A Qualitative Study of Changes in Life Style and Identity Formation Among Kurdish Women (A Case Study of Mariwan Township)

This paper is a qualitative study on life style changes in Iranian Kurdistan- Mariwan City. It tries to connect these changes to identity formation of women in this city. Mariwan as a boarder city, due to its geographic, political and economic situation has encountered to an unexpected economic growth and lots of cultural transformations. Because of that, new life style as well as new formation of identity has emerged. This study examines the sources, processes and ramifications of these socioeconomic changes, as well as their impacts on women identity. Methodologically, this research is a qualitative study based in ethnography approach. Grounded theory has been employed for collecting and analyzing data. Based on purposive explorative sampling method, 53 in-depth interviews have been conducted with women-married and single. Findings show an extensive socioeconomic changes in women's life style. These changes mostly are in conflict with local socio-cultural values and norms. Based on analyzed transcribed interviews and some observational material, several categories as conditional, interactive and consequent categories have been extracted. Finally "Tense Identity" has emerged as core category of this study.