Date of Award

12-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies

Department

Education

First Reader/Committee Chair

Dr. Kathryn Howard

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the cultural and social integration process among Syrian refugees in the United States, and to what extent the direct and indirect challenges have played a role in the process of their social and cultural integration. The challenges include, but are not limited to, cultural conflicts, religious values, stereotypes, and English language proficiency. In order to investigate my research questions, interviews as a research methodology were used as a theoretical framework for this project to collect and analyze data. I conducted semi-structured interviews with ten Syrian refugees who currently live in the United States. These interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed in full in both Arabic and English by me. My data analysis investigated what the interviewees indicated about their processes of social and cultural integration in the United States’ society as refugees. Specific extracts were chosen because they served as rich materials to analyze and provide answers to questions in this paper.

Findings indicated that Syrian refugees needed to overcome significant personal, social, linguistic, and psychological barriers and challenges in order to integrate socially and culturally in the United States’ society. Results showed that participants in this study adopted various “acculturation strategies”. Only three out of ten were socially and culturally integrated. However, acculturation strategies adopted by participants are dynamic and changeable overtime, so further longitudinal study is needed to examine their integration processes over a longer time.

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