MALAGASY IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES: HOW PERCEPTIONS OF THE AMERICAN DREAM INFLUENCE ACCULTURATION TO THE UNITED STATES Dorothy Mayne A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2013 Committee: Dr. Margaret Z. Booth, Advisor Dr. Christopher Frey Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen © 2013 Dorothy Mayne All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Dr. Margaret Z. Booth, Advisor This phenomenological study explored the potential influence of the discourse of the American Dream on the acculturation of immigrants to the United States from Madagascar. The American Dream discourse is that anyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status at birth, can take advantage of the bountiful opportunities in the United States and work hard to achieve upward economic mobility. The phenomenological methods of this study aimed to reveal the essence of the shared experiences of acculturation of the nine Malagasy participants through textural description of their words. Data was collected through open-ended interviews with participants, which included four females, five males, aged 24-44, living throughout the United States and having arrived less than one year to 17 years ago. Particular attention was given to prior exposure to American media in disseminating the discourse of the American Dream and establishing preconceptions of life in the United States and how this affected acculturation. Five themes: choice in immigration, perceptions of opportunity in the United States, acculturation and acculturative stress in the United States, interpreting American culture, and navigating education values, emerged through analysis of interview transcripts. The results of this study indicated a gender difference in perceptions of the American Dream where most of the female participants echoed the discourse and succeeded according to the discourse while most of the male participants had little faith in the American Dream. Differences in perceptions of American culture also fell on gender lines. Additionally, consistent with previous studies, the participants iv who echoed the discourse were more likely to employ the integration acculturation strategy, be bicultural, and experience academic and economic success while the participants who perceived their immigration as involuntary were more likely to employ the separation acculturation strategy. v Tsihy be lambanana ny ambanilantra All who live under the sky are woven together like one great mat. -Malagasy proverb vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I must acknowledge my committee who provided encouragement, inspiration and made sure I set realistic goals for my research. I thank Dr. Booth who served as my advisor, chair and supervisor during the writing of this thesis. Dr. Booth provided me with questions and feedback to help examine my topic and data. Without her questions, this thesis would not be nearly the depth it is. I appreciate Dr. Frey’s emotional support, humor and thoughtful discussion of my ideas about this topic. I thank Dr. Wells-Jensen for opening doors, windows, gates and balconies for me to look through to see language in ways I could have never conceived of on my own. I must also express my gratitude to my support network in Bowling Green, namely, my classmates, Luis Macias (for his technological assistance), Laura Booher (for her solidarity and critical insights), Mandy Gensler (for comedic relief), and Adam Murphy (my blue collar comrade) who supported and assisted throughout the thesis writing process. I must also thank my international friends who constantly provided further insights into many of the cultural issues raised in this thesis. Additionally, I thank all of the Malagasy people who sought out my opinions of my country and shared their ideas with me, especially Hishaam, Elvier, Liza, Tsiky, Kumar and Jari. They eased my acculturative stress in their country and participated in many of the conversations that inspired this study. Finally, I thank my suburban, middle-class mother for raising me in an urban, lower middle class environment, which has provided me with a unique understanding of the American Dream. I also thank my sister for her absolute embodiment of the American Dream, which I may have discounted as antiquated without her example. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1 Background of the Study ........................................................................................... 2 Justifications of the Study .......................................................................................... 3 Organization of Chapters ........................................................................................... 3 Key Terms Defined .................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................. 6 The American Dream ................................................................................................. 6 Conceptual Frameworks ............................................................................................ 9 Discourse........................................................................................................ 9 Encoding and Decoding ................................................................................. 11 Acculturation.................................................................................................. 12 Race and Acculturation ...................................................................... 14 Language Proficiency and Acculturation ........................................... 15 Mass Media and Acculturation .......................................................... 16 The American Dream and Mass Media ............................................. 18 The Focus of this Study: The Case of Madagascar .................................................... 20 viii A Linguistic Shift from France to the US and South East Africa .................. 22 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 25 Phenomenological Framework .................................................................................. 25 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 26 Epoche..……….......................................................................................................... 27 Participant Selection .................................................................................................. 32 Data Collection. ......................................................................................................... 34 Analysis Procedures ................................................................................................... 35 Trustworthiness. ......................................................................................................... 36 Methodological Limitations ....................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................................. 41 Individual Descriptions .............................................................................................. 41 Hoby.… .......................................................................................................... 41 Rija……………………… ............................................................................. 42 Rado..… ......................................................................................................... 43 Kanto… .......................................................................................................... 44 ix Jouvin……………………… ......................................................................... 45 Lova..… ......................................................................................................... 46 Ronald… ........................................................................................................ 47 Fanja.… .......................................................................................................... 48 Franka… ........................................................................................................ 49 Participants Summary .................................................................................... 49 Themes……….. ......................................................................................................... 50 Choice of Immigration ............................................................................................... 51 Discussion.…… ......................................................................................................... 52 Perceptions of Opportunity in the United States ........................................................ 55 Definitions of the American Dream ............................................................... 55 Myth and Reality............................................................................................ 56 Motivation to Study the English Language ................................................... 57 Discussion.…… ...................................................................................................….