Coming home from a stay abroad: Associations between young people’s reentry problems and their cultural identity formation

Combining a variable- and person-centered approach, the present study explores associations between cross-cultural reentry problems and cultural identity formation (processes and statuses) in late adolescence and young adulthood. The study sample consisted of 510 participants between 16 and 29 years of age who had spent 6–60 months abroad, mainly for educational reasons. Referring to a neo-Eriksonian identity model, three processes of home-culture related identity formation were differentiated: commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. At the variable-centered level, reentry problems were negatively related to commitment with home culture and positively to exploration and, most strongly, to reconsideration. This pattern was corroborated at the person-centered level. Participants in the moratorium status (low commitment, high exploration, high reconsideration) reported most problems with reentry, whereas participants in the closure status (a pattern inverse to that of moratorium) reported fewest. Participants in the achievement and diffusion statuses ranked in the middle. In all analyses, person-related variables (gender, age, big five personality traits) and sojourn-related variables (length of sojourn, time since return) were controlled for. Implications of the findings for our understanding of (cross-) cultural mobility and identity are discussed and suggestions for future research are outlined.     

Do the languages migrants use in private and emotional domains define their cultural belonging more than the passport they have?

This study focuses on migrants’ sense of belonging to the heritage and the host culture and adopts an innovative approach to the topic by placing biographical and linguistic factors side by side. Statistical results from 468 migrants, supported by 5 follow-up interviews, revealed that the age of migration, the length of stay and the status in the host country were unrelated to participants’ heritage and host culture acculturation levels. Conversely, migrants’ heritage language (L1) and host language (LX) frequency of use, especially for expressing emotions, as well as their L1/LX reported dominance and emotionality, were linked to their attachment to the heritage and host culture. In other words, the cognitive and emotional embracement of the language contributed to enforcing participants’ sense of belonging to the relevant culture, explaining a variance of 12.2% and 13.5% respectively in their heritage and host acculturation levels. The findings thus highlighted the crucial role of languages in shaping individuals’ cultural identity.     

The role of cultural pressures and group favouritism in shaping Syrian refugees’ identity in the Jordanian work environment

This study seeks to understand the cultural inclusion/exclusion practices that Syrian refugees encounter in the Jordanian work environment, explore whether an ingroup (Jordanian) over outgroup (Syrian refugees) favouritism exists and how such favouritism reshapes Syrian refugees’ social identity in this new environment. Drawing on qualitative-semi structured interviews with 12 Syrian refugees in Jordan, the study highlights different multi-layered cultural exclusion/inclusion practices that Syrian refugees in Jordan face. Through a combined underpinning of social identity theory (SIT) (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and the acculturation framework (Arends-Tóth & van de Vijver, 2006), the study reports how these practices re-shape Syrian refugees’ identity around vocational skills. We go beyond the basic types of discrimination against refugees (e.g., gender, race, religion) to highlight economic and legal restrictions as important promoters of cultural exclusion despite the strong cultural cohesion factors. This highlights the significant role of community and societal practices that can go beyond cultural differences between groups, and extend our understanding of SIT.     

In between home and homeland: Diaspora identity as a cultural hybrid in Mohsen Namjoo’s “Cielito Lindo”

ABSTRACT

Rather than resisting either new or old culture, Iranian musicians in the diaspora embrace both their new host environments and their native homeland, as they create a place between cultural assimilation and preservation, helping to shape new sounds of exile. This essay explores how Iranian musicians embrace the new and the familiar, the traditional and the popular, creating an original cultural hybrid. Questions of cultural identity and the politics of location and displacement are addressed using a theoretical cultural studies framework, incorporating themes of personal and collective nostalgia. This discussion is supplemented by documented narrative experiences from Iranian musicians and artists. Furthermore, the textual and musical analysis of singer-songwriter Mohsen Namjoo’s readaptation of the familiar Mexican ranchera song “Cielito Lindo” uncovers unique nuances and layers of meaning that not only shed light on one musician’s personal journey to exile, but also speak to a greater collective experience of Iranians today who continue to be torn between home and homeland.     

How ‘should’ the majority group acculturate? Acculturation expectations and their correlates among minority- and majority-group members

Do minority-group members welcome or reject that majority-group members adopt other cultures? Acculturation is commonly defined as a process of mutual accommodation. Yet, the acculturation of majority-group members has only recently received research attention. To date, we do not know the extent to which minority-group members expect majority-group members to adopt the culture of minority groups and/or to maintain their mainstream culture. Knowledge is also lacking about how these expectations relate to minority-group members’ own acculturation orientations and symbolic and realistic threat perceptions. We further do not know whether such associations are similar among minority- and majority-group members. To address these gaps, we surveyed 246 Muslim minority-group members and 247 White Christian majority-group members in the United Kingdom. Muslim minority-group members’ acculturation expectations towards majority-group members were normally distributed around the midpoint of the scale, suggesting that they did not reject majority-group acculturation on average. Acculturation expectations were correlated with symbolic and realistic threat perceptions among majority-group members but not among minority-group members. Cluster analyses showed that integrated Muslim minority-group members found it relatively important for majority-group members to adopt minority-group culture and to maintain their own culture. In sum, the results support the idea that minority-group members, at least in some contexts and settings, view acculturation as a mutual cultural change rather than as cultural appropriation.     

Does religion matter? Italians’ responses towards Muslim and Christian Arab immigrants as a function of their acculturation preferences

A 2 × 2 × 2 experiment examined the role of immigrants’ religion and perceived acculturation strategy on majority members’ attitudes. Acculturation strategies were manipulated along the two dimensions of contact and culture maintenance. Italian majority members (N = 247) read fictitious but seemingly real interviews with Arab immigrants, in which the immigrants’ religion (Muslim vs. Christian) and acculturation preferences (desire for contact and for culture maintenance) were manipulated. MANOVA showed a main effect of contact: majority members associated immigrants who were perceived to favour contact with more positive attitudes, empathy, trust, positive stereotypes and metastereotypes, and lower levels of threat. MANOVA also showed a main effect of culture maintenance: when immigrants were perceived to abandon their culture, majority members reported lower levels of symbolic threat and greater empathy towards them. A significant Religion x Culture maintenance interaction effect emerged on majority members’ stereotypes and contact intentions: Muslim immigrants who were perceived to abandon their heritage culture elicited more favourable responses than Muslim immigrants who were perceived to maintain their heritage culture. Taken together, these findings suggest that desire for intergroup contact amongst immigrants, independently of their religion, can promote harmonious intergroup relations with the majority group.