MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of Hani M. Henry Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________ Co-Chair William B. Stiles, PhD _______________________________ Co-Chair Mia W. Biran, PhD ________________________________ Reader Roger M. Knudson, PhD _________________________________ Reader Denise Fox-Barber, PhD ________________________________ Graduate School Representative Susan Mosley Howard, PhD ABSTRACT LOSS AND MOURNING IN IMMIGRATION: USING THE ASSIMILATION MODEL TO ASSESS CONTINUING BONDS WITH NATIVE CULTURE by Hani M. Henry This study used the assimilation model to elaborate the continuing bonds model of mourning. According to the continuing bonds model of mourning, immigrants dealing with the loss of their native culture incorporate elements of this culture (i.e. their families, friends, identity, language, values, and traditions) into their life structure. This model suggests that immigrants need not abandon their emotional attachments to elements of their native cultures; instead, they can benefit from continuing bonds with these elements. These bonds may help them adjust to their new countries, solve problems, and provide solace. The assimilation model, which has previously been used to assess psychotherapeutic progress, was extended to describe a process through which immigrants continue their bonds with their native culture by having an internalized constellation of voices of this culture. These voices are traces of experiences and memories of this culture and are activated or triggered by the immigrant’s cultural artifacts and practices. For immigrants who have not fully assimilated the loss of their native culture, their continuing bonds can provide solace (clinging to the lost culture), or may exacerbate conflict with the host culture, or both. For immigrants who have fully assimilated the loss of native culture, the voices of this culture are linked via meaning bridges with the voices of the host culture and the continuing bonds became resources that are called upon by the immigrant when needed. Seven case studies of immigrants from Spain, Mexico, China, India, Uruguay, Iraq and Somalia illustrated the influences of an immigrant's context (i.e. external events influencing his or her life) and her/his worldview (i.e. perceptual aspects of her/his experience in response to losing the culture) on the assimilation of the lost culture and manifestations of the continuing bonds with it. Some of the interviewed immigrants showed differential assimilation of different elements of the lost culture or regression in the stages of assimilating this loss following stress. Case observations also showed influences of collectivism and individualism on the assimilation and mourning of lost culture and a possible link between mourning of lost culture and models of racial identity development and bicultural competence. LOSS AND MOURNING IN IMMIGRATION: USING THE ASSIMILATION MODEL TO ASSESS CONTINUING BONDS WITH NATIVE CULTURE A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Psychology by Hani M. Henry Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2006 Dissertation Co-chairs: William B. Stiles, Ph.D. and Mia W. Biran, Ph.D. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables......................................................................................................................……...iii List of Figures................................................................................................................................iv Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1 Immigration-Related Losses……………………………………………………………….. 4 Immigrants’ Responses to the Loss of their Native Cultures According to Object Relation Theory……………………………………………………………………………………..5 Denial of Loss and its Problematic Consequence …………………………….......6 Clinging to Loss (or Prolonged Grief) and its Problematic Consequences ………7 A Better Response to Immigration-Related Loss: Mourning the Loss of Native Culture…..7 The Grief Work Model of Mourning ………………………………………………7 The Continuing Bonds Model of Mourning …………………………………….....8 The Use of the Assimilation Model to Elaborate the Continuing Bonds Model of Mourning…………………………………………………………………………….......13 Caveat: Loss and Mourning and the Familial Non-European Self………………………... 18 Summary: Continuing Bonds in Acculturation……………………………………………..19 Chapter 2: Design and Purpose…………………………………………………………………20 Method…………………………………………………………………………………..22 Participants…………………………………………………………………………22 Researchers………………………………………………………………………...22 Interview Content…………………………………………………………………..23 Ethical Concerns…………………………………………………………………...24 Procedure…………………………………………………………………………..24 Chapter 3: Results…………………………………………………………………………… ...30 Nancy………………………………………………………………………………….....31 Diego……………………………………………………………………………………..45 Fen………………………………………………………………………………………..57 Andres……………………………………………………………………………………70 Tanu……………………………………………………………………………………...83 Muhammad……………………………………………………………………………....96 Ayan…………………………………………………………………………………….110 Chapter 4: Discussion………………………………………………………………………..124 Political implications of the current study…………………………………………………..137 Relevance of the study to current research on immigration………………………………...139 Validity consideration……………………………………………………………………….144 Personal reflections: Dealing with my own biases during my research journey……………147 Implications for therapeutic intervention with immigrants…………………………………148 Limitations of the current study……………………………………………………………..149 Suggestion for future research………………………………………………………………152 References…………………………………………………………………………………...154 Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………..160 ii List of Tables Table 1 The APES as applied to the Process of Loss and Mourning in Immigration……16 Table 2 Case Summaries………………………………………………………………...121 iii List of Figures Figure 1 Setting the ground for understanding: The influence of the immigrants’ context and worldview on loss and mourning in immigration…………………………...….20 Figure 2 The role and function of the continuing bonds based on the APES level…………125 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank God for His unconditional love and for providing numerous blessings. I wish to express my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. William B. Stiles, for his incredible mentorship and guidance throughout my tenure as a graduate student at Miami University and for his wonderful dedication to this research project. I would like to thank Dr. Mia Biran, my dissertation committee co-chair, for her valuable insights and contributions to the current study. I would also like to express my appreciation to my dissertation committee members Drs. Roger Knudson, Susan Mosley Howard, and Denise Fox-Barber for the tremendous expertise and knowledge they offered during the course of this research project. I wish to offer thanks to my research team members: Meredith Glick, James Mosher, and Prashant Banerjee who offered their time and talents in the analysis process of this study. I would also like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to my research participants who shared their life experiences as immigrants and helped me reach a deeper understanding of the process of loss and mourning in immigration I would like to bow to my parents, Mr. Momtaz Henry and Mrs. Afaf Sadek, for their unwavering support and their unending love; without their strong presence in my life, I could not have succeeded in completing this project. I would also like to express my appreciation to my fiancée, Sally Ramsis, whom I met during the later stages of my study and who offered me immense compassion and support. Finally, I would like to thank my friends Jill Thomas, D’Arcy Reynolds, and Nahree Doh for encouraging and supporting me during my years as a graduate student. v Your grief for what you have lost holds a mirror up to where you have been bravely working. Expecting the worst, you look and instead, here is the joyful face you have been wanting to see. Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralyzed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expand the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as bird wings. Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) vi Loss and Mourning in Immigration: Using the Assimilation Model to Asses Continuing Bonds with Native Culture Chapter 1: Introduction The Problem Statement There were approximately 32.5 million foreign-born residents in the USA as of March 2002 (US Census Bureau, 2003). In a population of 282.1 million, the foreign-born amounted to 11.5 percent. 86% of these foreign-born immigrants arrived to the USA from Non Western countries located in Asia, Central America, Africa, The Caribbean, and South America. Immigration may create social and physical security for individuals, may enhance their personal growth, abilities, knowledge, and skills, and may lead to their financial well being (Tartakovsky & Shwartz, 2001). However, immigrants may be dealing with the painful loss of their cultures. Litjmaer (2001) argued that immigration to another land is a complex psychosocial event that involves profound loss with longstanding effects on the individual’s life. This loss may dramatically impoverish the immigrant’s social relationships and the strategies he/she may use to reach middle age goals (Yee, 1989 ). The literature covering individuals’ response to loss in general suggests