Creating a Sense of Belonging as a Transnational Family: A Qualitative Study of Student Visa-Holding Families in the United States

dc.contributor.author Gammana Liyanage, Maneesha
dc.contributor.department Human Development and Family Studies
dc.contributor.majorProfessor Dr. Clinton Gudmunson
dc.date 2020-06-15T19:56:28.000
dc.date.accessioned 2020-06-30T01:35:30Z
dc.date.available 2020-06-30T01:35:30Z
dc.date.copyright Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 2019
dc.date.issued 2020-01-01
dc.description.abstract <p>Having a <em>sense of belonging</em> is a fundamental human need. In the age of mass globalization, students attending universities far away from their home countries, together with immediate family members, function as transnational entities as they engage in day-to-day activities. These <em>student visa-holding families</em> are a unique subset of all transnational families. They live under distinct timelines, have access to a unique set of opportunities, and face peculiar challenges. How these factors affect a family’s sense of belonging has been understudied—especially for families originating from South Asia. The United States holds a comparatively large share of the world’s families of this type. The challenge of establishing a sense of belonging, especially in the context of shifting political winds, can be a source of family stress. In this paper, I investigated how student visa-holding families function to create a sense of belonging using qualitative methods, with a phenomenological approach. Six themes emerged: 1) family support, 2) meaningful opportunities, 3) supportive community, 4) familiarity, 5) positive attitude, and 6) supportive policies. Supportive policies act as a unique theme because it has the ability to enhance the other five ways families created a sense of belonging.</p>
dc.format.mimetype pdf
dc.identifier archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/creativecomponents/496/
dc.identifier.articleid 1446
dc.identifier.contextkey 15895001
dc.identifier.doi https://doi.org/10.31274/cc-20240624-442
dc.identifier.s3bucket isulib-bepress-aws-west
dc.identifier.submissionpath creativecomponents/496
dc.identifier.uri https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/handle/20.500.12876/17062
dc.source.bitstream archive/lib.dr.iastate.edu/creativecomponents/496/Creative_Component_Paper_ManeeshaGL.pdf|||Sat Jan 15 00:30:42 UTC 2022
dc.subject.disciplines Development Studies
dc.subject.disciplines Family, Life Course, and Society
dc.subject.disciplines Other International and Area Studies
dc.subject.disciplines Politics and Social Change
dc.subject.disciplines Social and Behavioral Sciences
dc.subject.keywords college student families
dc.subject.keywords phenomenology
dc.subject.keywords sense of belonging
dc.subject.keywords South Asia
dc.subject.keywords transnational families
dc.subject.keywords visa policy
dc.title Creating a Sense of Belonging as a Transnational Family: A Qualitative Study of Student Visa-Holding Families in the United States
dc.type article
dc.type.genre creativecomponent
dspace.entity.type Publication
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication aa55ac20-60f6-41d8-a7d1-c7bf09de0440
thesis.degree.discipline Human Development and Family Studies
thesis.degree.level creativecomponent
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