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Title:	Heterogeneous landscape in selected diasporic American chick lit: a psychosocial approach
Authors:	Seyedeh Maryam Mazloomian (P64098)
Supervisor:	Raihanah M. Mydin, Prof. Madya Dr.
Keywords:	Heterogeneity American chick lit Psychosocial aspects Heroines Dissertations, Academic -- Malaysia
Issue Date:	25-Feb-2016
Description:	The chick lit genre, being considered as a popular contemporary woman's fiction, has been intensely criticized for its formulaic nature overwhelmed by postfeminist and cultural approaches. This interdisciplinary study investigates the dimension of heterogeneity within American chick lit through the selected works of Lara Rios, Tanuja Desai Hidier and Kim Wong Keltner with a focus on the psychosocial aspects of the heroines' identity. The conceptual framework is a combination of Uri Bronfenbrenner's Theory of Ecological Systems and a model of Acculturation borrowed from John W. Berry. The methodology utilises five ecological themes based on the micro-, meso-, exo-, macro- and chrono-systems. The investigation considers the heroines' attitudes, self-images, expectations, and assumptions as members of American society and members of a minority ethnic community. The finding indicates that although all four selected heroines within the novels are born in America, they encounter turning points and exclusive experiences in life based on their respective cultural and historical backgrounds. Furthermore, the finding displays that the heroines' transition through the psychosocial developmental stages clearly demonstrates the acculturation of the American culture with their own minority culture which occurs in a bidirectional way. In addition, the finding also highlights that psychosocial transition happens due to the existence of three important elements in each heroine: first, the strong presence of individuation and self-autonomy, second, a marked equilibrium in the acceptance and accommodation of the two cultures, and third, strong presence of self-trust and self-confidence. The thesis concludes that the divergent ways of transition and identity development in the heroines as represented within the novels lead to the emergence of heterogeneity in the genre. Although the heroines are set in similar ecological systems, their sense of belonging to either host or own culture is remarkably different due to the respective psychological, social and cultural uniqueness. The implication of the study is that in examining the heterogeneity within the American chick lit genre the psychosocial aspects of the heroines' sense of self should be taken into account as the essential constituents of identity development.,Ph.D.
Pages:	225
Publisher:	UKM, Bangi
Appears in Collections:	Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Fakulti Sains Sosial dan Kemanusiaan

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