Exploration of Personal Identity Among Individuals with Multiple Inter-state Migration Experiences

Exploration of Personal Identity Among Individuals with Multiple Inter-state Migration Experiences

Migration is an increasingly common phenomenon for various reasons like economic betterment and educational purposes. Migration is also considered a life-event causing psychological distress. Individuals who migrate multiple times, are faced with a challenge of adapting to a new environment multiple times, thus having to give up and incorporate certain elements from the environment into the self, in turn altering their personal identity. This research is focused on exploring the personal identity of individuals who have undergone multiple interstate migrations within India. Life histories of 12 individuals were taken and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that there are changes in various components of personal identity like certain changes within the family, development of a multicultural perspective, certain cognitive elements like divergent thinking and development of certain personal traits like acceptance. These individuals are highly adaptable to different kinds of environments. They do not have strong attachments with peers. Keywords: personal identity, multiple interstate migrations

Treesa Rafi Ann

Psychology