Identity Crisis in Highly Educated Afghan Immigrant (EFL) Students: Challenges and Promises

Previous research suggests that the Afghan migrants residing in Iran struggle to survive the numerous challenges (including education, employment, and social acceptance, among others) they encounter. However, identity is one of the critical socio-psychological aspects of this minority group, which merits exploration and analysis. To fill this gap, the researchers examined the identity crisis of four Afghan-educated refugee students. Following the acculturation theory, the authors used the qualitative narrative inquiry to frame the research study and followed narratives and narrative interviews to collect the participants’ lived experiences. Through reflexive thematic analysis, we coded the data, analyzed them, and reported the significant themes. The results of narrative analyses show that Afghan students suffer from socio-psychological barriers, distress, and other social problems such as concealment of their identities, education and racial discrimination, and stigmatization. The findings suggest that highly educated Afghan migrant students use coping strategies to survive the ordeal and construct and reconstruct their identities.