‘A' is for alien, but also Albanian. : negotiating identity when migrating to Malta : an autoethnography

Abstract

Narratives are complex stories that connect past, present and future. This dissertation uses the experience of four Albanian family members to construct one evocative narrative, conveying the multilayered and multifaceted experiences of negotiating identity as a migrant in Malta. This research aims to create social consciousness about the taken-for-granted experience of migration. The author uses the self as the subject of inquiry, and works collaboratively with her family members to produce the research. To be able to research the self, others and culture, the author adopts a collaborative autoethnography. Autoethnography is viewed as a social constructionist approach that enables critical reflection on the space between the individual and the collective experience. The author uses reflexivity to critically examine her position within the research. This ensures that transferability, credibility, dependability, and confirmability are taken into consideration as part of the rigour of the methodology. Additionally, the author considers the ethical responsibility towards the co-researchers by addressing confidentiality, power, and the issues of representation. Collaborative autoethnography allows the author to undertake an in-depth inquiry in the process of negotiating identity. The author explores the individual intersecting accounts of loss, separation, parentification, language, victimisation, discrimination, and acculturation, as part of the process of negotiating identity. The research seeks to consolidate the experience of this autoethnography in the context of the author’s journey as a researcher, counsellor and a person. Finally, this autoethnography draws the readers into witnessing the author's journey, as intertwined with her family’s.