Intercultural Transitions: Voluntary vs. Involuntary African Migration
Intercultural communication is
affected by a large magnitude of complex patterns and ideas, including
intercultural transitions. A cultural
transition can best be described as a migration into a new culture, which is
caused by a multitude of factors. In our
text, the author defines a migrant as, “an individual who leaves the primary
cultural context in which he or she was raised and moves to a new cultural
context for an extended time” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P. 320). Migration can be voluntary or involuntary,
meaning that a migrant could be searching for a better life (voluntary), or
they could be forced into a new culture due to violence in the region
(involuntary). The culture I chose to investigate is the African culture, and more specifically the transition into American culture. The big question is, do reasons
for migration affect a persons’ transition into a new culture?
First of all, to answer this
question I decided the best way to decipher patterns of intercultural
transition, would be to interview a series of people who were born in Africa, and
concentrate my efforts accordingly. I
received consent to interview people who were all born in Africa, all with
compelling stories to tell. When
interviewing the migrants from Africa I asked a series of questions concerning
whether or not the migration was voluntary, cultural adaptation, and details of
the transition. I specifically focused
on assimilation, separation, and integration.
Through my interviews I found that all migrants took part in integration,
which is when “an individual maintains both their original culture and their
daily interactions with other groups” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P.
328). The only differences that were noted
were that involuntary migrants participated in separation for a period of time
before eventually integrating. This process
is an important part of understanding intercultural transitions.
Furthermore, upon completion of my
interviews I discovered that no matter the reason for the migration, all
participants experienced culture shock, “a relatively short-term feeling of
disorientation and discomfort due to the lack of familiar cues in the
environment” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P. 338). However, when asked about cultural
adaptation, I found that the African migrants who were involuntary, due to war, had a much
longer process of cultural adaptation than that of those who migrated here
voluntarily. Cultural adaptation is the
process by which a person “learns the rules and customs of a new cultural
context” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P. 330).
One involuntary African migrant I interviewed stated, “you have to find
it your own way, and go through the road of the people you want to
understand. If you don’t it is a
downhill struggle” (Both, L., November 24, 2013). He went on to discuss the difficulty of his
transition into the American culture.
On the other hand, a voluntary African
migrant whom I interviewed came to America for a better education and human
condition and described his cultural adaptation as quick and relatively easy
time and experience. The next pattern I
discovered is that all African migrants I interviewed followed the U-Curve,
which is a theory that all migrants go through a process of excitement,
disorientation, and finally adjustment.
An interesting thing about this is that all interviewees agreed that they
experienced this U-Curve upon returning to their original culture, which is
called the W-Curve theory. However, the voluntary
migrants did not expect to experience this.
In fact, one man I interviewed stated, “I was very surprised, my mother
told me that I didn’t speak the language as well as I used to” and also “people
could tell that I wasn’t from here” (Boshara, A., November 24, 2013). The adaptation to a new culture is a very
complex process with many aspects involved.
In conclusion, throughout the process of
interviewing several African migrants, I found that involuntary migrants were
more likely to participate in separation for a longer period of time before
integrating. Based on the data I
collected, involuntary migrants had a much more difficult transition into a new
culture and experienced more problems with this process than did voluntary
migrants. The voluntary migrants I
interviewed experienced the same situations in a different way, as they were not
forced into this culture, they were more up for the adjustment than involuntary
migrants. Although all African migrants
I interviewed experienced many of the same struggles when adjusting to the new
culture, my findings conclude that the length of time and the difficulty of the
transition depended directly upon whether or not the migrant was here voluntarily
or involuntarily. Understanding the transition of a person into a new culture is extremely important and powerful. Intercultural communication depends on understanding other cultures and with this, understanding the reasons for migration can help to effectively communicate with people of other cultures.
Below is the link to my Cultural Reporter Summary Video:
Interview Audio Below:
Works Cited:
Both,
L. (2013, November 24). Personal interview.
Boshara,
A. (2013, November 24). Personal interview.
Dobuany,
N. (2013, November 24). Personal interview.
Habib,
H. (2013, November 24). Personal interview.
Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K.
(2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.) New
York, NY: McGraw Hill.
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