Constructing Social Identities between Two Cultures - A study on 18-25-Year-Old, Afghan-born Women in Finland

Authors

• Jonna Koivisto, MA, Doctoral Student University of Jyväskylä http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6631-2571

Keywords:

Afghans, ethnicity, gender, identity, immigrants, intergration, women

Abstract

This article examines the processes of identity construction among young women, aged 18 to 25, who have migrated from Afghanistan to Finland. The empirical data analyzed consists of semi-structured interviews with nine young Afghan women living in Finland. The data is analyzed in light of a theoretical framework derived mainly from the writings on social identities by the social anthropologists Richard Jenkins and Fredrik Barth, as well as by the social psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner. The emphasis of the article is, however, on the ethnographical content contained within the interviews. The results of the study provide knowledge about a fairly understudied group in Finland and about the identity and integration processes of immigrants.