Semester of Graduation
Fall 2025
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
School of Education
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
This qualitative study examines how four single Bengali Muslim women pursuing doctoral degrees in STEM fields in the United States construct their identities as prospective brides within the arranged marriage process. While prior research has explored married women’s identities in higher education and women’s negotiations of singlehood, limited attention has been given to how unmarried Bengali Muslim women in higher education navigate searching for a partner while balancing career aspirations with social and religious expectations. Addressing this gap, the study focuses on four never-married Bengali Muslim doctoral students who are actively participating in arranged marriage negotiations.
Guided by Symbolic Interactionism as the theoretical framework and Interpretive Interactionism as the methodological approach, the study explores how meanings around marriage, singlehood, religion, and higher education are produced, negotiated, and revised through interaction. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant-written open letters. In vivo and descriptive coding (Saldana, 2016) were used in a two-cycle analytic process, followed by cross-case analysis to identify shared patterns while honoring each woman’s situated narrative.
The findings of this research demonstrate that higher education operates as a powerful symbolic and material resource, providing participants with a voice, mobility, and a sense of strength and independence. All four women prioritize career and financial autonomy as non-negotiable while respecting the boundary of marriage as an institution. They also have been seen to resist cultural scripts that confine women to domestic roles or subordinate work to marriage. At the same time, strong family support, particularly from parents and siblings, emerges as a critical element that enables them to pursue advanced degrees and marriage delay despite social pressure.
Across cases, participants articulate fears of divorce, unequal power dynamics, and the fear of loss of educational and professional opportunities that fuel cautious and selective approaches to partner choice. All express a preference for educationally homogamous marriage, seeking spouses who match and share their educational level to some extent and share their religious and moral values, as a strategy to secure respect, equality, and mutual support. The study concludes that these women’s identity work is an ongoing, interactional process in which higher education, family relationships, and religious commitments intersect to reshape cultural expectations around gender, marriage, and Muslim womanhood.
Date
11-24-2025
Recommended Citation
Mayen, Tasmia, "Identity And Arranged Marriage: Perspectives Of Potential Bengali Muslim Brides In Higher Education" (2025). LSU Master's Theses. 6243.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/6243
Committee Chair
Dr. Molly Quinn