Cultural Identities in Transition

Voices of Saudi Arabian Mothers in New Zealand

Esra Yaghi, Roger Barnard

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9781800416222
• eBook ISBN:
  9781800416246
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Personality in Psychology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book explores the social, educational and linguistic acculturation of a group of Saudi wives and mothers sojourning in New Zealand while their husbands undertook full time study. Such sojourners, and their families, are faced with many challenges due to linguistic, social and cultural distance – as well as ethnic stereotyping and prejudice. They tell their stories in a series of interviews and focus groups, relating their pre-sojourn background, the challenges they faced and the changes they made during their sojourn, and their preparation for returning home post-sojourn. The narratives illustrate how these women renegotiated their own identities in relation to their changed circumstances and environment. The authors address the distinctive challenges faced by sojourners as opposed to immigrants, and present a nuanced and detailed picture of the women as individuals negotiating the complex interaction between the influence of the host country and the Saudi and Islamic identities of themselves and their children.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Glossary
• Preface
• Part 1: The Background of the Book
• 1 Adjusting to a New Culture
• 2 Saudi Arabia: Religion, Culture and the Role of Women
• 3 Saudi Mothers Sojourning in New Zealand: A Case Study
• Part 2: The Mothers Tell Their Stories
• 4 The Participants’ Lives in Saudi Arabia
• 5 The Participants’ Initial Experiences in New Zealand
• 6 Maintaining Children’s Arabic Language and Religious Identity
• 7 The Women Adapt Through a Community of Social Practice
• Interlude: Focus Groups
• Part 3: The Mothers Discuss Their Beliefs
• 8 The Participants’ Beliefs About Parenting
• 9 Comparing New Zealand and Saudi Arabia
• 10 Looking Towards Repatriation
• Part 4: The Authors Reflect on the Study
• 11 Discussion of the Findings
• 12 Two Conceptual Models
• 13 Implications of the Study
• Afterword: Coping Over Time
• References
• About the Authors