A Phenomenological Study of the Acculturation Strategies of Afghan Child Laborers (Case Study: Hami Parto Center, District 5 of Tehran)

Document Type : Case Study

Authors

Elham Ghanizadeh ¹

Samad Rasoulzadeh Aghdam ²

Mehrdad Mohammadian ³

¹ PhD Candidate in Sociology, Khalkhal Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khalkhal, Iran

² Associate Professor of Family and Women's Studies Department, Azerbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran

³ Assistant Professor of Sociology Department, Khalkhal Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khalkhal, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/social.2024.87081.1485

Abstract

As a neighboring country, Afghanistan is facing serious security and economic issues, and many Afghans emigrate to adjacent countries in search of improved living conditions. Iran is one of the main destinations for these immigrants, who often enter Iran illegally without any special skills and abilities, and are compelled to engage in low-level jobs. The children of these immigrants are also forced to work due to the economic problems of their families. Given the fact that many Afghan children and adolescents were born in Iran or emigrated to this country at a young age, the issue of their acculturation is of paramount importance. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to shed light on the acculturation strategies of Afghan child laborers in Iran. In the present study, which adopts a qualitative method and a phenomenological approach, the semi-structured in-depth interview technique has been employed for data collection. The participants were Afghan children admitted to the Parto Support Center in District 5 of Tehran, 18 of whom were interviewed. The participants were selected using purposive sampling method with maximum diversity. The analysis was conducted using the Moustakas method. According to the findings, the acculturation strategies of Afghan child laborers include assimilation, separation, coordination or adaptation, marginalization or isolation. Integration is the most common form of acculturation strategy, as it allows Afghan child laborers to adapt to the identity and culture of the host community while preserving their cultural identity and values.
 
 
 

Keywords

Acculturation

Afghan Children

Working Children

Phenomenology

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©2024 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)

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