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ABSTRACT
This study explores the personal emotions and empathic responses to artworks expressed by a small group of F-2 Visa immigrant women. Women who follow their students-husbands to the United States are limited In their ability to engage fully in American society, due to the F-2 (i.e. immigrant spouse) status of their visas. Through the mediating screen of art images, the author investigated five Asian F-2 visa status women's feelings of uncertainty about their identities and social positions. Findings showed that the women were able to empathize with the subjects of the images, people In their new environment, and themselves through looking and talking about art.
Introduction
How do you feel when you are a new arrival in a foreign country? You might experience feelings of excitement or curiosity but also unfamiliarity or loneliness at the same time. The number of immigrants in the U.S. has increased from 9.6 million in 1970 to approximately 40 million in 2010 (Oh & Cooc, 2011). While considerable academic discussion has focused on the broad economic and cultural impacts of immigration (Contreras, 2002; De Leeuw & Urban Institute, 1985; Passel & Fix, 2001), there is a need for more educational attention and understanding of the emotional effects of immigration upon individual immigrants and their families.
In particular, immigrant women who are spouses of husbands studying in the United States may encounter difficulties with identity, cultural differences, and feelings of isolation and disconnection from social life (Alfred, 2002; Huisman, 2010; Lee & Sheared, 2002) that go unaddressed because of their marginalized status in the university community. As an Asian woman from outside the United States, these issues are of intimate interest to me. This study was initiated from personal experience. I met a Korean immigrant woman who followed her husband in the summer of 2010. She had to quit her job in order to come to the U.S. and often expressed her struggles and difficulties to live in the United States. When the summer ended, I went back my graduate study and couldn't meet her very often. After a few months, I heard she had decided to go back to Korea and considered a divorce. Although there were private reasons for her decision, I felt there was something...