Poster Session 4: Immigration/Migration and the Effect on Families

Presenters: Harshi Shah, Pearl Stewart

Summary
The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand Asian Indian immigrant women's experiences in maintaining and promoting the Indian cultural values for themselves and their children. Guided by grounded theory, snowball and theoretical sampling techniques were used to recruit thirteen first-generation Asian Indian immigrant mothers. Data was obtained between May 2016 and November 2017, using in-depth semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems perspective, two themes were developed to support the findings. Theme one exemplified participants' esteem for Indian enclaves and availability of Indian community services and resources, in order to recreate €˜mini-India'. Theme two illustrated participants' efforts at adding Indian touches to their American homes, in order to replicate authentic €˜Indian' experiences and atmosphere, away from home country. Keywords: Asian Indian, Immigrant families, value retention

Objectives
-- To demonstrate an understanding of Asian Indian women's immigration experiences and preferences on cultural value retention and transmission while living in the U.S.
-- To analyze the strategies adopted by the Asian Indian immigrants to maintain and preserve their "Indianness" in the U.S.
-- To demonstrate the significance of Indian community resources and services in strengthening Asian Indian immigrant women's ability to re-create traditional Indian experiences, in the U.S.

Subject Codes: immigration, identity, globalization
Population Codes: transnational, Asian/Pacific Islander, cross-cultural
Method and Approach Codes: qualitative methodology, grounded theory