“One meets through clothing”: The role of fashion in the identity formation of former Soviet Union immigrant youth in Israel

Dafna Lemish, Nelly Elias

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The study described in this chapter examines the role of fashion in the lives of immigrant children and adolescents from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel. It is part of a more extensive, ongoing research project concerned with the role of media in the lives of immigrant children and youth, as they explore their new environment and also look back at the life they have left behind (Elias and Lemish, 2008a; 2008b, 2008c). While fashion was not an original focus of this study, it emerged in the interviews as a site where immigrants are constructing hybrid identities, as well as re-affirming old ones, in the realms of gender, adolescence, Russianness and Israeliness. Accordingly, the aim of this chapter is to present a grounded analysis of these aspects of the interviews and to highlight the unique roles that fashion preferences serve as a facilitator of young immigrants’ search for collective and individual identities, as well as for communicative means of expressing them.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationStudies in Childhood and Youth
EditorsDavid Buckingham, Vebjørg Tingstad
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Pages244-258
Number of pages15
ISBN (Electronic)9780230281844
ISBN (Print)9780230227835, 9781137442222
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2010

Publication series

NameStudies in Childhood and Youth
ISSN (Print)2731-6467
ISSN (Electronic)2731-6475

Keywords

  • Former Soviet Union
  • Hybrid Identity
  • Immigrant Adolescent
  • Immigrant Child
  • Immigrant Youth

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Gender Studies
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies
  • Sociology and Political Science
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

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