Shaping identity of Indonesian young generation in the United States of America

Fatoni, Uwes (2020) Shaping identity of Indonesian young generation in the United States of America. In: Workshop Youthful Future, 5-6 Mei 2014, ARI National University of Singapore.

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Abstract

Education plays a key role in providing the younger generation with knowledge, competences and skills and improving their lives in future. In Indonesia, learning and achievement at universities abroad are given high social status. The United State of America (USA) attracts many young Indonesian people for studying. However, they face some obstacles in USA like coping with the difference in languages, differences in culture, and the high cost of living. By using qualitative research with a phenomenological approach from Alfred Schutz, I examine young Indonesians motives to travel to America and their processes in shaping their identities as an Indonesian diaspora. The subject of study was Indonesian young people who came to California for studying in internationally reputable universities such as UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), UCR (University of California Riverside), and UCSB (University of California Santa Barbara). Based on my observations and in-depth interviews it can be concluded that their main motives to study in US Universities were to gain the best education, the best job opportunity and the highest social status. While, in shaping their identities as an Indonesian diaspora, these students also continued to communicate with significant others, people who had significant position in their lives, and with new reference groups such as Permias (Persatuan Mahasiswa Indonesia di Amerika Serikat /Indonesian Student Unions in USA), and Komunitas Muslim California (California Muslim Community).

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