfully. However, they may undergo a somewhat stressful inward and outward process of adjustment to a new cultural environment. During this process, they may change their perceptions and understanding of cultural structures and its demands. However, the children were able to demonstrate the power and agency to make their own choices and hold fast to deeply-held beliefs and values. The choices they made could also be influenced by children’s family members, media, education, age at immigration, and whether or not the family practiced their homeland culture (traditions, beliefs, language) in the U.S. on a daily basis. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 I Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 II. Immigrants, Sojourners and Transnationals ................................................................................................... 6 III. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework .......................................................................................... 9 IV. Methodology ................................................................................................................................................................... 15 1. Participants and sampling strategies .................................................................................................................. 15 2. Data Collection Methods ........................................................................................................................................... 17 Interviews ....................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Naturalistic observations ......................................................................................................................................... 20 3. Analysis ............................................................................................................................................................................ 20 V. Personal Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................ 21 VI. Ethical Issues and Validity ...................................................................................................................................... 25 VII. Children and Families Profiles ........................................................................................................................... 27 African Family .................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Middle Eastern family ..................................................................................................................................................... 30 Indonesian family ............................................................................................................................................................. 31 Afghan family (1) .............................................................................................................................................................. 32 Afghan family (2) .............................................................................................................................................................. 33 VIII. Findings .......................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Language .............................................................................................................................................................................. 35 Doing things differently, feeling different: behavior, dress, food and values .......................................... 42 Place of birth ....................................................................................................................................................................... 47 Religion ................................................................................................................................................................................. 49 Controversies and double mindedness ................................................................................................................... 51 To be or not to be? To keep or not to keep? .......................................................................................................... 52 Personal reflections ......................................................................................................................................................... 64 IX. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................................ 65 References .............................................................................................................................................................................. 72 Appendices ............................................................................................................................................................................. 74 1. Consent Form for Parents of Minors Participating in the Project ........................................................... 74 2. Information Sheet for Oral Informed Assent .................................................................................................... 76 3 3. Interview Questions .................................................................................................................................................... 78 I INTRODUCTION Regardless of age, personality, nationality, ethnicity, or socio-economic status, people around the world ponder the same questions: Who am I? Where I am from? Why I am here? Where do I belong? The universality of these questions has led many researchers, philosophers, and theorists to ask: Why are these questions of such importance to us? What is it that we want to know about ourselves that makes this life more meaningful for us? Why do we want to know our roots and places to belong? What if I was someone was