Deepti Naval Instagram – My father’s major academic work is this book he wrote – STRIPED ZEBRA: The Immigrant Psyche
Here’s introducing the author from whom I derived my main inspiration as a writer.
STRIPED ZEBRA – 2008 – Rupa & Co. India
Authors: Dr Uday C. Naval & Dr Sufia Hussain
Both authors, originally from India, spent over three and a half decades in the United States, where their scholarly pursuits and personal experiences laid the foundation for the Striped Zebra model. Their extensive professional and intellectual observations, coupled with deep introspections, initially gave shape to the hypothesis, which they later subjected to rigorous empirical scrutiny. What began as an analytical inquiry into the behaviors and struggles of their families, friends, and broader immigrant communities evolved into a comprehensive study involving over 700 young immigrants from diverse global backgrounds. The results of this extensive research not only substantiated the Striped Zebra paradigm but did so with remarkable precision, affirming its validity down to the finest details.
About Striped Zebra:
This is the first ever study providing an integrated theory of the psychological processes involved in migration. In doing so, it also encapsulates the experiences most migrants encounter in their life abroad.
The trail-blazing, pithy and creative metaphor of ‘Striped Zebra’ suggests that upon migration, the thought processes of adult migrants bifurcate into two divergent value-systems. The first one is called ‘Seed’ values. It is the cluster of emotional, cultural, societal or folk concepts that migrants piggyback from their native land. These encompass values pertaining to family relations, cultural celebrations, and life’s idealistic values. The second one called ‘Feed’ values, is what immigrants ultimately imbibe from the host society.
In the above context, Striped Zebra is a seminal, first in the field and all-inclusive compendium uniquely providing a wealth of information not available elsewhere. It depicts migrations initial struggles and hardships as well as its ultimate joys and success. | Posted on 09/Apr/2025 10:59:10
