On becoming a ‘real’ Jew: An ethnography of adolescents’ identity formation in a Jewish community in Germany

In the course of an ethnographic investigation in the youth group of a Jewish community that included participant observation, group discussions and problem-centred interviews, I gained insights into the contextualised construction of Jewish identities. Analysing identity formation as a holistic form of learning, I identify two trajectories of socially embedded identity formation: appropriating aspects of Judaism taught in the youth group and becoming a part of the Jewish collective. Within the latter trajectory, I differentiate three sub-processes: forming and evaluating social representations of the Jewish people, ascribing ‘Jewishness’ to oneself, and experiencing communality.

The 2019 Sklare Address: How Gender and Family Still Matter for Contemporary Jewry

Family has resurfaced in many ways as its contemporary face has changed, often challenging the transmission of Jewry in traditional ways. Gender fluidity and equality had nearly camouflaged the contribution of gender to the transmission of Jewry for a majority of the American Jewish population, at least. But revelations of persisting and underlying gendered patterns beyond the family have alerted us to its particular dynamic, which itself has multiple implications for family as well as institutional life. In this address, we will discuss the changes that are occurring and their implications, as well as research implications, drawing on previous research and approaches that the Sklare awardee has taken and is taking.

"I think I became a swimmer rather than just someone with a disability swimming up and down:" paralympic athletes perceptions of self and identity development

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of swimming on Paralympic athletes' perceptions of self and identity development.

METHOD

A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was taken. During semi-structured interviews, five Paralympic swimmers (aged 20-24 years) were asked questions about their swimming career, perceptions of self, integration, and impairment. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim.

RESULTS

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis yielded three superordinate themes: (a) "One of the crowd"; none of the participants viewed themselves as disabled, nor as supercrips; these perceptions stemmed from family-, school-, and swimming-related experiences, (b) "Becoming me"; participation in swimming facilitated self- and social-acceptance, and identity development, and c) "A badge of honor"; swimming presented opportunity to present and reinforce a positive identity.

CONCLUSIONS

Swimming experiences enabled the participants to enhance personal and social identities, integrate through pro-social mechanisms, and to develop a career path following retirement from competition. Implications for rehabilitation Offering equal sporting opportunities for people with/without physical disability can help facilitate social integration and act as a buffer against stigmatization. Our research suggests that participation in sport had afforded the participants a heightened sense of self-concept, independence, ability and corresponding pride. When working with individuals with physical disabilities, rehabilitation professionals could utilize sport as a means of increasing an individual's feelings of independence, confidence and normalization. As such, part of rehabilitation should be to ensure opportunities for sport participation for people with physical disability are available for people of all ages.

The Identity Formation Experiences of Church-Attending Rural Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to access adolescents' voices regarding the impact of religiosity on everyday experiences of identity construction. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 22 adolescents ages 15–19 living in a rural community; half were regular and committed members of a local church, and the other half never attended church. We wanted to differentiate between the responses that were primarily related to rural culture, and those that were related to religion. Clear differences emerged between the church group and the control group with regard to role models, turning points, career goals, family goals, and commitment to Christian values. Results suggest that differences between urban and rural adolescents in identity-related domains (i.e., career, family) may be a product of religious rather than geographical factors.

A multidimensional approach to identity: Religious and cultural identity in young Jewish Canadians

This study used an online questionnaire to explore the relations among different dimensions of religious and cultural Jewish identity in young Canadian adults ( N = 258). We investigated the extent to which three aspects of Jewish identity—religious identity, cultural identity, and identity salience— predicted openness to interfaith relationships and sociopolitical attitudes related to Israel. Results showed that compared to participants who self-identified as cultural Jews, those who self-identified as religious Jews or as both religious and cultural Jews scored higher on measures of cultural and religious identification. Moreover, relative to culturally identified Jews, religious and religious/cultural Jews were less open to interfaith relationships, endorsed more right-wing political attitudes with respect to Israel’s foreign policy, and reported that their Jewish identity was more salient than their Canadian identity in identity-relevant situations. Similarly, relative to Jews of other denominations, Orthodox Jews reported higher levels of Jewish identification, greater salience of their Jewish identity, and advocated more right-wing political views.