Received: 14 August 2021
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Revised: 11 November 2021
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Accepted: 1 December 2021
DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22776
RESEARCH ARTICLE
What makes us complete: Hybrid multicultural
identity and its social contextual origins
Andrea Belgrade
|
Mari Kira |
Department of Psychology, University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Correspondence
Andrea Belgrade, Department of Psychology,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Email: belgrade@umich.edu
Shima Sadaghiyani |
Fiona Lee
Abstract
Our research explores the experience of holding a Hybrid
Multicultural Identity (a superordinate cultural identity;
HMI) and the social contextual experiences hybrid multiculturals describe as influential to the development of an
HMI. We conducted a Photovoice study with 10 hybrid
multiculturals (age 18–32; 6 women and 4 men) living in a
college town in the Midwestern US. The participants valued
HMI for the psychological advantages they attributed to
this identity. We also found the participants described
three broad categories of their social environment that
were key to the development of HMI: cultural composition
in living environments, perceptions of macro‐level marginalization, and culturally related interpersonal experiences.
Our research documents (1) the lived experience of being a
hybrid multicultural (2) the importance of cultural mixing
for HMI development, and (3) how people with HMI describe primarily negative perceptions of the social environment as instrumental to the development of HMI.
KEYWORDS
hybrid multicultural identity, identity development, photovoice,
qualitative, social contexts
1
| INTRODUCTION
[Being multicultural] also gives you lots of access to other things, you know: different communities,
different places in the world. That just comes about naturally. You're not even making an effort to go out
of your way to go to those places. It's just who you are and what you have access to, and that's just part
of what being multicultural gives you. (Yoshito)
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In today's highly interconnected world, people often belong to two or more cultural groups, such as countries
of residence, ethnicities, or nationalities. As a result, an increasing number of people define themselves as multicultural (Arasaratnam, 2013; Pekerti & Thomas, 2016; Vora et al., 2018). Leading scholars in the field of multicultural identity describe a superordinate cultural identity that we call “hybrid multicultural identity” (HMI).
Individuals with HMIs have two or more separate cultural identities, and they transform those cultural identities
into an emergent superordinate hybrid multicultural identity, identifying with other people who are, in various ways,
multicultural (West et al., 2017; Yampolsky, et al., 2016). HMI, therefore, captures a multicultural identity that goes
beyond the sum of the separate cultural identities and connects the multicultural person to other multicultural
individuals across the world. While earlier literature discussed such superordinate cultural identities, further research is needed on how superordinate cultural identities develop in social contexts (Yampolsky et al., 2016). Our
aim is to offer empirically grounded insights into the social contextual factors that foster the development of HMI.
In doing so, we will be contributing to the understanding of social factors that allow people with different multicultural heritages to experience oneness with each other. Using Photovoice methodology, we explore the contextual origins of HMI, and also examine HMI's meaning, importance, and affective valence to its holders (Ashforth
et al., 2008).
1.1
| Multiculturalism
Scholars define multiculturalism in many ways (Arasaratnam, 2013; Verkuyten, 2006). We classify this literature into three main groups. First, multiculturalism may describe a specific characteristic of the society
such as its poly‐ethnic composition (Verkuyten, 2006). A crucial question here is how people “fit in” in such a
society (acculturation; Nguyen & Benet‐Martinez, 2010). Relatedly, postcolonial studies question the very
existence of purely monocultural environments, recognizing how cultures have always come together and
mixed, creating multicultural spaces (Ackermann, 2012). These bodies of literature also debate how a multicultural society may or may not deteriorate social cohesion (Verkuyten, 2006) and challenge the prevailing
dominant power structures (Ackermann, 2012). Second, multiculturalism can refer to individual and shared
attitudes towards diversity of cultures (e.g., governmental policies; Nguyen & Benet‐Martinez, 2010;
Rosenthal & Levy, 2010). Some countries have adopted multiculturalism as official policy (e.g., The Canadian
Multiculturalism Act of 1988), aiming to provide equity for minority groups through the support of multilingual resources, progressive citizenship legislation, and other inclusive practices (Nguyen & Benet‐
Martinez, 2010). Third, multiculturalism can reference individual characteristics – multicultural personality,
skills, abilities, cognitions, and identity (Arasaratnam, 2013; Pekerti & Thomas, 2016; Vora et al., 2018). This
third category, particularly identity, is the focus of the current study as we explore the development of a
hybrid multicultural identity.
1.2
| Hybrid multicultural identity (HMI)
The Transformative Theory of Biculturalism (West et al., 2017) suggests that a new type of cultural identity emerges
when people simultaneously identify with two or more cultures and transform them into a multicultural superordinate identity, rather than choose between these cultures or seek to integrate them as aspects of their self‐
concept. While someone may still identify with their individual cultural groups, they may also identify more broadly
as multicultural. As Yampolsky et al. (2016, p. 168) write: “one may invoke a higher‐order, inclusive identity that
encompasses the different cultural identities (i.e., a superordinate identity) as a means for reconciling and uniting them.”
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Using the analogy of baking a cake, West et al. (2017, p. 967) describe how one can mix and bake ingredients in
particular ways to create an outcome that is unrecognizable from its original components. Just like the chemical
reactions that occur during the baking process, particular ways of combining cultural identities and experiences can
lead to unique identity outcomes (HMI) that require the original components but do not necessarily share the same
characteristics as these components. Extending West et al.'s (2017) cake baking metaphor, vastly different sets of
ingredients can create cakes. As their ingredients differ, these cakes may have different flavors or textures, but still,
they can be identified within a shared “cake” category. Our data demonstrate how this metaphor applies to HMI;
while people may hold vastly different cultural experiences and identities, these identities can still lead to the
creation of a shared HMI (see also Banks, 2014; Moore & Barker, 2012; Neufeld & Schmitt, 2018). In contrast to
diasporic identities that connect the globally dispersed communities formed by people sharing the same national
and ancestral origins (Ang, 2003), HMI connects people with different national and ancestral origins but sharing the
superordinate identity as a multicultural person.
It is important to note that the idea of hybridity has a long history in various fields such as biology, anthropology, sociology, and history (Ackermann, 2012). Most importantly to our study, postcolonial literature approaches
hybridity as cultural transformation resulting from the meeting and mixing of cultures. Our study and West et al.’
(2017) recent work on hybridization as an identity negotiation strategy recognizes and explores this process on the
level of individual identities.
1.3
| HMI and the importance of social contexts
Social contexts are considered a crucial element of identity development (Amiot et al., 2007), but when it comes to
the social contexts fostering an HMI, empirical literature mainly focused on the role of early immersive culture
mixing (Hong & Khei, 2014; Martin & Shao, 2016; Martin et al., 2019). Through early immersive culture mixing,
young people grow up interacting in a significant way with multiple cultures in their home environment. This makes
them “innate” multiculturals and increases their likelihood to transform various cultural identities into an HMI, a
single cultural schema (Martin & Shao, 2016). This is contrasted to people who became multicultural through
exposures to other cultures later in life (so called “achieved” multiculturals); these people tend not to form this
superordinate identity and instead switch between multiple cultural frames and identities (Martin & Shao, 2016;
Martin et al., 2019).
West et al. (2017) suggest, in their turn, that cultural experiences accumulated over a lifetime can also contribute to an HMI. In addition to early immersive culture mixing, positively experienced social contextual factors
(i.e., diverse social networks and social support) may foster the transformation of individual cultural identities into a
superordinate identity and therefore, could potentially lead to the development of an HMI (Amiot et al., 2007; West
et al., 2017). Such contextual experiences would make multiculturals feel more accepted and, consequently, embrace an HMI (Yampolsky et al., 2016). Bhabha's (1994) notion of “third spaces” is relevant here. In third spaces,
elements of different cultural systems come together and mix, thus forming new cultural elements, including novel
identities. As Chulach and Gagnon (2016, p. 54) write: “Those situated within this ‘in‐between (third) space’ become
neither this nor that, but often combine aspects of both cultures to create something unique. … This space… allows
emergence of re‐defined or transformed identities.” Therefore, life experiences in spaces where cultures meet and
mix both provide ingredients and encouragement for identity exploration and the formation of novel identities, such
as HMIs (Ang, 2003; Chulach & Gagnon, 2016).
By definition, multicultural individuals belong to many social groups that can be both dominant and subordinate. Negative interpersonal experiences originating from a multicultural individual's dominant group, such as
discrimination, may stifle identity hybridization (Yampolsky et al., 2016). When a dominant group discriminates
against multicultural individuals’ subordinate identities, multiculturals may react by disengaging from and rejecting
that dominant group and its identity and, instead, engage solely with their subordinate cultural ingroups targeted by
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discrimination (Saleem et al., 2019). However, if these multicultural individuals experience both discrimination from
the dominant group and marginalization from their subordinate identity group, they might disengage from each
identity group (Durkee & Williams, 2015). West et al. (2017) propose that when a person does not identify strongly
with any of their cultural identities, they are more likely to blend these influences to form a single cultural schema
that is informed by each cultural influence. Therefore, both validation and rejection may enforce HMI development,
but empirically grounded studies are still lacking in this area. Our aim is to offer further light on the positive and
negative social contextual factors fostering the formation of HMI.
Macro‐level social contextual factors influencing the development of HMI have only been briefly theorized.
When it comes to macro‐level factors stifling HMIs, conflicts between one's various cultural identities, playing out
in the larger society, may make it more difficult to reconcile the differences between these identities and create a
hybrid identity (West et al., 2017). In contrast, living within an individualistic society may favor the development of
an HMI, given the emphasis on self‐consistency across contexts and individual creative expression and self‐
affirmation (West et al., 2017). Further, West and colleagues (2017) describe how a multicultural environment
centering each cultural component more equally in the mainstream society may elicit hybrid identities. Similarly,
Ang (2003) discusses how globalization has resulted in unclear lines between cultural ingroup and outgroup categories; people occupy cultural spaces that do not neatly fall into such categories. In these spaces of complicated
entanglements of differences, hybrid identities – that is, identities in between cultural “us” and “they” categories –
emerge (Ang, 2003, p. 153). The current study will offer some empirical illustration on the macro‐level social
contextual factors that influence HMI development.
1.4
| The current study
Although earlier literature recognized the superordinate cultural identity (HMI) emerging as people transform their
various cultural identities, further empirical research is needed describing the experience of having an HMI and the
social contextual factors fostering the development of an HMI (Yampolsky et al., 2016). Our research questions are:
(1) How do people experience being a hybrid multicultural?
(2) What are the social contextual factors that participants attribute to the development of their HMI?
We examine these questions using open‐ended, exploratory, and qualitative methods. It should be noted that
this paper's authors have varying degrees and types of multicultural experiences, and we recognize that our
experiences impact how we approach this study.
2
| M E TH O D S
Due to the exploratory nature of our research questions, we took an interpretive, qualitative approach
(Ponterotto, 2005). In particular, we used Photovoice, a form of participatory action research which prioritizes
participants’ personal narratives, thus empowering them and inviting them to take part in the creation of knowledge
(Bananuka & John, 2014; Chmielewski & Yost, 2012; Freedman et al., 2012; Johansen & Le, 2014). Photovoice has
several key features. First, participants take photographs around a particular theme and, in some cases, they create
captions for their photographs (cf. Strack et al., 2018). Second, participants bring their photographs to group
sessions where they discuss the photographs. The participants’ photographs, rather than a predetermined set of
researchers’ questions, provide the stimuli for discussion. Third, the group discussions are transcribed and analyzed
to provide the main source of data (Freedman et al., 2012; Valera et al., 2009).
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2.1
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| Participants
The study took place in a large, public university in the Midwestern US. We recruited individuals who self‐identified
as “multicultural” by posting fliers and advertising the study in student organizations that catered to students from
different cultural backgrounds. We did not define the concept “multicultural,” but left it open for interpretation to
include participants with various insights on this construct (cf. West et al., 2017). We asked all potential participants
to fill out a pre‐screening form asking what made them identify as multicultural, eligibility questions to ensure all
participants were over 18, and logistical questions to be sure they could attend the session dates and had a camera
to take photographs with (if a participant did not have one, we provided a disposable camera). Because of the
significant time commitment and to reduce attrition, we offered $75 for participants’ participation (an estimated
$15 per hour rate).
We selected a sample of 10 participants, a typical sample size for Photovoice studies (cf., Cho et al., 2019;
Hergenrather et al., 2009; Nitzinger et al., 2019). Table 1 includes cultural background details participants reported
on a pre‐screening form. We also asked each participant to tell us their age and gender (included in Table 1) when
interacting with them in a secure, private setting during the in‐person data collection. (To protect the anonymity of
the participants, we refer to them with pseudonyms throughout the paper). Our sample included four men and six
women representing a variety of cultural heritages and experiences. The participants included first‐ and second‐
generation immigrants, as well as sojourners to the United States. All were closely affiliated with the university—
eight participants were students, one was a recent graduate who was working, and one was a spouse of a student.
Our study was approved by the university's Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board
(HUM00126974).
2.2
| Procedure
Given that most of the participants were full‐time students or workers, we designed this study to minimize the time
required to participate. We conducted the study in two sessions over the course of two weeks (see Strack
et al., 2018 for a similar design). The first session lasted approximately an hour and served to obtain informed
consent, to introduce the participants to the basics of Photovoice methodology, and to explain their task to take
photographs inspired by two questions: “How would you describe your multicultural identity?” and “How was your
multicultural identity formed?”1 We also asked the participants to produce photograph captions to encourage their
awareness of what their photographs actually mean to them (cf. Strack et al., 2018; Valera et al., 2009). The
participants co‐created several ground rules to facilitate the respectful discussion of ideas and to create an environment where participants had the space and safety to self‐define as multicultural as they saw the best. Some of
these rules were: agreeing to respond to ideas rather than people, being mindful about not dominating the discussion, and focusing on their personal experiences rather than making broad generalizations about specific social
groups (Krueger & Casey, 2015).
Participants came together two weeks later for a group discussion about their photographs. We first held two
parallel, simultaneous subgroup discussions, with five participants in each subgroup, lasting one hour. Both subgroups were equal in gender representation. To ensure maximum cultural diversity, no single country or ethnicity
was represented twice in one subgroup. Friends were divided into separate subgroups. Two members of the
research team, each representing different cultural heritages, facilitated each subgroup. First, each participant took
turns describing all of their photographs until everyone shared their photographs (as in, e.g., Valera et al., 2009).
1
While in psychological literature, there is an important distinction placed on identity formation versus identity development, we explained this question in
a way that allowed for either answer, and we did not distinguish between the two with our participants.
32
22
18
23
18
19
20
25
19
~20s
Ling
Zara
Tesfu
Germaine
Nima
Ian
Yoshito
Ashwini
João
Isabella
Woman
Man
Woman
Man
Man
Man
Woman
Woman
Woman
Woman
Gender
Puerto Rico
Brazil
United States
France
Brazil
United States
Malaysia
United States
Malaysia
Taiwan
Place of birth
~20s
6
Birth
6–11, 14
18
Birth
18
Birth
18
29
Age arrived in the
United States
Puerto Rican (Black,
European, and Jibaro)
Paraguayan, Ukrainian
Indian (Tamil)
Japanese
Chinese, Taiwanese
Persian, Muslim
Chinese
Eritrean
Malay and Javanese
Taiwanese, Chinese origins
Self‐described heritage
cultures
Note: Isabella's audio recording was corrupted, and the age reported is from memory.
Age
Demographics of participants (N = 10)
Participant
pseudonym
TABLE 1
Moved to the United States for graduate education
Moved to the United States with family
Lived in diverse communities in the United States, a primarily
white community in high school, and a primarily African
American community in Atlanta, visited family in India
Japan, Ghana and United States residency with family
Moved to United States for undergraduate education
Self‐described American
Multicultural Malaysian community, moved to the United States
for undergraduate education
Eritrean church, primarily white United States high school
Moved to the United States for undergraduate education
Japanese and Western influences, moved to the United States
to accompany husband
Other significant cultural experiences in life
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Finally, the participants were invited to comment on each other's photographs and stories. Facilitators were trained
to intervene minimally.
After this, the subgroups came together for a full group (10 persons), 30‐minute session to share topics that
emerged from the subgroup discussion. All of these sessions were audio‐recorded and transcribed. As typical in
Photovoice studies (Nykiforuk et al., 2011; Wachs, 1999), the transcriptions of the discussions provide the main
source of data.
| Data analysis
2.3
Our aim was to capture both the meaning of HMI to the participants and the social contextual factors that they
attributed to the development of their HMI. Following Braun and Clarke's (2006) model of thematic analysis,
we used an iterative process of coding using Nvivo software and thematic mapping. The first round of coding
was open‐ended and data‐driven. Two of the study's authors (each representing different cultural backgrounds)
coded the data independently, and together created thematic maps that, in the second round of coding, helped
organize the codes into a data structure of second‐order categories and aggregated theoretical dimensions
(Caza et al., 2017; Gioia et al., 2013). The two coders regularly checked in with other members of the research
team to discuss the codes, categories, and theoretical dimensions (Barbour, 2001; Richards & Hemphill, 2018).
After these discussions, the coders made adjustments as needed and repeated the process of coding and
restructuring their thematic maps.
3
| RESULTS
Figure 1 outlines the data structure and its theoretical dimensions, second‐order categories, and first‐order codes
(cf., Gioia et al., 2013). The subsequent figures present the participants’ photographs cited in the text, the captions
they chose for those photographs, and transcript quotes relating to each photograph (Belon et al., 2016; Wang &
Burris, 1997).
Consistent with previous findings (West et al., 2017; Yampolsky et al., 2016), we found that all the participants
described a shared, superordinate, emergent identity (i.e., HMI) that went beyond each of their cultural identities,
valued for both its psychological and interpersonal benefits. We also found three broad categories of social
contextual factors described by the participants as essential experiences that influenced the development of their
identity: cultural composition in living environments, perceptions of macro‐level marginalization, and culturally
related interpersonal experiences.
3.1
3.1.1
| Hybrid multicultural identity
| Common multicultural identity
The participants recognized a superordinate cultural identity that incorporated and built on their cultural influences.
As Germaine described, “It's just a blend of different things… we need every different culture, that's what makes us
complete, as a whole thing.” They talked about this common identity explicitly as something they all experienced.
“We're talking about something that's common to all of us, the way we interpret [being multicultural] in our head,
the way we perceive it as a concept.” (Yoshito). The participants also expressed this shared identity implicitly. For
example, instead of using words like “I,” the participants used the word “we” to refer to this identity shared by
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F I G U R E 1 First‐order codes and second‐order categories within their respective aggregated theoretical
dimensions. The participants often referred to the non‐multicultural dominant or mainstream society members as
the “Americans.”
participants in the Photovoice group and its associated experiences. “Because we have so many different experiences with so many different people. So I think multicultural make people more open‐minded and more tolerant or
inclusive towards others” (Ling).
3.1.2
| Benefits of HMI
As Ling alluded to in the previous section, the participants evaluated their HMI positively. First, they perceived
psychological benefits as their HMI enabled higher levels of flexible thinking. The participants felt they were not
bound by their own experiences and could more easily shift their thinking to understand alternative perspectives.
Zara said: “We can see things from multiple perspectives, so we are not boxed to just one perspective.” The
participants also described interpersonal benefits associated with their HMI and described being more able to
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empathize with others; Ashwini described herself as “an ambassador for empathy” during difficult intergroup
interactions in class.
One of my white‐American friends is getting frustrated with how different race, or, different ethnicity
students in class have reacted to things in our group project…. Um, so being able to empathize with my
classmates and share that reflection with my White‐American classmates.
The participants also recounted having enhanced appreciation of differences across people. They described the
“beauty” in diversity (see Figure 2 caption) and also the need to leave one's “bubble” and explore different cultures
(see Figure 3 caption).
3.2
| Social contextual factors: Origins of HMI
The second aim of this study is to explore the social contextual factors that the participants attributed to the
development of their HMIs. The participants described three factors influencing their HMI development: the
cultural composition of the environments in which they lived, their perceptions of macro‐level marginalization in the
society, and their culturally related interpersonal experiences. Each of these three factors influenced each other,
with the cultural composition in living environments not only directly influencing the development of HMI, but also
shaping the participants’ perceptions of macro‐level marginalization in the society as well as their culturally related
interpersonal experiences. A summary of these observed relationships is illustrated in Figure 4.
3.2.1
| Cultural composition in living environments
The cultural composition in the participants’ communities (i.e., by the represented cultural groups in the community
and the degree of its homogeneity or heterogeneity) was cited as a major factor in their stories of how they
developed their identities. The participants also emphasized the degree to which they were exposed to diverse
social contexts and experienced cultural mixing as important, identity shaping aspects of the living environment.
F I G U R E 2 Beautiful. Black sand, or white sand. Both are equally beautiful. Beauty after all, is in the eye of
beholder. Transcript quote: “Whether it is black sand or white sand both are equally beautiful because beauty is in
the eye of the beholder. So there's no such thing as like, white is beautiful or black is beautiful or brown is beautiful.
For me, everyone is beautiful. And beauty can be perceived by different people, in a different manner. Everything is
just beautiful.” (Zara)
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F I G U R E 3 Life in a bubble has shallow roots. Participant quote: “I love terrariums, but what I'm trying to bring
out here is like, life in a bubble has shallow roots. […] I feel like it's really important for us to, you know, not stay in
our own bubble. And know what other cultures has going on around the world. So… yeah that's what I've been
doing for the past… my life.” (Germaine)
FIGURE 4
A summary of the developmental relationships of each social contextual factor
These factors directly related to the development of an HMI, and also influenced their culturally related interpersonal interactions and perceptions of macro‐level marginalization.
First, the participants who grew up in the United States, experienced various cultural representations in their
communities: from a primarily white American community to a homogenous cultural ingroup community, or a mix of
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different cultures where there was no clear majority. All these representations contributed to the development of
an HMI, each in its unique way. Heterogeneous environments tended to validate multicultural identities or even
instill a multicultural identity among otherwise monocultural participants. In monocultural environments, the “innate” multicultural participants tended to feel isolated, encouraging them to identify with other (similarly isolated)
multiculturals and, thus, form a superordinate HMI. Ashwini, when asked to describe the factors that led to the
development of her HMI, described the stark differences in cultural representation throughout her life, where she
experienced the heterogeneous college town as accepting, while the largely white town left her feeling isolated.
So the elementary school I went to was in [a name of a city], a college town, so my classmates were from
all over the world which was a really unique experience. So I vividly remember having teachers, like around
the holidays, not just talking about Christmas, like we talked about different religions or cultural holidays,
and I don't think I realized how unique that was until much later in life. Where it wasn't just like reading
about it in civilizations textbooks, but very much like students were encouraged to share what they
celebrated at home. Um, so for me that was cool, but then I moved to [a name of a state] in a town that
was 94% white, so needless to say there wasn't that kind of conversation. So I think your point of some
communities being very homogenous definitely like centers whiteness and centers the idea of whiteness
um… I don't know how that can happen on an institutional level where like if you look around the room
and there's like one person who doesn't look like the others, if that could really be a constructive
conversation?
Across the participants, cultural representation was often described as contextual information to explain
the participants’ experiences with cultural misunderstandings, devaluation of multiculturalism, and also intragroup marginalization, factors they all cited as important for the development of their HMI. For example,
Ashwini described how living in predominantly white spaces (see Figure 5 caption) and having friends who did
not speak her ethnic group's language, made her feel marginalized in her own cultural group. This
strengthened her sense as a hybrid multicultural, rather than as a representative of only her own ethnic
group.
My parents tried teaching me Tamil as a kid but I thought it was weird and none of my friends spoke it so
why would I speak it? Um… but yeah, they really wanted me to learn and now I have the vocabulary of a
two‐year old. It has definitely impacted my relationship with family in India. Whenever we go back I can't
have a conversation with a lot of people. So everything they know about me is through others speaking
about me.
The degree to which the participants engaged in cultural mixing, or moved between social contexts over time,
also influenced whether they formed an HMI. Ashwini (see Figure 5 caption) and Zara, in alignment with “achieved”
multiculturals, described how moving to different cities/countries allowed them to experience cultural mixing
throughout their lives, even into adulthood, which in turn contributed to their HMI.
I've been living in Malaysia my whole life and when I'm here [US], I'm like, ‘Whoa. There's something else
here.’ So yeah. This totally changed my mind about a lot of things. I would definitely say I'm multicultural
because I've been exposed to a lot of different things when I'm studying here compared to when I was
back in Malaysia.
Ian exemplified how a person can experience cultural mixing without moving between cities, and how this can
occur even within the home.
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F I G U R E 5 The journey. Participant quote: “It really symbolized for me this solo journey that I feel like I've been
going on for the past 25 years. I grew up in predominantly white spaces at some chapters [of my story]. At other
chapters, I lived in really diverse communities. And in telling my story I feel like I have a very unique experience.
Which I know is something that a lot of people who identify as multicultural would say. But really thinking through
especially being in college, living outside of my home and interacting with different people and places, and then
moving to Atlanta, and then moving to Phoenix, and then moving back to the Midwest. Um I just feel like life is a
giant roadtrip that has taken me to different people and places and I have found myself along the way and come to
grips and really accepted what my unique identities are.” (Ashwini)
I speak English with my dad, I speak Portuguese with my mom, and Mandarin with my Grandparents. And
with my sister I switch between English and Portuguese all the time. I just keep switching. I've lived in one
place my whole life, and I consider myself to be multicultural because at home there's always been a clash
between cultures‐being my dad was Chinese, and my mom was Taiwanese, and in the context of Brazilian
society, and going to international school. I interacted all the time with different people from different
places in different contexts.
Like Ashwini and Yoshito, many participants framed their hybrid multicultural identity as a lifelong accumulation of changing circumstances and shifting experiences (see Figures 6 and 7 captions). They constantly navigated
different social contexts, trying to understand different worldviews and operate within a changing set of norms.
3.3
| Perceptions of macro‐level marginalization
In the previous section, we focused on the composition of the participants’ cultural social environments; here we
shift towards their perceptions of macro‐level environments. The participants constantly experienced and witnessed marginalization, and this fostered their identification as uniquely hybrid multiculturals.
When responding to our question regarding experiences that led to the development of their HMI, participants
reported instances of cultural misunderstandings because of their memberships in nondominant cultural groups.
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F I G U R E 6 Studying abroad. Participant quote: “This represents our journey so far just riding in. People coming
in, people going out, different interactions all the time. It's like, not only different people but different cultures
interacting all the time.” (Ian)
Speaking about his photo (see Figure 8), João describes how the Brazilian greeting of a kiss on the cheek was
misconstrued by his American schoolmates (see Figure 8 caption).
Many participants who grew up in the United States described frequent cultural misunderstandings in mainstream American contexts, such as public primary and secondary schools. Yoshito recognized this pattern among his
peers and described his contrasting experience in international school. When studying at the United Nations
International School, he experienced very little cultural misunderstanding. Being in an environment that had a deep
understanding of diverse cultures facilitated “accepting‐ness.”
In international school you have kids from all over the world. That creates a lot of understanding and
accepting‐ness in each one of us towards the other, and we have lots of cultural awareness because I
attended the United Nations international school. My school really valued that diversity. (Yoshito)
Then he contrasted this experience to a typical public school in the United States, where he saw cultural
misunderstandings likely stemming from the lack of representation. “Who is there to help them in their education to
be multicultural?” While the participants did not hold the same cultural backgrounds, each of them described
instances of cultural misunderstanding, and this joint experience facilitated the sense of group identity as hybrid
multiculturals.
Many participants assessed that communities in the US devalued multiculturalism. For example, Isabella described the differences she saw in the society's value of multiculturalism when she moved from Puerto Rico to the
United States, with the United States generally showing a lack of respect for diverse cultures (see Figure 9 caption).
João mirrored Isabella's views, echoing how in the United States many people do not value multiculturalism and
actively pressure those outside the dominant majority culture to assimilate. For example, João shared a photograph
of the American flag on campus and described how this symbol represents a pressure to assimilate to the dominant,
monocultural society. (João's photograph is not included to protect his anonymity).
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F I G U R E 7 This is a photo of a busy highway and intersection. I just happened to take it for no specific reason,
but this represents the trajectory of my life. So far, I've lived in 4 countries around the world, which is symbolized by
the road signs and the multiple ways I can go. Time is moving fast and my next move will come soon, as symbolized
by the fact that it is a highway. (Yoshito)
My thought here […] focuses on the government and by extension the culture within that government and
the caption says, “The pressure to assimilate sometimes feels like it's just looming over our heads.” And, so
sometimes it can feel like there's, everybody wants you to do a certain thing a certain way, and if you do it
any other way, it's wrong. So, it's like, it's just always there, looming, and no‐one understands how it feels
other than people that have our same kind of multicultural background.
Given the participants’ HMI, it is unsurprising that they valued environments that celebrated and reflected that
multiculturalism. However, when reflecting on the mainstream US culture, many participants described hostility and
disinterestedness towards multiculturalism. Rather paradoxically, living in a society that devalued multiculturalism
made the participants acutely aware how central multiculturalism is to their sense of self, and this was cited as a
primary driver in their identity development.
Some participants viewed their contexts through a lens that was very acute at recognizing societal inequities (see
Figure 10). For instance, Tesfu recognized that even when there were conversations including diverse groups, society
continued to center whiteness. “One way to try and focus on multiculturalness and also focus on them more deeply
instead of talking about the stereotypes or like the very basic level of a country or region is to stop talking about white
people so much.” For Tesfu, consequently, feeling the oneness and identifying with the mainstream culture was not
possible because she could see the structural inequities in the society that disadvantaged her as a woman of color.
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F I G U R E 8 It's very tough when the things taught here conflict with the things taught at home. Participant
quote: “And then I was at elementary school at that point, and I would go up to some other girl that I just met, kiss
her, and it would be like, ‘oh my god… ahhh’ and like, I just said, ‘hi.’ And they would be like ‘oh you like her.’ I don't
know, things like that. Just because I said, ‘hi,’ and that's just how I say hi. But they're like ‘ahhhh you love her.’ I'm
like, ‘no.’” (João)
F I G U R E 9 Wired. Participant quote: “I had to study every single religion and see what they have in common. I
had to study, as well, all the cultures in the world and try and understand how they work. And I come over here so
you can respect and so on. And I don't see that happening ever here.” (Isabella)
The participants also recognized inequities among minority groups, and mistreatment exercised even by the
groups to which they belong. Ashwini, who has heritage from southern India, reflected:
I actually spent one summer in India and another in Atlanta, Georgia, in predominately Black communities. So
that was my first time being in not predominantly white spaces so it was like I don't fit here either and everybody
around me knows that too. So learning to adapt in other ways. Not just being conscious of Black and Asian
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F I G U R E 10 “Feminist: A person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes” ‐
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Tesfu)
tension‐ like the history of that. Like, not pretending that that doesn't exist, like anti‐Blackness in a lot of Asian
communities is really real and so recognizing that and feeling the need to adapt to be like, “I care about you and I
see you as a human. I don't have these kinds of… that kind of attitude that other Asians you might have
encountered have had.” (Ashwini)
As a result of their awareness of the structural inequities that disadvantage some groups more than others, the
participants felt more distance towards the larger society and also their own ethnic group, when its members
discriminated against other ethnic groups. They were, therefore, more likely to identify as a hybrid multicultural, an
identity that embraced their western influences but also had room for their social criticism. The recognition of
societal inequity also showed in their empathy towards various discriminated cultural groups; this strengthened
their sense of oneness with other multicultural people.
3.4
| Culturally related interpersonal experiences
In addition to macro‐level marginalization, the participants’ personal encounters with members of dominant and
minority cultures similarly entailed experiences of marginalization. Less inclusive social settings bred negative
interpersonal interactions (see Figure 4 for a graphical depiction of this relationship). Many participants, especially
those who spent most of their lives in the United States, described a tension that resulted from having multiple,
conflicting cultural influences.
I do consider myself multicultural because… my parents immigrated here. […] I have my culture at home
but then I was born and raised in America so there's the Western culture in me, sometimes, that takes
away from Eritrean culture. (Tesfu)
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F I G U R E 11 Why should we blend in when we can stand out? Participant quote: “This is a picture I took in the
past. It's actually in Spain. And the caption is, ‘Why would we blend in when we could stand out?’ And I guess I was
just trying to say that something as simple as, you know, when people want us to be like them, to assimilate to their
culture. Why should we do that when we can shine in our own way and have our own, like, “I'm different and that's
okay and that's good.” You know? So there's different ways we can all… you don't have to be part of a crowd that
nobody can distinguish. We can be our own thing and people. I think the best kind of people appreciate that for
who you are.” (João)
Internalizing influences from the dominant culture exposed the participants to marginalization from their ethnic
culture. Their nondominant cultural affiliations, in turn, exposed them to assimilation pressures and discrimination.
This made the participants question their belongingness to either culture and pushed them to recognize their
belongingness to a multicultural subculture instead. Not being able to completely fit into any singular cultural group,
the participants formed an HMI that could accommodate and encompass all their cultural influences in the way the
monocultural categories could not (see Figure 11 caption).
The participants discussed how outgroup interactions, specifically implicit and explicit forms of discrimination
and marginalization from members in the dominant culture, shaped their behaviors and perceptions of their own
multiculturalism. For example, Tesfu described how struggles with her hair reflected standards of beauty that are
shaped in the form of whiteness. “Straightening my hair is horrible. But it's what's considered pretty so I kind of
have always had to do it. Just so I felt pretty enough. So that I kind of fit in.” Ashwini, whose first language is
English, also described discrimination when she was complimented on her English by members of the dominant
culture: “People who are like, ‘You don't have an accent!’ Well, of course not. I was born and raised here.”
Referring to the photograph in Figure 12, João described mainstream society members’ negative judgment of
not only one, but all of his cultural practices. To him, this reflected a generalized rejection of his cultural heritage.
The participants also described ingroup interactions largely as ambivalent relationships with their family
members and other ethnic ingroup members. In particular, the participants found that family members aggravated
the felt differences between their multiple cultural identities. Speaking about the chasm between the buildings in
the photograph in Figure 13, and herself positioned in that chasm between, Ashwini described how she was not
fully accepted as Indian by her extended family (see Figure 13 caption).
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F I G U R E 12 When you choose a path, how do you know if it's the right one? Participant quote: “Sometimes
things that feel super natural to us and have been natural for the longest time suddenly is totally switched and is
weird and different to other people and it's wrong what you're doing and you've been doing it for your whole life
and then you have to switch how you do everything.” (João)
F I G U R E 13 Not part of your world. Participant quote: “I'm up in my own headspace sometimes. Feeling
detached from everything that's around me. Not understanding different objects or different people. But very much
still being in it, and attached to it. But still feeling not grounded in that, but still having a front row seat to it.”
(Ashwini)
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F I G U R E 14 Is this what I'm supposed to? Participant quote: “I just thought the dog looks like… Piña looks so
funny like he's just like, ‘Is this what I'm supposed to be doing?’ It looks so unnatural for this little dog to be sitting
out on a bench in the middle of the city and that's sometimes how I feel sometimes. I'm just like ‘aaaahhhh is this
right?’ Like somebody's kind of holding me at an angle and I'm trying to smile, and it all just feels a little strange.
And… yeah! That's something I experience often. Whether it's like, ‘I wanna wear this outfit today…. Oh, but I'm
going to my parent's in 20 min so I'm going to change and wear this thing that I don't actually like.’ But that's the
position I need to be held in at this moment in time. And I'm just gonna pose. I'm just gonna pose a little bit.”
(Ashwini)
Describing her photograph in Figure 14, Ashwini described how interactions with her family felt like a constant
“façade” (see Figure 14 caption).
Participants described how their experience of the world did not fit within the parameters of their family
member's expectations or others’ that were close to them, leading to a sense of isolation from their ingroup. For
example, João noted:
A lot of times, through our multicultural background, we feel like we have all these identities and
experiences and even though people seem like they're near us and wanna help, it's not always that easy.
It's not always that simple to just join a group and be part of it. So even though sometimes you are in a
close proximity, you can be far away still.
4
| DISC US SION
This study, to our knowledge, is the first to qualitatively describe how being “more than the sum of the parts,” (West
et al., 2017) or having an HMI, is experienced. The participants identified with one another, recognizing their
belongingness to the same group, even though they individually represented different cultural groups. The participants also unanimously described their HMI in a positive way and recognized both psychological and interpersonal
benefits resulting from this identity.
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While the participants described HMI as a positive identity, their evaluations of their social contexts (i.e.,
macro‐level social environments and culturally related interpersonal experiences) were largely negative, aligning
with previous work describing both the struggles and opportunities of hybridity (Ang, 2003; Verbaan & Cox, 2014).
This paradox may have been present in our sample because the study participants viewed the United States, their
country of residence, as largely unsupportive of multiculturalism. When residing in culturally homogeneous environments (particularly in those made up of the dominant society members), participants encountered negative
perceptions towards multiculturalism. This highlighted participants’ awareness of their difference as hybrid multiculturals and, in a countermeasure against the homogenous culture, they learned to appreciate and increasingly
define themselves through their HMI. Nevertheless, participants also had experiences of culturally heterogeneous
environments. These were described much like Bhabha's (1994) “third spaces” or Ang's (2003) “hybridizing contexts”; that is, spaces where different cultural systems interact and intermix to foster novel cultural elements and
identities. Participants generally recognized positive perceptions regarding multiculturalism in these spaces, and this
validated and strengthened their HMIs. Therefore, participants cited both negative and positive social experiences
that played a role as they bridged beyond their own cultural identities and identified with multicultural people more
broadly, though their emphasis was often placed more strongly on negative social experiences.
4.1
| Valence of experiences and perceptions
The negative social experiences (relations with both ingroup and outgroup members), as well as negative perceptions of the society (cultural misunderstandings, devalued multiculturalism, and recognizing social inequities),
were instrumental for the multicultural participants to develop a superordinate HMI that both encompassed their
cultural influences and was also separated from these monocultural influences. The experience of building one's
HMI was described as an isolating journey; the participants experienced distance and marginalization from both
their own cultural groups and cultural outsiders. This finding is in contrast to the literature that connects social
identity development to positive social experiences that signal social acceptance of one's identity (Ashforth &
Schinoff, 2016; Bradford, 2006; Darr & Scarselletta, 2002; Smith et al., 2013). This finding also departs from West
et al.'s (2017) suggestion that HMIs are not likely to emerge when the surrounding society perceives various
cultural identities as conflictual. We propose that negative social experiences fostered the development of HMI
because HMI, as a superordinate identity, is not threatened by the rejection from the majority cultural group or
one's ethnic groups. Quite the contrary, HMI is strengthened when such negative cultural experiences weaken
one's ties to individual cultural groups.
While the negative perceptions of the society and interpersonal relations were described as instrumental in the
development of HMI, we propose that positive social experiences may also reinforce an existing HMI (Meeus
et al., 2002; Postmes et al., 2005). For example, when multicultural individuals can meet socially, their commitment to
and positive assessment of that identity likely becomes stronger. This was implied when participants such as Yoshito,
Ashwini, and Isabella described the affirmative multicultural contexts they were a part of (i.e., international school,
Puerto Rico, and a multicultural college town) and described these as places where multicultural individuals can
flourish and feel supported. The participants did not directly state this, but in our estimation, having the opportunity
to discuss their common experiences with the other study participants who also had an HMI appeared to make them
feel more positive and validated in their own identity. This finding aligns with West et al.'s (2017) proposal on
multicultural contexts eliciting hybrid identities, and also the postcolonial work viewing ‘third spaces’ where cultures
meet and mix as fertile grounds for the growth of hybrid identities (Bhabha, 1994; Chulach & Gagnon, 2016; Verbaan
& Cox, 2014). Moreover, past work suggested that negatively appraised identity‐relevant experiences (identity
questioning) are transformational and push people to create their identities anew, while positive (identity validating)
experiences actually reinforce and strengthen the pre‐existing identity (Kira & Balkin, 2014). Further studies should
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empirically examine the potentially differential roles of positive and negative identity‐relevant experiences in the
development of HMI.
4.2
| Cultural mixing across a lifetime
Our findings both align and diverge from existing research describing HMI and cultural mixing. The participants
described a lifelong journey of accumulating cultural experiences that layered on top of their often‐multicultural
home environments. This on‐going cultural mixing corresponds to “achieved” multiculturalism as defined by Martin
and Shao (2016) which was not, however, linked to HMI in their studies. Therefore, our findings offer empirical
evidence that aligns with the proposition of the Transformative Theory of Biculturalism. West et al. (2017, p. 973)
theorized that to form an HMI one must: “draw on cultural ingredients beyond those from the source cultures; a
multitude of cultures could come into play in forming one's hybrid culture.” Our findings support this idea of people
developing HMIs through adolescence and adult experiences, not only when being immersed into a multicultural
context early in their lives.
4.3
| Limitations
Our study provided some of the first empirical evidence addressing the nature of HMI and how perceptions and
experiences of one's social contexts contribute to the development of HMI. However, the study has its limitations and raises important questions for additional research and exploration. Our findings were based on the
experiences and perspectives of 10 participants, most of whom were relatively young and highly educated, and
all participants were affiliated with a large university. It is important to examine whether our findings can be
observed in a larger, more representative sample of hybrid multiculturals. Further, our exploration of HMI
development relies on the participants’ own reflection and does not provide longitudinal measures necessary to
truly observe development. Finally, Photovoice may introduce confounds to our findings. In particular, a group
discussion format can create a spurious shared identity among our multicultural participants, raising questions
about whether HMI is indeed a shared social identity that transcended the multicultural participants’ different
cultural backgrounds.
4.4
| Conclusion
Using qualitative Photovoice methodology, we offer a window into the lived experiences of people with HMI and
their perceptions of how their social contexts influenced the development of their HMI. Our results highlight how
experiencing diverse cultures both at home and over the course of one's life are essential aspects of multicultural
people's social contexts, as theorized by West et al. (2017) in their Transformative Theory of Biculturalism. We also
found that people with an HMI tended to describe many of their social contexts through a negative lens, describing
negative interpersonal experiences with both their ingroups and outgroups, and describing the dominant US society
as inequitable, devaluing multiculturalism, and rife with cultural misunderstandings. While most of the contexts
crucial to the development of HMI were described as negative, some participants were able to find positive,
validating social environments outside the dominant US cultural influence. The paradox lies in that while the
participants’ developmental journeys were largely described in terms of invalidation originating from their various
social influences, they still viewed HMI as a positive identity, and strongly valued it for both its perceived psychological and interpersonal benefits.
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A C KN O W L E D G M E N T
Thank you to the University of Michigan Library Mini Grant for funding this project.
D A TA A V A I L A B I L I T Y S T A T E M E N T
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable
request.
ORCID
Andrea Belgrade
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9566-2351
PE ER RE VIEW
The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1002/jcop.22776.
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How to cite this article: Belgrade, A., Kira, M., Sadaghiyani, S., & Lee, F. (2022). What makes us complete:
Hybrid multicultural identity and its social contextual origins. Journal of Community Psychology, 50,
2290–2313. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22776
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