Multiple Identities

A Study of Students in an Australian Coptic School

Authors

  • Shenouda Soliman Mansour Macquarie University, New South Wales Ecumenical Council
  • Robyn Moloney Macquarie University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.36773

Keywords:

Identity, culture, language, Coptic

Abstract

This article reports findings from a study of students' identity in a Coptic school in Australia. A mixed methodology approach of quantitative and qualitative data was used to examine students' beliefs and attitudes. The study shows that students have diverse multiple identity structures that include complex national, ethnic and religious identities. The study illustrates how children from ethnic communities in diaspora adopt and embrace multiple values. The study highlights the importance of supporting and maintaining many aspects of heritage as part of an evolving student identity that negotiates multiple roles and memberships in society.

Author Biographies

  • Shenouda Soliman Mansour, Macquarie University, New South Wales Ecumenical Council
    Fr Shenouda Mansour was an educator at a Coptic School for a number of years looking after the religious and pastoral care of students at the school. Currently, Fr Shenouda Mansour is the General Secretary of the NSW Ecumenical Council working to foster relationship between churches and other living faiths in Australia. Received his Phd from Macquarie University
  • Robyn Moloney, Macquarie University

    Dr Robyn Moloney is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Educational Studies, Macquarie University. Her teaching and research interests have included intercultural education, multilingual identity, and development through language and culture.

References

Batrouney, A., and T. Batrouney

The Lebanese in Australia. AE Press, Melbourne.

Bond, Ross

Belonging and Becoming: National Identity and Exclusion. Sociology 40(8): 609–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038506065149

Bottomley, Gill

Identification: Ethnicity, Gender and Culture. Journal of Intercultural Studies 18(1): 41–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.1997.9963440

Bouma, Gary

Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the Twenty-first Century. Oxford University Press, Port Melbourne.

Braziel, Jana A., and Anita Mannur

Nation, Migration, Globalization: Points of Contention in Diaspora Studies. In Theorizing Diaspora: A Reader, edited by Jana Braziel and Anita Mannur, 1–22. Blackwell, Oxford.

Brinkerhoff, Jennifer M.

Assimilation and Heritage Identity: Lessons from the Coptic Diaspora. Journal of International Migration and Integration 17(2): 467–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-015-0418-0

Calvert, M., and J. Henderson (eds)

Managing Pastoral Care. Bloomsbury Publishing, London.

Carreira, Maria, and Olga Kagan

The Results of the National Language Survey: Implications for Teaching, Curriculum Design, and Professional Development. Foreign Language Annuals 44(1): 40–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2010.01118.x

Chiang, Lan-Hung Nora, and Chih-Hsiang Yang

Learning to be Australian: Adaptation and Identity Formation of Young Taiwanese-Chinese Immigrants in Melbourne, Australia. Pacific Affairs 81(2): 241–58. https://doi.org/10.5509/2008812241

Collins, Jock, Carole Reid and Charlotte Fabiansson

Identities, Aspirations and Belonging of Cosmopolitan Youth in Australia. Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 3(3): 92–107. https://doi.org/10.5130/ccs.v3i3.2315

Gilroy, Paul

The Black Atlantic as a Counterculture of Modernity. In Theorizing Diaspora, edited by Jana M. Braziel and Anita Mannur, 49–80. Blackwell, Oxford.

Hall, Stuart

Introduction: Who Needs Identity? In Questions of Cultural Identity, edited by Stuart Hall and Paul Du Gay, 1–17. Sage Publications, London.

Un-settling ‘the Heritage’, Re-imagining the Post-nation: Whose Heritage? Third Text 13(49): 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/09528829908576818

Cultural Identity and Diaspora. In Theorizing Diaspora, edited by Jana M. Braziel and Anita Mannur, 233–46. Blackwell, Oxford.

Harris, Anita

Young People and Everyday Multiculturalism. Routledge, London.

Transitions, Cultures, and Citizenship: Interrogating and Integrating Youth Studies in New Times. In Youth Cultures, Transitions, and Generations, edited by D. Woodman and A. Bennett, 84–98. Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Belonging and the Uses of Difference: Young People in Australian Urban Multiculture. Social Identities 22(4): 359–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2015.1113128

Harris, Anita, and Joshua Roose

DIY Citizenship amongst Young Muslims: Experiences of the ‘Ordinary’. Journal of Youth Studies 17(6): 794–813. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2013.844782

Hemming, Peter J.

Childhood, Youth, and Religious Identity: Mapping the Terrain. In Identities and Subjectivities, Volume 4: Geographies of Children and Young People, edited by Tracey Skelton, 51–68. Springer, New York.

Hough, Michael, Michael J. Hough and John Paine

Creating Quality Learning Communities. Macmillan Education, Melbourne.

Kabir, Nahid A.

Young Somalis in Australia, the UK and the USA: An Understanding of their Identity and their Sense of Belonging. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 34(3): 259–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2014.939556

Madge, Nicola, Peter Hemming and Kevin Stenson

Youth on Religion: The Development, Negotiation and Impact of Faith and Non-Faith Identity. Routledge, London.

Mansour, Shenouda S.

Investigation of Attitudes to Identity, Culture and Language in a Coptic School Community. PhD diss., Macquarie University.

Marzouki, Nadia

The U.S. Coptic Diaspora and the Limit of Polarization. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies 14(3): 261–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2016.1210712

Moloney, Robyn, and Susan Oguro

To Know What It’s Like to be Japanese: A Case Study of the Experiences of Heritage Learners of Japanese in Australia. In Languages and Identities in a Transitional Japan, edited by Ikuko Nakane, Emi Otsuji and William S. Armour, 121–40. Routledge, New York.

Neuman, William L.

Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Allyn & Bacon, Boston.

Page, Sarah-Jane, and Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip

Studying Young Buddhists: Lessons Learned. In Understanding Young Buddhists: Living out Ethical Journeys, edited by Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip and Sarah-Jane Page, 141–59. Brill, Leiden and Boston.

Phinney, Jean S.

The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure a New Item for Use with Diverse Groups. Journal of Adolescent Research 7(2): 156–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/074355489272003

Phinney, Jean S., and Victor Chavira

Ethnic Identity and Self-esteem: An Exploratory Longitudinal Study. Journal of Adolescence 15(3): 271–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/0140-1971(92)90030-9

Phinney, Jean S., Stephanie Du Pont, Carolina Espinosa, Jessica Revill and Kay Sanders

Ethnic Identity and American Identification. In Journeys into Cross-cultural Psychology, edited by Anne-Marie Bouvy, Fons J. R. Van der Vijver, Pawel Boski, Paul Schmitz and Terri Gullickson, 167–83. Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam.

Phinney, Jean S., and Anthony D. Ong

Conceptualization and Measurement of Ethnic Identity: Current Status and Future Directions. Journal of Counseling Psychology 54(3): 271–81. ttps://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.54.3.271

Roberts, Robert E., Jean S. Phinney, Louise C. Masse, Y. Richard Chen, Catherine R. Roberts and Andrea Romero

The Structure of Ethnic Identity of Young Adolescents from Diverse Ethnocultural Groups. Journal of Early Adolescence 19(3): 301–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431699019003001

Roose, Joshua M., and Anita Harris

Muslim Citizenship in Everyday Australian Civic Spaces. Journal of Intercultural Studies 36(4): 468–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2015.1049984

Rosenthal, Doreen A., Susan M. Moore and Meredith J. Taylor

Ethnicity and Adjustment: A Study of the Self-image of Anglo-, Greek-, and Italian-Australian Working Class Adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 12(2): 117–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02088309

Rosenthal, Doreen A., Judith Whittle and Richard Bell

The Dynamic Nature of Ethnic Identity among Greek-Australian Adolescents. Journal of Social Psychology 129(2): 249–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1989.9711725

Ryan, Gery W., and H. Russell Bernard

Data Management and Analysis Methods. In Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd edn, edited by N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln, 769–802. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Smith, Emilie Phillips, Katrina Walker, Laurie Fields, Craig C. Brookins and Robert C. Seay

Ethnic Identity and its Relationship to Self-esteem, Perceived Efficacy and Prosocial Attitudes in Early Adolescence. Journal of Adolescence 22(6): 867–80. https://doi.org/10.1006/jado.1999.0281

Spencer, Michael S., Larry D. Icard, Tracy W. Harachi, Richard F. Catalano and Monica Oxford

Ethnic Identity among Monoracial and Multiracial Early Adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence 20(4): 365–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431600020004001

Van Dijk, Joanne, and Ghada Botros

The Importance of Ethnicity and Religion in the Life Cycle of Immigrant Churches: A Comparison of Coptic and Calvinist Churches. Canadian Ethnic Studies 41(1): 191–214. https://doi.org/10.1353/ces.2009.0005

Ward, Colleen

Acculturation, Identity and Adaptation in Dual Heritage Adolescents. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 30: 243–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.09.001

Warner, R. Stephen

Immigration and Religious Communities in the United States. In Gatherings in Diaspora, edited by R. Stephen Warner and Judith G. Wittner, 3–36. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.

Welch, Anthony

Cultural Difference and Identity. In Education, Change and Society, 3rd edn, edited by Raewyn Connell, Anthony Welch, Margaret Vickers, Dennis Foley, Nigel Bagnall, Debra Hayes, Helen Proctor, Arathi Sriprakash and Craig Campbell, 130–67. Oxford University Press Australia, South Melbourne.

Wenger, Etiene

Communities of Practice. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Williams, Raymond B.

Religions of Immigrants from India and Pakistan: New Threads in the American Tapestry. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Xu, Huiling, and Robyn Moloney

Identifying Chinese Heritage Learners’ Motivations, Learning Needs and Learning Goals: A Case Study of a Cohort of Heritage Learners in an Australian University. Language Learning in Higher Education 4(2): 365–93.

Zeidan, David

The Copts—Equal, Protected or Persecuted? The Impact of Islamization on Muslim-Christian Relations in Modern Egypt. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations 10(1): 53–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/09596419908721170

Published

2020-07-23

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Mansour, S. S., & Moloney, R. (2020). Multiple Identities: A Study of Students in an Australian Coptic School. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 33(1), 49–65. https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.36773