The Hybrid Identity Construction of Young Turkish-American Females in the U.S

This study analyzes the reflection of hybrid identities of young Turkish-American Muslim females of Hizmet, and their practices in the United States. The focus on identity was an effort to examine the role of third spaces in communities of practice in multidimensional aspects, and to explore the process of shaping hybrid identities of young Turkish-American females in US society. The guiding research questions for these multiple case studies were the following: How are the hybrid identities of young Turkish-American females of Hizmet (the Service) differentially practiced in diverse social spaces in the United States?; 1a. How do immigrants versus U.S born young Turkish-American females' identity reflections vary in the United States?; 1b. Which social practices emerge as third spaces for the young Turkish-American females of Hizmet, and how do they reflect themselves in the actual or potential presence of third spaces?; 1c. What is the role of Hizmet in practices of hybrid identity across the range of Turkish-American young females? This dissertation was grounded in hybridity theory. The findings suggest that young Turkish-American females that belong to Hizmet culture process their multiple identities in solid positivity and Hizmet constructs a third space in which they maintain and practice their hybrid identities that they reflect uniquely in various settings, and that is beyond their Turkishness, Americanness, and Muslimness.