Events
Oral PhD Defense: Alul Yesak
Negotiating Identity: Reflective stories of second- generation Ethiopians in U.S. public schools and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Advisor: Nicola Alexander
This qualitative research utilizes narrative inquiry to capture the life stories of six second-generation Ethiopians to explore the following overarching question: How do second-generation Ethiopians navigate identity development between United States public schools and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church? Specifically, how do these two spaces influence the ways second-generation Ethiopians contend with the following two questions: Who do they say I am and who do I say I am? The research participants were asked to reflect on their schooling experiences in the U.S. public school system and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church to provide insight on the complicated process of developing identity within educational institutions and what those identities mean in the context of a racialized system.
Research participants’ life stories reveal that the two identity questions “who do they say I am?” and “who do I say I am?” are interrelated, such that second-generation Ethiopians’ identities emerge as a product of the tension between them. That is, the identity a second-generation Ethiopian arrives at is not an answer to either question, but rather an attempt to make peace with both. The following themes emerged from this research: (1) second-generation Ethiopians develop their identities at the intersection of individual agency and structural forces, (2) the participants tended to emphasize Blackness and deemphasize Whiteness as a barometer for identity development, (3) Blackness is a diverse identity that shares a linked-fate through colonialism, (4) gender identity influences identity negotiations differently depending on the space, and (5) “Habesha” is an early and enduring identity.
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