Identity Gaps of Contemporary U.S. Immigrants: Acknowledging Divergent Communicative Experiences

Sutured Identities in Jewish Holocaust Survivor Testimonies

“…The narratives were examined to detect traces of the three types of conflicting forces described by relational dialectics: disclosure/nondisclosure, autonomy/connection, and stability/change. The dialectical categories were employed only when the narrative referenced identity gaps, operationalized as unresolved challenges or puzzles relating to personal, enacted, relational, or communal identity (Urban & Orbe, ). Narrative analysis has been deemed especially appropriate “for the study of identities, specifically the negotiation of multiple and stigmatized identities” (Faulkner & Hecht, , p. 834) because it reveals the dynamics of how testimonies enact selfhood for public presentation.…”

Arab American Marriage: Culture, Tradition, Religion, and the Social Worker

“…Lu, Lum, and Chen (2001) add that a practitioner must also be critically thinking and should consider using their client as a cultural informant (Hurdle, 2002). Urban and Orbe (2010) refer to the multidimensional and holistic nature of identity in interconnected layers: personally in self-concept and definition, actively in the social practice that a person manifests, relationally in how identities are negotiated with others, and communally as the beliefs and discourse or collective memory of various communities affect the person. They also refer to identity gaps: between the sense of self and the ability to communicate this to others; between the outsider's perceptions of a person as different than that person's self-concept; and between the person's self-concept, the self the person portrays to others, and the identity that is actually seen and accepted by others (Al-Krenawi, 2012;Urban & Orbe, 2010, p. 306).…”

“…We will consider what effect essentializing or stereotyping has on a client's need, desire, or capacity for acculturation, as well as to what degree the society and social worker are willing to adapt to the client (Abu Baker, 2003;Al-Krenawi & Graham, 2005;Kumar, Seay, & Karabenick, 2011). The practitioner must resist two temptations: first, to jump to any conclusion as to which specific aspect of a person's cultural and personal background is more germane to their self-identity and, second, that a person is in fact interested in acculturating into the American community, particularly as many may only be here temporarily for scholastic or professional engagements (Urban & Orbe, 2010).…”

Should I Stay or Go?: Student Identity Gaps, Feelings, and Intent to Leave

“…Individuals who reported more trait communication apprehension and less assertiveness (Jung, 2011), more discrimination and less acculturation (Jung, Hecht, & Wadsworth, 2007;Wadsworth, Hecht, & Jung, 2008), and decreased intercultural communication competence also reported more identity gaps. Specific to the college context, international (Urban & Orbe, 2010;Wadsworth et al, 2008) and first-generation (Orbe, 2004) college students fare better when the university or classroom communication culture shares some resemblance with their native culture. Students who perceive themselves as less communicatively competent or as though their classmates do not accept them may also have a negative self-esteem (Leary, Tambor, Terdal, & Downs, 1995;Richmond, McCroskey, & McCroskey, 1989).…”