What Well-being Means to Young Immigrant South Asian Women
In this research project, I argue that young women face enormous challenges as immigrants in the U.S. and have created multiple channels and networks that they navigate for support. In this process, many see themselves as cultivating resilience, a view which can discourage them from seeking professional mental health services when other kinds of support are insufficient.
*Please find page numbers at the bottom of each section.
Currently, you are on this section- which is the homepage of this website, introducing this research study and the main argument. Under this section, there are three additional pages:
- Page 2 (Eshob ki?): The title of this section means ‘What is all this about?’ This page includes the literature review I conducted to lay the foundation of my research work.
- Page 3 (Research Questions): I introduce the three key questions that I have explored as part of my research.
This page is to be used as a helpful guide to understand some of the terms included on this website. Words that have superscripts or asterisks throughout the website will have their definitions here.
This page is a pioneered approach in the hope of increasing accessibility of this website to some extent. Please listen to my ‘melodious’ (pun intended) voice with some soothing music in the background, as I share my research journey with you and some reflections along the way.
The title of this section means ‘Conversations.’ The title of each chapter in this section has been inspired by many common phrases and idioms popular in the Bangladeshi community. For each of the chapters, I have subsections that highlight the key themes of the chapter. Under each theme, I have included one of many quotes from my interviewees and also attached resources (articles, podcasts, Instagram/Youtube/Tiktok videos, etc), which help explain the themes and also the main argument of my research further. For those who would like to get a more in-depth dive into my findings and analyses, the ‘Read More’ tab at the end of each chapter will take you there.
In many instances throughout this section, I refer to her. Who is this she? Is she me? Well..this is to all the hers, who can relate to what I am expressing in this website as I culminate my research project and reach the end of my college journey this senior spring. This is written to all the hers who have traveled from the various corners of South Asia- Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and more- all the way to this foreign land called America, trying to reborn and rewrite the stories of all hers.
This section is divided into three pages:
- Page 1 (তোমার বয়সে, আমি সাঁতার কেটে স্কুলে যেতাম।) discusses the challenges that young women face upon immigration into the U.S.
- Page 2 (মানুষ কি বলবে?) presents the ways that help these women respond to these challenges.
- Page 3 (ও আমাদের সব কথা শোনে!) analyzes the outcomes as a result of this interplay.
At the end of each page/chapter, I add a short reflection of my own before inviting you to ‘Read More’.
This page refers to ‘What now?/What’s next?’- a summary of implications and future possibilities that can be progressed upon from this research.
Finally, this section will take you to a culmination of various resources that I have come across throughout this year-long research (Page 1), give you a glimpse of my senior poster that I presented to both my departments (Page 2), and includes a bibliography as well for those who are interested in further literature review (Page 3).
*All pictures and recordings have been taken and created by the author (read About Me below), except those in the ‘Ekhon ki?’ slides and ‘Resources’ page (1), which contain images taken from the internet. Background music has been collected from Youtube for recordings.