[stephanie852]

I’ve just stumbled across this site while researching for my dissertation. I am a third year undergraduate at London School of Economics and am currently writing my dissertation on the identity formation of expatriates in Hong Kong. The exact title is; Identity Crisis – A case study on the effects of an international upbringing on the identity of expatriates in Hong Kong. This subject is of interest to me as I grew up in Hong Kong without knowing much of my national countries other than visiting them occasionally on holidays. I think of Hong Kong as my home and my parents often find this troubling as they don’t think that I can totally assimilate with a country where I don’t speak the language and thus fully identify with the local people. My dissertation plans to focus on the way that the international lifestyle can impact the identity formation of children growing up in Hong Kong and I would be extremely interested to find out what parents feel about this? Or any personal experience from other expats who have grown up in Hong Kong and made it their permanent home…
Do you identify with Hong Kong or your national country?

[mjk]

Sorry I can't help with your questions as I don't fit your target group, but when I look at the title of your dissertation, it seems that you are implying that there definitely is an identity crisis, even though you claim that you are writing in general about the identity formation of expatriates.
Shouldn't the first two words of your title be part of the conclusion (if there is indeed a crisis)? What if you find out that the majority have no problem with their identity?