The College of Education
Announces the Final Examination of
Katharina A. Azim
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
March 28th, 2016 at 12:00 pm
103 Ball Hall, University of Memphis
Memphis, TN
Biographical Sketch
B.Ed., English language education and literature, Fontys University of Applied Sciences
B.Ed., German language education and literature, Fontys University of Applied Sciences
M.Ed., German language education and literature, Fontys University of Applied Sciences
M.A., English language education and communication, Utrecht University
Advisor yCommittee
Christian Mueller, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Research, Committee co-chair
Alison Happel-Parkins, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Research, Committee co-chair
Yeh Hsueh, Ed.D., Associate Professor, Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Research
Laurie MacGillivray, Ed.D., Professor, Instruction and Curriculum Leadership
Major Field of Study
Educational Psychology and Research
Period of Preparation: 2013-2016
Comprehensive Examination Passed: September 2015
El Ghorba Fil Gharb: Conceptualizing Ethnic Identity with Saudi Women Graduate Students in the U.S.
Abstract
This narrative inquiry examined how ethnic identity is conceptualized in the stories of Saudi women students living and studying in the United States. This was done using theorists from the field of ethnic identity and enculturation research, as well as postcolonial feminist critique to address various layers of marginality and power relations. Participants included seven women enrolled as international students in a graduate program at a Northeastern U.S. university. Unstructured life-story interviews of 2 to 2.5 hours were conducted to elicit narratives of how the women positioned themselves ethnically and how they were positioned by their surrounding while living in the suburbs of Gamuston (pseudonym). The rhizoanalytic approach of “plugging in” (Jackson & Mazzei, 2012) theorists into the women’s narratives was used to interrogate the intricate workings of ethnic identity positionalities in the socio-cultural, gender, and geopolitical contexts that inform them.