Project Description: Differential identification processes
and identity strategies among the descendants of North African
immigrants
Start date: 1-10-1997
End date: 31-09-2001 (approximatly)
Summary of the research object: The analyses of differential
identification processes and of identity strategies among the
descendants of North African immigrants in Belgium through an
intercultural perspective.
Description of the research: This research has to be understood
as a follow-up of an inquiry I accomplished about the life trajectory
of the daughters of North African migrants in Belgium who had
succeeded in their university study(this inquiry was the object
of my final year dissertation for my degree in Sociology). Among
other things, this inquiry led to the following observation:
those young women were all displaying a “double identity”, they
wanted to be recognised by their “double culture” and their
“double membership” (North African and Belgian). That is why
I have decided to focus the further research on the object of
identity with a larger population: the generation of descendants
of North African migrants in Belgium (which is more commonly
called “second generation”) composed by women and men aged from
20 to 40.
More specifically, I am working on the ethno-cultural aspect
of identity. The aim of this research is to elaborate a theory
able to explain the identity mechanisms which occur in an intercultural
context by analysing the specific situation of this population.
The theoretical approach is a constructivist perspective completed
by the interactionnist theory. The concept of identity will
be analysed from a dynamic point of view, so that I suggest
to analyse identification processes and identity strategies.
The method used is inspired by the Grounded Theory (Anselm
STRAUSS) which suppose to work in an inductive way: the aim
of the research is to produce a theory based on the field data.
The approach is qualitative: the fieldwork will mainly be based
on the biographical method.
Supervisor: Professor Claude JAVEAU, Université Libre de Bruxelles,
Belgium.
Funding organization: Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique
(F.N.R.S.), Belgium.
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