“I Couldn’t Say My Own Name:” Identity Narratives of Dominican American Women

Matthew James  Graziano; Marika Maris

doi:10.29333/ajqr/14139

Matthew James Graziano ¹ ^* , Marika Maris ²

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AM J QUALITATIVE RES, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 198-221

https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/14139

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Abstract

The purpose of this article is to speak directly to the paucity of research regarding Dominican American women and identity narratives. To do so, this article uses the Listening Guide Method of Qualitative Inquiry (Gilligan, et al., 2006) to explore how 1.5 and second-generation Dominican American women narrated their experiences of individual identity within American cultural contexts and constructs. The results draw from the emergence of themes across six participant interviews and showed two distinct voices: The Voice of Cultural Explanation and the Tides of Dominican American Female Identity. Narrative examples from five participants are offered to illustrate where 1.5 and second-generation Dominican American women negotiate their identity narratives at the intersection of their Dominican and American selves. The article offers two conclusions. One, that participant women use the Voice of Cultural Explanation in order to discuss their identity as reflected within the broad cultural tensions of their daily lives. Two, that the Tides of Dominican American Female Identity are used to express strong emotions that manifest within their personal narratives as the unwanted distance from either the Dominican or American parts of their person.

Keywords: Dominican American, women, identity, the Listening Guide, narratives

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Citation

Graziano, M. J., & Maris, M. (2024). “I Couldn’t Say My Own Name:” Identity Narratives of Dominican American Women. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 8(1), 198-221. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/14139

Graziano, M. J., and Maris, M. (2024). “I Couldn’t Say My Own Name:” Identity Narratives of Dominican American Women. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 8(1), pp. 198-221. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/14139

Graziano MJ, Maris M. “I Couldn’t Say My Own Name:” Identity Narratives of Dominican American Women. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2024;8(1), 198-221. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/14139

Graziano, Matthew James, and Marika Maris. "“I Couldn’t Say My Own Name:” Identity Narratives of Dominican American Women". American Journal of Qualitative Research 2024 8 no. 1 (2024): 198-221. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/14139

Graziano, Matthew James et al. "“I Couldn’t Say My Own Name:” Identity Narratives of Dominican American Women". American Journal of Qualitative Research, vol. 8, no. 1, 2024, pp. 198-221. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/14139

Graziano MJ, Maris M. “I Couldn’t Say My Own Name:” Identity Narratives of Dominican American Women. AM J QUALITATIVE RES. 2024;8(1):198-221. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/14139