“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

More Detail

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

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

OPEN ACCESS 1274 Views 597 Downloads

Download Full Text (PDF)

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

References

Adames, H. Y., Chavez-Dueñas, N. Y., & Jernigan, M. M. (2021). The fallacy of a raceless Latinidad: Action guidelines for centering Blackness in Latine psychology. Journal of Latine Psychology, 9(1), 26–44. https://doi.org/10.1037/lat0000179
Adichie, C. (2009, July). Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story [Video file]. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en
Alba, R., & Waters, M.C. (2011). Dimensions of second-generation incorporation: An introduction to the book. In R. Alba & M. C. Waters (Eds.), The next generation: Immigrant youth in a comparative perspective (pp. 1–30). New York University Press.
Aquino, F. (2021). Dominicans and the political realm of Latinidad in New York City. In A. E. Gerke & L. M. González Rodríguez (Eds.), Latinidad at the crossroads: Insights into Latinx identity in the twenty-first century (pp. 66–83). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004460430_005
Bamberg, M. (2006). Stories: Big or small, why do we care? Narrative Inquiry, 16(1), 139–147. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.16.1.18bam
Bhpoal, K. (2010). Gender, identity and experience: Researching marginalized groups. Women’s Studies International Forum. 33, 188–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2009.12.005
Bochner, A. P. (2012). On first-person narrative scholarship: Autoethnography as acts of meaning Narrative Inquiry, 22(1), 155–164. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.22.1.10boc
Boyd, M., & Tian, S. (2016). Educational and labor market attainments of the 1.5- and second-generation children of East Asian immigrants in Canada. American Behavioral Scientist, 60(5-6), 705–729. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764216632830
Brown, A., & Patten, E. (2013). Statistical profile: Hispanics of Dominican origin in the United States. Pew Hispanic Center.
Brown, L. M. (2000). White working class girls, femininities, and the paradox of resistance. In L. Tolman, & M. Brydon-Miller (Eds.), From subjects to subjectivities: A handbook of interpretative and participatory methods (pp. 95–110). New York University Press.
Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Harvard University Press.
Bruner, J. (2002). Making stories: Law, literature, life. Harvard University Press
Butler, J. (1988). Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology and feminist theory. Theatre Journal, 40(4), 519–531. https://doi.org/10.2307/3207893
Chavez, L. (2013). The Latino threat: Constructing immigrants, citizens, and the nation. Stanford University Press.
Cruz, J. (2021). The Listening Guide method as an interdisciplinary approach: Accounting for psychological processes in sociological frameworks. Qualitative Psychology, 8(2), 171–182. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000209
Dawani, S., & Loots, G. (2021). The Listening Guide and a visual method to learn about the self performances of Palestinian adolescent girls. Qualitative Psychology, 8(2), 183–199. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000203
Dicker, S. J. (2008). Dominican Americans in Washington Heights, New York: Language and culture in a transnational community International. Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 9(6), 713–727. https://doi.org/10.2167/beb350.0
Dillon, L. (2010). Listening to voice of self: Digital journaling among gifted young adolescents. Research Journal, 10(1), 13–27. https://doi.org/10.3316/QRJ1001013
England, K. (1994). Getting personal: Reflexivity, positionality, and feminist research. Professional Geographer, 46, 80–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0033-0124.1994.00080.x
Feliciano, C., & Lanuza, Y. R. (2017). An immigrant paradox? Contextual attainment and intergenerational educational mobility. American Sociological Review, 82(1), 211–241. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122416684777
Fine, M. (1994). Working the hyphens: Reinventing the self and other in qualitative research. In N. Denzin, & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 70–82). SAGE Publications.
Garofalo, M. A., & Graziano, M. J. (2023). Resignation and resilience: Bridging effective teaching to the impacts of complex and layered school culture. Research in Educational Administration & Leadership, 8(1), 88-140. https://doi.org/10.30828/real.1072648
Gilligan, C. (1989). Teaching Shakespeare’s sister: Notes from the underground of female adolescence. In C. Gilligan, N. P. Lyons & T. J. Hanmer (Eds.). Making connections, the relational worlds of adolescent girls at Emma Willard School (pp 6–-29). Harvard University Press.
Gilligan, C. (1992). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Harvard University Press.
Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Harvard University Press.
Gilligan, C. (1995). Hearing the difference: Theorizing connection. Hypatia, i(2), 120–127. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.1995.tb01373.x
Gilligan, C. (2011). Joining the resistance. Polity Press.
Gilligan, C. (2023). In a human voice. Polity Press.
Gilligan, C. & Eddy, J. (2017). Listening as a path to psychological discovery: An introduction to the Listening Guide. Perspectives on Medical Education, 6(2), 76–81. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40037-017-0335-3Gilligan, C. & Eddy, J. (2021). The Listening Guide: Replacing judgement with curiosity. Qualitative Psychology, 8(2), 141–151. http://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000213
Gilligan, C., & Attanucci, J. (1989). Two moral orientations: Gender differences and similarities. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 34(3), 223–237.
Gilligan, C., Kreider, H., & O'Neill, K. (1995). Transforming psychological inquiry: Clarifying and strengthening connections. Psychoanalytic Review, 82, 801–826.
Gilligan, C., Spencer, R., Weinberg, K. M., & Bertsch, T. (2006). On the listening guide, a voice-centered relational method. In S. N. Hesse-Biber & P. Leavy (Eds.). Emergent methods in social research (pp. 253–272). SAGE Publications.
González Rodríguez, L. M. (2021). Digging through the past to reconcile race and Latine identity in Dominican-American women’s memoirs. In A. E. Gerke & L. M. González Rodríguez (Eds.), Latinidad at the crossroads: Insights into Latinx identity in the twenty-first century (pp. 76–81). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004460430_004
Graziano, M. J., & Pelc, N. (2020). Learning doesn’t occur in rows: An immersive model for teaching gender. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology, 6(1), 69–83. https://doi.org/10.1037/stl0000164
Graziano, M.J., Okazaki, S., Chun, G., & Barnes, S.P. (2018). Identities of accommodation; identities of resistance: Korean American women and meaning making during and post college. Narrative Inquiry, 28 (1), 75-93.
Guarnizo, L. E., Portes, A., & Haller, W. (2003). Assimilation and transnationalism: Determinants of transnational political action among contemporary migrants. Journal of American Sociology, 108(6), 1211–1248. https://doi.org/10.1086/375195
Hammack, P. L. (2011). Narrative and the politics of meaning. Narrative Inquiry, 21(2), 311–318. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.21.2.09ham
Jones, S. R., Kim, Y. C., & Skendall, K.C. (2012). (Re-)Framing authenticity: Considering multiple social identities using autoethnographic and intersectional approaches. The Journal of Higher Education, 83(5), 698–724. http://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2012.11777263
Josselson, R. (2013). Interviewing for qualitative inquiry: A relational approach. Guilford.
Josselson, R. (2023). Developing a different voice: The life and work of Carol Gilligan. Journal of Personality, 91(1), 120–133. http://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12763
Kayser, K., Watson, L. E., & Andrade, J. T. (2007). Cancer as a “we-disease”: Examining the process of coping from a relational perspective. Families, Systems, & Health, 4(25), 404–418. https://doi.org/10.1037/1091-7527.25.4.404
Kouyoumdjian, C., Guzmán B. L. Garcia, N. M., & Talavera-Bustillos, V. (2017). A community cultural wealth examination of sources of support and challenges among Latino first- and second-generation college students. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 16(1) 61–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/1538192715619995
Layton, L. (2006). Attacks on linking: The unconscious pull to dissociate individuals from their social context. In L. Layton, N. Hollander, & S. Gutwill (Eds.), Psychoanalysis, class, and politics (pp. 107–117). Routledge.
Louie, V. (2001). Parents' aspirations and investment: The role of social class in the educational experiences of 1.5- and second-generation Chinese Americans. Harvard Educational Review, 71(3). 438–475. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.71.3.lv51475vjk600h38
Mahler, S. J., & Pessar, P. R. (2001). Gendered geographies of power: Analyzing gender across transnational spaces. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 7(4), 441–459. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2001.9962675
Mazanderani, F., & Paparini, S. (2015). The stories we tell: Qualitative research interviews, talking technologies and the ‘normalisation’ of life with HIV. Social Science & Medicine, 131, 66–73. https://doi.org/10 .1016/j.socscimed.2015.02.041
McCarron, G. P., & Inkelas, K. K. (2006). The gap between educational aspirations and attainment for first-generation college students and the role of parental involvement. The Journal of College Student Development, 47(5), 534-549. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2006.0059
Noy, C. (2008). Sampling knowledge: The hermeneutics of snowball sampling in qualitative research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 11(4), 327–344. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645570701401305
Oliffe, J. L., Kelly, M. T., Gonzalez Montaner, G., & Yu Ko, W. F. (2021). Zoom interviews: Benefits and concessions. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069211053522
Patton, M. Q. (1999). Enhancing the quality and credibility of qualitative analysis. Health Services Research, 34(5.2), 1189–1208.
Perez, II, D., & Taylor, K. B (2016). Cultivando logradores: Nurturing and sustaining Latino male success in higher education. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 9(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039145
Pessar, P. R. (1999). Engendering migration studies: The case of new immigrants in the United States. American Behavioral Scientist, 42, 577–600. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027649921954372
Pike, G. R., & Kuh, G. D. (2016). First- and second-generation college students: A comparison of their engagement and intellectual development. Journal of Higher Education, 76(3), 276–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2005.11772283
Ramos, P. (2020). Finding Latine: In search of the voices redlining Latino identity. Vintage.
Randez, R. A. (2023). Using the Listening Guide method for short story construction: Redefining researcher and participant through immanence. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 2(2), Article 100057. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmal.2023.100057
Robins Sadler, G., Lee, H. C., Lim, R. S. H., & Fullerton, J. (2010). Recruiting hard-to-reach United States population sub-groups via adaptations of the snowball sampling strategy. Nursing Health Science, 12(3), 369–374. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-2018.2010.00541.x
Rumbaut, R. G. (2006). Ages, life stages, and generational cohorts: Decomposing the immigrant first and second generations in the United States. International Migration Review, 38(3), 1160–1205. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00232.x
Salas Pujols, J. (2020). ‘It’s about the way I’m treated’: Afro-Latina Black identity development in the third space. Youth & Society, 54(4), 593–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X20982314
Squire, C. (2012). Narratives, connections and social change. Narrative Inquiry, 22(1), 50–68. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.22.1.04squ
Stutterheim, S. E., & Ratcliffe, S. E. (2021). Understanding and addressing stigma through qualitative research: Four reasons why we need qualitative studies. Stigma and Health, 6(1), 8–19. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000283
Suárez-Orozco, C., & Carhill, A. (2008). Afterword: New directions in research with immigrant families and their children. In H. Yoshikawa & N. Way (Eds.), Beyond the family: Contexts of immigrant children’s development: New directions for child and adolescent development (pp. 87–104). Jossey-Bass.
Suárez-Orozco, C., Suárez-Orozco, M., & Todorova, I. (2008). Learning in a new land: Immigrant adolescents in America. Harvard University Press.
Taylor, J. M., Gilligan, C., & Sullivan, A.M. (1997). Between the voice and silence: Women and girls, race and relationships. Harvard University Press.
Tolman, D. L., & Head, J. C. (2021). Opening the Black Box: A primer for the Listening Guide method of narrative inquiry. Qualitative Psychology, 8(2), 152–170. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000202
Torres-Saillant, S., Hernández, R. (1998). The Dominican Americans. Greenwood Press.
Torres, V., & Hernandez, E. (2007). The influence of ethnic identity on self- authorship: A study of Latino/a college students. Journal of College Student Development, 48(5), 558–573. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2007.0057
U.S. Census Bureau (2023). Colombian and Honduran populations surpassed a million for first time: Venezuelan population grew the fastest of all Hispanic groups since 2010. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-hispanic-population.html
Vodde, R., & Gallant, J. P. (2002). Bridging the gap between individual and master practice: Large scale change and a unified model of narrative-deconstructive practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 38(3), 439–458. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2002.10779109
White, M. (1989). The externalizing of the problem and the re-authoring of lives and relationships. Selected Papers. Dulwich Centre.
Woodcock, C. (2010). The listening guide for coaching: Exploring qualitative, relational, voice-centered methodology for coaches. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 3(2), 144–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/17521882.2010.497766
Woodcock, C. (2016). The Listening Guide: A how-to approach on ways to promote educational democracy. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 15(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406916677594

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