Exploring Hybridity in the 21st Century: The Working Lives of South Asian Ethnic Minorities from a British Born Generation in Bradford.

This thesis explores the working lives of British Born South Asian Ethnic Minorities (BB SAEMs), critiquing the homogenous identities ascribed to them in previous research. Its methodology is life-story interviews analysed using Nvivo. This identified four hybrid categories emerging from two cultures. I fitted myself neatly into just one. However the reflexive analysis required in good qualitative research led me to realise that I fitted into not one, but all four categories, and into others not yet recognised. At this point, my thesis had to take a new turn. An auto-ethnographic, moment-by-moment study led to an ‘unhybrid categorisation of hybridities’ acknowledging ‘fuzziness and mélange, cut ‘n’ mix, and criss and crossover’ where identity is a complex-mix, always in flux. I conclude not only with this new theory of identity formation in the working lives of BB SAEMs, but also by arguing that by imposing the requirement to categorise, research methods lead to over-simplification and misunderstanding.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Bradford

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Rifet, Saima

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Harding, Nancy H.

• Hybridity, Culture, Self, Careers, Working lives, South Asian, Hybrids, Life story, British born, Second generation, Self-awareness, A-categorical thought, Categories, Heteregenous identities, Moment-by-moment, Identity

Statement dc:rights

• <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10454/7721

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/7721