As part of my MA dissertation I studied how female identical twins in Malta acquire an identity, under the supervision of Dr Sandra Scicluna Calleja.

While for hundreds of years identical twins have been used by the psychological, medical and genetic professions to disentangle the influence of genes and the environment –of nature versus nature, most of these studies are on twins rather than for twins.

The study “The Lived Experience of Female Identical Twins and Their Search for Identity” revealed that the Maltese societal, cultural and geographic realities had a very strong influence on the participants’ lived experience of twinship and consequentially, how they acquired an identity as individuals and as twins. While some internalised the general Maltese society’s notions of identical twins as one and the same, and as a result functioned as a unit, followed the same career paths and shared the same group of friends, other identical twins externalised this general notion of twins as one and the same and lead significantly different lifestyles. Material objects such as facial piercings, tattoos and radically different hairstyles become important tools to advertise their difference from one another and facilitate recognition by others.

Finally, all participants agreed that due to Malta’s limited space it was more challenging to physically separate from one another. Nevertheless, in this absence of physical space, the participants created their own individual and emotional space through their families, careers, place of residence and friends.

The Masters was carried out following the award of a Steps scholarship, part-financed by the EU-European Social Fund. I would like to take this opportunity to thank STEPS for its endless support and professional disposition, I am eternally grateful.