Juggling between two worlds : sociocultural change in Afghan immigrant women's identity in Germany

248 Pages·2018·5.669 MB·English

by  Saideh Saidi

Migration has been a life event for many Afghans during
the past decades, with mass exoduses due to war, insecurity,
Saideh Saidi
and poverty. This book sheds light on how Hazara migrant
women reinterpret their narration of “self”. The book gives
space to them to ventilate their opinions and analyses the Juggling Between
ways Afghan immigrant women experience life in Germany.
ItidentifiescontradictionsinhowAfghanimmigrantwomen
negotiateidentity,belongingtoandacquirestatusinthenew Two Worlds
society.The findings illustrate that change is the main result
of migration in terms of social, cultural, religious and insti-
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tutional dimensions.Dislocationand enteringthe completely a Sociocultural Change in Afghan Immigrant
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differentworldofGermansocietypavethewayforthesocio- d
e Women’s Identity in Germany
culturalchangein theiridentities andtheirtendencytoward h
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reconsidering family structures. This turned out to have an a
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effect on all other aspects of their daily lives. They feel in a
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permanent state of “in-betweenness”and “juggling between
two worlds”.Living outside their homeland and the absence J
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offriendsandrelativeshasaninfluenceontheirnarrationof g
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selfandon their identity as afluid phenomenonamongHaz- li
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ara women who are in the middle of struggling to adapt to g
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978-3-643-90923-7
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IT
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www.lit-verlag.ch IT Ethnologie/ Anthropology IT
Saideh Saidi
Juggling Between Two Worlds
E T H N O L O G I E
A N T H R O P O L O G Y
Band/Volume 65
LIT
Saideh Saidi
Juggling Between Two Worlds
Sociocultural Change in Afghan Immigrant Women’s
Identity in Germany
LIT
BibliographicinformationpublishedbytheDeutscheNationalbibliothek
TheDeutscheNationalbibliothekliststhispublicationintheDeutsche
Nationalbibliografie;detailedbibliographicdataareavailableontheInternetat
http://dnb.d-nb.de.
ISBN978-3-643-90923-7
Zugl.:Bremen,Univ.,Diss.,2017
L
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To my sun, my beloved son
Sepehr

Acknowledgements

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who helped this book
become a reality. First and foremost, I would like to thankfully
acknowledge my advisor, Professor Dorle Dracklé, who has been a tremen-
dous mentor for me. Her enthusiastic words, academic rigor and commit-
ment were contagious and motivational for me. I would like to express my
appreciation to Professor Dracklé for encouraging my research. Her valua-
ble advice on both research as well as on my career have been invaluable.
This book would have been impossible without her encouragement and
commitment. My heartfelt appreciation also goes out to Dr. Graham Taylor,
Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of the West of England,
Bristol, U.K. who encouraged me to start out on this long journey.
Scholarly support for my research was not limited to the supervision com-
mittee and my many friends and colleagues in Germany, the U.K. and Iran,
who were more than kind to sincerely provide me with their feedback. I am
thankful to BIGSSS (Bremen International School of Social Sciences) for
giving me the valuable opportunity of visiting fellowship under the super-
vision of Professor Michael Windzio, allowing me to do research in a vi-
brant academic atmosphere. This period enabled me to be in the field of
migration and refugee studies and, personally, I gained so very much from
the weekly “Doctoral Colloquium,” which created an intellectually stimu-
lating opportunity with other Ph.D. candidates in the field of migration re-
search.
And the biggest thanks is dedicated to all those Afghan immigrants who
shared their experiences with me, without whom this research clearly could
not have been done.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for all their love and
encouragement. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my mother and
my father who raised me with a love of science and supported me in all my
pursuits; for the presence of my loving sister and my brothers for all of the
sacrifices that you have made on my behalf. I would also like to thank my
encouraging, beloved husband, Dr. Foad Ghaderi for his constant under-
standing and faithful support for everything all through this experience. His
loving encouragement has had a tremendous impact on my achievements.
To my sun, my beloved son, Sepehr, I would like to express my thanks for
being such a great inspiration, always cheering me up.

Table of Content

Chapter 1 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework ................................ 1
1.1 Migration Theory ........................................................................ 3
1.2 Assimilation Theory: Old and New ............................................. 6
1.3 Segmented-Assimilation Theory ................................................. 8
1.4 Transnationalism: a New Theoretical Framework ...................... 8
1.5 Defining Diaspora in the Migration Domain ............................. 10
1.6 Place-Attachment Theory ......................................................... 10
1.7 Research Goal and Questions ................................................... 12
1.8 Outline of the Book................................................................... 13
1.9 Empirical Research Setting ....................................................... 14
1.9.1 Research Techniques for Data Collection ............................ 14
1.9.2 Qualitative Method .............................................................. 14
1.9.3 Finding Respondents via Snowball Sampling ....................... 15
1.9.4 Interviews ............................................................................. 17
1.9.5 Profile of the Respondent Group ......................................... 21
1.10 Research Strategies .................................................................. 23
1.10.1 Fieldwork .............................................................................. 23
1.10.2 Participant Observation as a Data-Collection Method ........ 26
1.10.3 Internet as a Data-Conducting Tool ..................................... 30
1.10.4 Transcription ........................................................................ 31
1.11 Interview Challenges Encountered ........................................... 32
1.11.1 Notion of Trust ..................................................................... 32
1.11.2 Hidden Control upon Afghan Women at Home ................... 35
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