Modelo dc replicación por círculo rodante

This study employs ethnographic methods of narrative analysis and participant

observation to capture the realities of migrant experiences through a decolonizing framework. Through this approach, migrants are able to evaluate and reflect on how their lived experiences shape their conceptualization of their identity by telling their own story, thus fostering self- pride and agency (Bhatia, 2018). Bhatia (2018) reflects that through narratives, “the ‘individual as a subject’ is able to reassert him- or herself in his or her cultural context” (p. 79). Shweder (1990) extends this by highlighting “intentional people” interacting with “intentional worlds”, where people are constantly creating and are created through their environments. This

construction of reality is mediated by narrative life stories, both “within and outside of formal interviews” (Gubrium & Holstein, 2009, p. 2). When individuals construct these realities, they follow a narrative discourse that “describe[s] its orientation… and its destiny… and to

comprehend its current status… as part of a longer story of strivings, achievements, obstacles, growth, adaptations, failures, dormancy, or never-ending cyclical return” (Shweder, 1990, p. 4). The emphasis on cyclical sociocultural influences and realities highlights narrative analysis as a vital methodology in addressing and countering colonial histories for non-Western peoples whose lived experiences have largely been ignored in Western psychology.

Collecting and reflecting on non-Western narratives as a valid source of knowledge is an important step in decolonizing psychology by acknowledging and countering Orientalist

academic discourse. According to Said (1979), one of the primary axioms of Orientalism states that Orientals cannot represent themselves, they must be represented. Gubrium and Holstein’s (2009) concept of an “own story” directly counters this ideology: by reflecting on self-

experiences and representing oneself, an individual is able to construct their own reality and place within it. The agency afforded to the individual through narrative life-stories disrupts Orientalist discourses that actively overlook and ignore indigenous self-knowledge and provide insight into the continuing effects of coloniality in postcolonial contexts, thus providing a strong impetus for embracing this methodology.

More generally, narrative discourse provides a gateway to understanding larger realities that surround individuals’ lives that are increasingly shaped by globalizing and transnational forces. Hammack (2008) reflects on these “master narratives” that contextualize people’s lives within specific cultural, historical, and political states that dynamically shape individuals’

“narratives of identity”. This approach was largely dismissed throughout the 20th _{century within}

psychological theory development due to the subjective nature of narrative analysis that undermined ambitious efforts to discover universal cognitive processes through empirical, lab- based studies (Bhatia, 2018). However, this emphasis cemented dissonance between

researchers and subjects by not considering how people experience and perceive reality within cultural worlds (Freeman, 1997). Erikson’s seminal interpretation of identity construction actually featured narratives by integrating an hour-long interview into his empirical studies, demonstrating his understanding of self-reports and life-stories. However, Marcia’s

operationalization largely ignored this aspect in his quest for a typology of identity formation (Archer, 1992). This study thus acknowledges Erikson’s original focus on narrative meanings and expands upon it by engaging diverse individuals within a decolonial project.

Beyond merely contextualizing lives within a larger framework of sociopolitical influences, narrative discourse is key in constructing an adolescent identity that integrates personal and group histories and future goals. Identity is largely considered to constitute an individual’s place in society, but it importantly differentiates the self within a larger group context from other groups in order to construct “a cohesive structure” that “link[s] an individual life story to a particular cultural and historical narrative” of the larger collective (Hammack, 2008, p. 232-233). Extending Erikson’s and Vygotsky’s scholarship, Penuel and Wertch (1995) emphasize that sociohistorical environments are the foundational sources for “inner and social speech” (Hammack, 2008, p. 233) that integrate larger realities into the personal narrative. As a method for studying identity formation, narrative discourse is integral

in identifying defining personal characteristics and experiences that enable diverse individuals to coexist within a larger heterogeneous collective.

Within social psychological theory, the preponderant empirically developed and employed methodology for studying personality lacks a critical cultural analysis while

simultaneously overestimating its ability to capture human diversity across individuals. The Big 5 taxonomy of personality “traits” (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) only captures Level I personality descriptions, as McAdams (1996, 2001) reflects. More encompassing investigations into personality (and by extension, identity, as personality is a large constituent of and factor in identity formation) must incorporate Level II (personal concerns) and Level III (narrative life-stories) analyses to capture the wide diversity of individual’s identity configurations. Indeed, “we do not have direct access to experience, but rather our sense of who and what we are, as well as the character of our social worlds, is constructed by formulating these into stories” (Riessman, 1993, p. 19). Thus, seemingly “random and scattered” experiences and aspects of people’s lives are integrated into a

cohesive, evolving life-story that “incorporates the reconstructed past, perceived present, and anticipated future” (McAdams, 1996, p. 307-309). These life-stories vital in exploring the uniqueness of individuals and contextualizing their life experiences while also indicating “how he or she partakes [in] a common set of narrative resources unique to a particular group or type to which he or she belong” (McAdams, 1996, p. 313).

Narrative analysis is particular applicable to studies of migrant youth when seeking to understand the process of identity development alongside differential power dynamics and disruptions in lives. As Hermans and Gieser (2012) explore, the developmental process is

dialogical where multiple I-positions (drawing on Freud and James) are in constant dialogue to define the self. Accordingly, these voices are “involved in relationships of relative dominance and social power” (Hermans & Gieser, 2012, p. 2) and these power dynamics “structure and constrain, overtly or covertly, both the process and the content of dialogical relationships” (p. 11). Bhatia (2012) reflects that this dialogical-self model is particularly applicable to migrant contexts, as migrants have national and cultural ties that are multiple and at times

contradictory. This analysis also illuminates the latent roles of race, gender, and sexuality within national power hierarchies, “allow[ing] us to analyse how the ‘voices’ of the larger majority play an important role in shaping the identity of migrants” (Bhatia, 2012, p. 120). This particular analytical framework is vital to understanding change in migrant lives, a core component of this thesis, and this paradigm will be further explored in the next chapter when applying identity formation to the particularities of migrant circumstances.

Contextualized within the larger master narrative, individuals understand themselves in relation to their own group and in contrast to other groups. These differentiating tactics for self-definition occur simultaneously at multiple levels: between own group and other groups, and between other members in the collective and the self. Through this conceptualization, individuals and groups are heterogeneous and diverse, thus necessitating a transdisciplinary, decolonial paradigm that privileges the individual’s lived experiences and self-concept over the pursuit of universality that obscures heterogeneity. By situating life-stories as the primary analytical subject within a larger ethnographic project, this study seeks to understand the effects of evolving cultures and their master narratives in shaping adolescent migrant lives and their identity formation. This framework operates well within particular contexts, but an

investigation into migrant realities must also incorporate analyses of the differential effects of contemporary globalizing forces on nations, cultures, and communities.