Acculturation Among Asian American Immigrants

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Pages: 4

The words ‘acculturation’ and ‘enculturation’ have similar sounds, yet their meanings are not synonymous. Before delving into the definition given in the textbook, it is important to first address the historical context surrounding the word. The need for a term to describe the various experiences and levels of culture of Asian immigrants arose when many began to realise that individuals encountered different levels of connection (or the lack of it) regarding their culture. Many immigrants and their children apply the term ‘first generation immigrant’, or ‘6th generation’ to describe how far along the lineage of their immigrant ancestors they are. However, it was soon discovered that regardless of the generations, these individuals reported to have varying levels of connection to their …show more content…
The purpose of this definition paper is to study the origins of the terms, the definitions (including its limitations), and their applications to Asian American immigrants that could possibly explain the phenomena of their mental health experience. In 1936, Redfield, Linton, and Herskovits defined acculturation as something that “comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals sharing different cultures come into continuous first hand contact” (99); in simpler terms, it means people of different cultures combining and interacting. Then the term acculturation was once again adjusted to reflect the changes that individuals experience upon coming into contact with other cultures (Graves, 99), and not just the mere act of interacting with other people. After several modifications to the term, the accepted definition was that acculturation was the extent to which individuals participated in the dominant culture but also maintained their cultural norms