Identity Formation and Change amongst Female Adolescent Migrant Bloggers

Abstract

This paper deals with the identity change of female adolescent migrant bloggers. The concept of identity will be examined, concluding that it is based on an individual’s categorisation with a specific group. Furthermore, identity will be defined as the result of actions. We are what we do, rather than simply who we are. Language plays an important role as a categorisation feature as well as an individual’s action. Based on this knowledge, it can be claimed that identity is able to change, especially concerning young adults who go through a period of adaption and development. When it comes to female adolescent migrants, blogging allows them to stay connected with their family and friends back home on the one hand and it serves as a chance to reflect on themselves and their lives in their new environment on the other. Writing plays and important role in order to deal with the insecurities of migration. Being creative and having a word which is understood by their followers leads to a good feeling. The bloggers share part of their lives with the readers, by which they create a space for a new online community, where followers and blogger agree on certain values, interests and opinions. Moreover, their youth identity is influenced by a combination of new encounters in a different environment, habits that come to the forth due to the new culture they are a part of, and a new language context the female migrants are confronted with. Blogposts of four young female expats will help to explain the theory. Moreover, I will tell my own story as a German migrant, residing in the Netherlands in the form of a blogpost. My work will serve as practice-based research. This paper indicates that female migrant bloggers experience a shift of their identity when they write in another language and online content creation helps to develop an understanding of the self. However, the perception of a new identity is not only based on the new language they are confronted with, but it is also created by the new culture and the expat’s encounters with people living in the host culture.