Nineteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Transitions and crises faced by immigrants and refugees can cause “disorienting dilemmas.” Therefore, it is extremely important to investigate the decisions about the many challenges that they have faced in their lives and the sustainable solutions that have been recruited as a result of the transformative experience they have experienced. Jack Mezirow (1981, 1990, 1991), an important adult trainer, argued that a disorienting dilemma occurs when a person faces a life challenge that can not be solved by his previous frame of reference. Using the interdisciplinary transformation learning theory of Mezirow as a basic theoretical framework, this work deals with the aspect of the transformation approach and the disorienting dilemmas by presenting information gathered from interviews with immigrants and refugees attending the second chance school of Patras and from which issues emerge ethnicity, marginalization, identity, career choice, and cultural expression. Data was collected through personal interviews with the participants. Research findings reveal factors such as the nature of the dilemma and the accumulation of emotions play an important role in the change and the negotiation of the disorienting dilemmas.