| This qualitative study examines the experiences of eight women graduate students who self-identified as the sole representative of a salient identity group within a multicultural counselor training cohort. The data-gathering process included in-depth individual interviews and researcher's field notes. The research illuminates the experience of being an only, by virtue of ethnic, national or cultural origins, and how that status impacted these women's recalled experiences in a Master's level program that has a multicultural and experiential emphasis. Interview transcripts were analyzed for units of meaning and subsequently for emergent themes. Themes that emerged across all participants included self-awareness, experiences of inclusion and exclusion, strategies for negotiating their onliness and issues related to social justice and humanitarianism. Less frequently, themes included family, cultural intersections, stereotypes and (mis)assumptions, the value of the educational program in which they were enrolled, experiences of abandoning and reclaiming culture, and participants' suggestions for enhancing the onliness experiences for future students. |
