Influences of Intergenerational Transmission of Autobiographical Memories on Identity Formation in Immigrant Children Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Yuliya Illinichna Buquoi, M.A. Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures The Ohio State University 2019 Dissertation Committee Dr. Ludmila Isurin, Advisor Dr. Jennifer Suchland Dr. Leslie Moore Copyright by Yuliya Illinichna Buquoi 2019 Abstract Our memories define the way we perceive our world; they help us think about the past, live our present, and construe our future. Memories also reflect a cultural way of being in the world that is inextricably linked to our identity construction, goals, and self- appraisal. Parents use intergenerational transmission of personal memories and family stories to help socialize their children into communities, rooted in worldviews, relationships, history, geography, and culture. This socialization helps them develop their own self-story, reflect on their past, shape their identities, and orient their future. This study investigated the relationship between identity and intergenerational transmission of memories through the platform of autobiographical memories shared by immigrant parents with their children. By virtue, the process of adaptation to a new way of life in a new country enables immigrants to renegotiate new identities, goals, and attitudes; however, this process is particularly important for immigrant children who have a multiple identities to blend into a hyphenated self-concept and relatively few tools for self-evaluation. Both the sociocultural environment of the host country as well as the transmission of cultural values and capital through parental interactions play important roles in shaping young immigrants’ attitudes and behaviors. As a result, most immigrant children retain both their native and host cultures, but construct their own unique culture and hyphenated identity, lifestyle, and language. This dissertation examines how parental sharing of autobiographical memories with their children influences the children’s identity in adulthood. It looks at children’s iii data in three ways: first, within the context of transmission of sentiments, values, and ideals between parents and children in aggregate; second, focusing on intergenerational transmission within families, linking specific parents to their specific children; and third, through a comparative examination of whether there is a difference in sentiments between children who arrived either very young or were born shortly after immigration and those who arrived as older children or adolescents, having a more mature cognitive structure and a fair amount of their own memories from their native country. Since this was an exploratory study with a very broad scope, findings were not limited to one or two areas. Rather they told a story of a journey 32 Russian Jewish immigrant parents experienced in the course of going from a highly persecuted group in the former Soviet Union (FSU) to a successful diasporic group in the U.S., and how that journey was conveyed to and internalized by their 23 children. Findings centered on topics of children’s identity negotiation, relationships with the FSU, U.S., and Israel, Judaism, and discrimination. Findings also addressed language attitudes, frequent topics of discussion parents and children engaged in with different subsets of interlocutors, prevailing themes in participant responses, comparative analysis of parent and child metrics in aggregate and within families, and an examination of worldview trends children exhibited by age at immigration. This study adopted a mixed-methods, interdisciplinary approach with a very broad scope, creating tangential ties to and generalizability in fields like developmental cognition, immigration, identity, autobiographical memory, history, social psychology, and diasporic Russian Jewish studies. It also helped forge a way forward in burgeoning iv topics of intergenerational transmission and Generation 1.5 identity negotiation; providing a few new data points into these young disciplines. v Dedication To the home team You guy made this thing happen. vi Acknowledgements Reflecting on my PhD journey over the last three years, there were so many people who helped me get to this point. I would not be writing this acknowledgement right now without all of you encouraged me, easing my path, and challenged me to be a better version of myself, so I’d like to extend a big collective thank you to all my family, friends, professors, and colleagues for being a part of my journey. Earning a PhD is not easy, but it is even harder while raising four small children. My first thank you is to my family, who have been an invaluable source of support throughout this whole process. Quentin, thank you for being my partner in crime in this silly journey called life: for taking the kids out when I needed the space to work, for helping me get through the roller coaster these last few years have been, for being my sounding board, and being the yang to my yin to balance out my crazy ideas. Looking forward to forever, Shug. Ada, thank you for taking one for the team so many times, with keeping the house running while I had my head in the books and wrangling the kids alone for days at a time so I could work. Ethan, Nicky, Charley, and Zoe, thank you for giving me a good reason to take on this project and for giving up our time on weekends so I could write. A special thank you to my California, Georgia, and Louisiana family, who were always there to lend an ear, provide practical support, and urge me to keep plugging away. Mama and Fim, thank you for always being there to bounce off ideas, for helping me coordinate research participants, and for helping us in many other ways. Tash and vii Vadim, thank you for always checking on us. Mary Kay and Stephanie, thanks for the getaway when I needed a brain break. Michael, Renata, Desi, Carl, Johnny, Hope, Matt, and Shelby, thank you for your continued support. Dr. Isurin, my sincere gratitude goes out to you for your tireless efforts in guiding me, proofreading thousands of pages of manuscripts, and being not just a top-notch advisor, but a great friend. I very much appreciate your bearing with my chaotic lifestyle and giving me a kick in the butt when I needed it. You expanded my horizons, introducing me to new fields of study I would never have considered without your mentorship, and helped me grow both as an academic and as a human. Odd to say, but you also gave me the perspective to become a better Jew. I hope someday I can be half as good of an advisor to my advisees as you have been to me. To all the folks at OSU, you guys are nothing short of amazing. I genuinely do not think I would have had nearly as enjoyable of a journey at any other school. Dr Burry, and Dr Hashamova, thank you for allowing me to apply late, taking a chance on me, putting up with my unconventional military requirements, and giving me a home these last three and a half years; Derek, for always being there to help with logistical and administrative issues; Dr. Stepanova for helping me become a better educator and a better Russian speaker; and to all of my fellow grad students for your friendship and support. I would also like to extend my gratitude to my candidacy and dissertation committee, Dr. Moore, Dr. Suchland, Dr. Bloome, and Dr. Goscilo, for taking the time read my work, learning a whole new topic just to administer my exams, and challenging me to become a better scholar. viii Of course all of this would have been a non-starter without support from my Air Force community, who helped me get this opportunity and supported me in the course of my degree. The good folks from A3Q (Dog, Max, Binjo, Rage, Pete, Blummer, and so many others) who cashed in so many favors to get me an audience with AFPC; Col Farrar who took a chance on releasing me to pursue this opportunity; and the USAFA Foreign Language department (Col Steeves, Col Peltier, Col Uribe) who volunteered to take me back me back, even after I was such a pain in the butt the first time. Thank you to the AFIT/CI team (Lt Col Chandler, Maj Ruyle, Mr. Whitney) for always helping me with my random 2% issues and to the OSU AFROTC Det: Mr. Gooden, Sgt Duthoy, Col Cullen, Capt Elles, and company, for keeping me connected to the military while taking this little break. And of course, to Lt Col Tendetnik, who started the ball rolling on all of this academic stuff and has been the little devil on my shoulder since basic. All of this is your fault, Pash, just saying. Amira, Stephen, Susan, Abe, Evan, Brandon, Maria, Jennifer, and Tracy, thank you for your friendship, and for the insightful conversation and for always being there to let me vent; this process, especially the first year, would have been infinitely tougher without you. Thank you for proofreading my work, listening to me rant, and helping me get perspective. Shelley, thank you for your formatting superpowers. Megan and Sarah, thanks for creating our little TKD PTA; you’ve made my evenings so much more enjoyable. Pam and Allen, thanks for the great discussions, I look forward to having more time for them now. And last but not least, to all of my extended Russian Jewish community, who took the time to share with me their interesting and often difficult experiences in the Former ix Soviet Union; they helped me do more than just write a dissertation, but to understand my roots. Thank you for sharing your stories with me and for the delicious soup.