Research conducted by the author in the years 2009–2014 among the children of refugees from Chechnya has shown that what is most important in terms of their functioning in the new culture occurs primarily in the family/ethnic environment, in the process of enculturation. This means that even though manifestations of progressing acculturation may be observed in the external sphere, this does not guarantee that the process is also occurring in the internal sphere of attitudes, convictions, and values. In this connection the writer’s attention was drawn to how under-age refugees from post-Soviet lands create a sense of identity and ethnic belonging. In particular, she considered the degree to which being a refugee and the situation in which these children find themselves have a formative influence on their self-identification. External indicators of ethnic, cultural, and religious identification were also analyzed. The author has thereby established the model—based on the two alternative strategies of reconstruction and deconstruction—by which young refugees create their self-identification.
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