The thesis sets out to examine key aspects of the identity formation of the second-generation of the Sri Lankan professional expatriate community in Oman. Brought up in a multicultural environment, the respondents of the current study live in a contradiction in terms of their identity. Sri Lankan youths found themselves excluded from both cultures. They found themselves challenging the stereotypes produced by the mainstream society within which they lived, while also demanding freedom from the taboos and customs followed by their parents. Therefore, the thesis sets out to discover the sense of in between-ness felt by the second-generation respondents that was generated through their encounters with family and multicultural society they inhabited. Although a myriad of variables are known to influence an individual’s identity, the current study focuses on the following factors, identified here as having an impact on second-generation migrant identity formation: the complex nature of migration, the resulting cultural encounters and intergenerational tensions that play a role in shaping and framing of migrant youth identities. The study discusses media exposure, in the form of international satellite TV programming in the Middle East, and its possible impacts on migrant identity formation. The study moves from a media-centric view of social development to a more society-centred view in which media are one part of a matrix of migrant youth identity formation. The findings on identity formation of this research are further explored by examining the two main types of identity: hybrid and cosmopolitan, identified within the research as pertinent in understanding the second generation of Sri Lankan youths’ identity formation. By exploring the intergenerational tensions and the occurrence of in between-ness in identities among second-generation of the Sri Lankan professional expatriates in Oman, it is the aim of this research to add to the general understanding of the dynamics integral to the process of identity construction of migrant youths.

The thesis sets out to examine key aspects of the identity formation of the second-generation of the Sri Lankan professional expatriate community in Oman. Brought up in a multicultural environment, the respondents of the current study live in a contradiction in terms of their identity. Sri Lankan yo...