Trying identity through illustrating;

an autoethnographic acculturation journey

The research suggests that illustrating is my way of “trying” identity. Rather than merely serving as a mirror representing my acculturation journey, reflective illustration practice is a key to the realm of imagination, and a means of exploring, negotiating, and negating. The research concludes that, rather than reconstructing a unity by assembling multiplicities, cultural identity is a process of trying—occurring in fleeting moments of everyday life—and foregrounds the humanness of migrants by capturing their agency, resilience, creativity, hybridity, and resistance.

Thesis