Aim/Purpose

This is a study of the experiences of students coming from mixed cultural heritages. It will explore some of the personal issues and dilemmas faced by students growing up across two cultures. The census shows that the fastest growing minority group is mixed race (Jivraj, 2012) making the need for this research highly relevant. There are large gaps in multicultural process literature (McLeod, 2009) and much of the literature does not address the complexities of the experiences for people who occupy multiple positions (Diamond & Gillis 2006).

Design/Methodology

Drawing on my own experiences as a person of mixed culture who is a counsellor and lecturer, I shall be using an autoethnographic alongside a biographical approach with this research (Ellis, 2004; Merrill & West, 2009). I shall reflect on my aspects of my own life whilst exploring the lived experiences of students (Reed-Danahay, 1997). From a social perspective I will be working from interpretivist and constructivist positions focussing on the subjective meanings of social action and phenomena (Bryman, 2012). The subjective nature of the work and will draw on standpoint theory (Denzin, 1997) as I am looking to give voice to marginalised experiences. I also aim to take the ideas of symbolic interactionism (Mead, 1934/2015; Blumer,1969/1998) using it as a social and behavioural framework upon which I can explore psychotherapeutic and analytical theories. This will help connect the social experiences to the inner and outer worlds of individuals (Merrill and West, 2009). The data gathering will draw on heuristic methods (Moustakas, 1990), in line with the counselling and educational work I do.