Exotic beauty, mail-order bride, secret agent: the stereotyped experiences of Russian women immigrating to the United States

ABSTRACT

The researchers interviewed 16 women about their experiences immigrating from the Russian Federation to the United States. An interpretive analysis of these women's stories revealed three strategies employed during the immigration process. This analysis also revealed how these women perceived agency and how perceptions varied depending on the available communication and social affordances. These in-depth interviews provide new insights about the challenges women face when immigrating from Russia. Participants described that they felt stereotyped in diverse ways. Some described how many Americans, and some Russians, perceived all women from Russia as mail-order brides. Participants also reported other ascribed labels, often drawn from stereotypical Russian tropes (e.g. Secret Agent). These women explained how these stereotypes influenced their ability to adapt to the United States and, in turn, the immigration strategies they employed. A discussion of how these findings contribute to feminist standpoint theory, sensemaking, and agency concludes the paper.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigration
• Russia
• sensemaking
• agency
• qualitative

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants in this study did not agree for data to be shared publicly. Therefore, supporting data is not available.

Notes on contributors

Maria E. Shpeer (MS, Saint Petersburg State University) is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Communication at the University of Oklahoma with a primary focus on intercultural communication and secondary focuses on political and mass communication. Maria investigates issues of identity and media, largely in the context of international communication.

William T. Howe (PhD, University of Oklahoma) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Kentucky with a focus on organizational communication. William investigates issues of identity and socialization, largely in the context of high–reliability organizations.

Additional information

Funding

The Graduate Student Senate of the University of Oklahoma funded this research project.