Abstract
This study aims at investigating the ethnic identity crisis and the problems of acculturation and enculturation in Evelyn Shakir's "Let's dance." The study will present a close reading analysis of Shakir's story highlighting the problem of constructing the ethnic identity for the protagonist Nadia who suffers from the lack of her parental support and divorce. Additionally, the study presents the problems that most Arab American young adults suffer from when living in America such as the confusion of belonging to the Arab and American culture, the American negative media stereotypes about Arabs, and the conflict between Arab and American ethnic and cultural traditions. The study concludes that the parental problems and conflicts negatively influence the construction of Arab American young adults' ethnic identity and acculturation.
Highlights
Britto and Amer explore highlight the influence of family support in Arab American young adults' acculturation and assimilation in American society
The researchers find that some Arab American young adults are stressed by their families who pressured them to be acculturative to their Arab culture and to be adhered to their Arab cultural identity and to the Islamic faith (137)
It is clear that the protagonist's ethnic identity crisis is due to many factors that made it more complicated
Summary
Britto and Amer explore highlight the influence of family support in Arab American young adults' acculturation and assimilation in American society. The researchers find that some Arab American young adults are stressed by their families who pressured them to be acculturative to their Arab culture and to be adhered to their Arab cultural identity and to the Islamic faith (137). The researchers note that the formation of identity starts from "a diffused notion" to "a more understanding of self" (138), and such process may vary from one person to another. They claim that there is a strong relationship between the construction of ethnic and cultural identities and family relations (138): "When the two cultures, the family and society, are at odds, developing a sense of cultural identity is challenging" (138, 139). Both researchers emphasize the role of family in their children's acculturation to the host culture (139)
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