Cultural Adaptation: God Grew Tired of Us

            God Grew Tired of Us is a documentary film released in 2006 about three young men who leave war-torn Sudan and embark on a journey to the freedom that lies in the United States. In the beginning, the film depicts what the “Lost Boys of Sudan” had to endure during this time. Over 25,000 boys were forced to flee their home, grieving over loss and leaving their families, in order to find safety since the 1980’s. However, the action of leaving their homes did not promise safety. There were thousands of deaths due to starvation, dehydration and murder. In 2001 the three main roles in the film, John Dau, Panther Bior, and Daniel Abul Pach, along with many other “Lost Boys” are chosen to come to the United States.  The film is perfect for the theme of Intercultural Communication, because Sudan and United States are on completely opposite sides of the spectrum. The documentary shows all kinds of cultural differences, as minimal as not understanding an escalator to being immensely grateful for having multiple minimum wage jobs to support their families.

These signs display a strong
example of  segregation. 

            The concept I’m choosing from chapter eight to break down for deeper knowledge is cultural adaptation. The text, Intercultural Communication in Context, explains cultural adaptation as a process by which individuals learn the rules and customs of new cultural contexts (Martin & Nakayama, 2013). In simple terms, how people become comfortable in a new environment. There are several different ways people adapt to new cultures, such as assimilation, separation, and integration. Assimilation occurs when someone gives up their own culture to adopt the mainstream identity from their host-culture. Separation is the exact opposite of assimilation, where one retains their culture and interactions minimally with others (which may result in segregation). Lastly, integration is a blend of both adaptation processes. The person maintains the heritage culture, while interacting with other cultures. Understanding cultural adaptation is important in understanding your personal interaction with other cultures. Your adaptation process can either lead you to strong healthy relationships and knowledge of other cultures, or can lead to unwanted negativity.

       

     

           Cultural adaptation plays a huge role in God Grew Tired of Us. The boys find it important to remember where they come from when they come to the United States, and remember that their purpose is to help the rest of their people in Sudan. I would not call their process separation however, because they understand they are lucky to come to this country. How lucky they are to provide to others in dire need, and get an education to do so. They embrace American culture and a perfect blend of integration. Some of the boys even chose not to go back to their homeland, rather assimilate and stay in the East Coast to provide from the U.S. permanently. Although like I said before, they are from two immensely different cultures. Even if when some chose to stay in America, they still have cultural habits from Africa, like lack of silverware and embracing the outdoors. Also a negative aspect being that because of where they are from, they are often discriminated against and a feeling of loneliness ensues.  Movie critic, Stephen Holden, from the New York Times explains perfectly that, “as time passes, their loneliness and feelings of being cut off from the culture in which they were born deepen…It is expressed in a sad reflection by John on the plight of Sudan, which gives the film its title” (Holden, 2013). If God Grew Tired of Us, teaches you anything, it should be that when someone has a culture different from yours don’t be so quick to judge. Their cultural adaptation may have good intentions, but that doesn’t stop the process from being any more difficult. Their story may be so unimaginable from your own.

Resources

Holden, S. (2013, October 21). After a Struggle to Escape Comes an Effort to Adjust. New York Times. Retrieved from

http://www.irishabroad.com/ireland/irish-culture/claddaghring.asp

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2013, October 21). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Walker, T. & Quinn, C.D. (Directors) (1988). In God Grew Tired of Us.