‘This identity is part of you, you cannot run away from it’: identity experiences among young Israelis of Ethiopian origin

ABSTRACT

While theory around identity processes is abundant, scarce literature has examined how immigrants themselves identify and experience issues related to their identity. This phenomenological study aims to understand how young Israelis of Ethiopian origin relate to their identity and what, for them, are the salient issues involved in their identity negotiations. Nineteen participants, who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia as children and adolescents, were interviewed for this study. Data analysis yielded themes related to participants’ experiences of identity-related issues: their sense of identity and its’ components, skin colour and identity, personal versus group identity, processes and routes for searching for identity. The findings highlight the interplay between society and personal identity negotiation and have practical and theoretical implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Identity
• immigration
• skin colour
• Ethiopian

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Jewish Agency for Israel, 2017. Retrieved on December 2018 from https://www.jewishagency.org/he/ethiopian-aliyah/program/8921.

2 Central Bureau of Statistics (2018). Retrieved on November 2019 from https://www.cbs.gov.il.

3 These elements of Ethiopian identity will be further discussed later in Results.

4 Sigd is a holiday of the Ethiopian Jewish community. The name of the holiday is derived from the Amharic word for prostration, ‘sgida’.