A Transnational Feminist Analysis Of Life-career Narratives Of International Women Students From Turkey
Open Access
- Author:
- Balin, Elif
- Graduate Program:
- Counselor Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 27, 2014
- Committee Members:
- Jerry G Trusty, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Margaret Ann Lorah, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Jolynn Carney, Committee Member
Gabeba Baderoon, Special Member - Keywords:
- international students
international women students
career counseling
transnational feminist narrative
counselor education - Abstract:
- This study focuses on the lived experiences of ten international women students from Turkey, who pursued their graduate studies in the United States (U.S.). Its purpose is to confront the silence and lack of individual voices in the literature about the generalized and categorized experiences of international students. Transnational feminist perspectives and postmodern approaches to career development influence the narrative construction in this study. The narratives are explored through a thematic analysis of ten individual interview transcripts, and in collaboration with the participants by discussing the emerging themes in a creative group-debriefing meeting. Four main themes emerged in this study: (1) Belonging and freedom; (2) challenging the systems; (3) adjustment versus change; and (4) staying in the U.S. versus going back to Turkey. The metanarrative is centralized by the participants’ relationship to home (i.e., home country, family, national and political context) and place (i.e., place of residence in the U.S., new multicultural groups, academia as a space with its own culture and demands). Findings are discussed with implications for culturally competent counseling practices, counselor education, national and international higher education policies, and future research.