Changes in Cultural Identity and Levels of Assimilation Among Young Iranian Immigrants in Budapest

Absztrakt (kivonat)

This study investigates changes that occurred in the identity of young Iranian immigrants in Budapest, as well as their levels of assimilation. As the number of Iranian immigrants in Hungary has been growing in recent years, the need to understand how they experience their identity, how this identity changes and how they assimilate into the Hungarian culture, arose. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants between the ages of 25 and 30. The analyses of the research findings shows that there is a contradiction between what the literature hold as ‘Iranian identity’ and how Iranians actually experience their Iranian identity. It also highlights that the changes in identity do not only happen after immigration but they can occur even before that, serving as a push factor, or it does not occur at all. As for assimilation, the findings reveal that Iranians are willing to and able to assimilate into a different culture.