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Young people of immigrant origin talk about their school experiences as students in Athens: (Master thesis)

Κούκουλη, Ιωάννα-Δέσποινα/ Koukouli, Ioanna-Despoina

The object of this study is the discourse of young people of Albanian immigrant origin in Athens about their school experiences. Specifically, their discourse on issues of acculturation and Contact Hypothesis is investigated. Thus, the theoretical basis of the study was the contact hypothesis, according to which contact between members of two groups can bring about a reduction of prejudice between them under certain conditions (Allport, 1954). At the same time, Berry (2001) defined acculturation as the process of changes resulting from the attitude of immigrants in their contact with members of the host country and in the maintenance of their cultural characteristics. A qualitative method of data collection was chosen to achieve this objective. Thus, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 young people of Albanian migrant origin living in Athens and aged 20-30 years old. The collected data were categorized, utilizing Thematic Analysis, and analyzed, utilizing Discourse Analysis. The results obtained showed the different constructs and interpretations of contacts and acculturation in the school community.