Sunil Bhatia

Rethinking ‘Acculturation’ in Relation to Diasporic Cultures and Postcolonial Identities

In this article, we reexamine the concept of ‘acculturation’ in cross-cultural psychology, especially with respect to non-western, non-European immigrants living in the United States. By drawing primarily on postcolonial scholarship, we specifically reconsider the universalist assumption in cross-cultural psychology that all immigrant groups undergo the same kind of ‘psychological’ acculturation process. In so doing, (1) we consider some of the historical and political events related to immigration in the United States; (2) we question the conflation of nation with culture that emerges in many theories of acculturation; (3) we use the notion of diaspora as theorized in postcolonial studies to rethink the concept of ‘integration strategy’ as developed in cross-cultural psychology. Our article has implications for general issues of culture and self in human development, and particular issues in the area of acculturation.

Acculturation, Dialogical Voices and the Construction of the Diasporic Self

This article argues that various Third World, diasporic communities (e.g. Indian-American, Chinese-Canadian, Turkish-German), settled primarily in Europe and North America, negotiate their cultural identities as citizens of First World countries while retaining a strong identification with the culture of their home country. A dialogical model of acculturation is employed to explain the psychological complexities, contradictions and cultural specificities involved in the experiences of these non-European, diasporic communities. Such a model illustrates how the diasporic identity is shaped by, and linked to, the cultural and political issues of race, gender, colonization and power that are present in the hostland and the homeland. I draw upon Saids memoir Out of Place (1999) to show how a diasporic immigrants effort to rework the different parts of ones heritage or ethnicity entails an ongoing, dialogical negotiation between the I positions of feeling simultaneously assimilated, separated and marginalized.

Locating the Dialogical Self in the Age of Transnational Migrations, Border Crossings and Diasporas

We begin by outlining that the dialogical self may be conceived from the point of view of the self- fuland the self- lessperspectives. Both these perspectives of self-work involve different assumptions about what should be the starting point of the I-position of the dialogical self. These assumptions need to be made explicit because they provide the key to explaining how Ipositions get transformed in the process of entering into a dialogical relationship with the other. Furthermore, we argue that in order to explain how dialogue occurs, and how the I-positions are organized and reorganized by the individual, a developmental framework may be necessary. We believe that the dialogical model is extremely relevant in the age of transnational migration and diasporic cultures. However, the challenge, for the theory of a dialogical self, is to explain how individuals living with hybridized and hyphenated identities in borderland cultures and diasporic communities coordinate their incompatible and often conflicting cultural and personal positions.

Culture, Hybridity, and the Dialogical Self: Cases From the South Asian Diaspora

This article outlines a dialogical approach to understanding how South Asian-American women living in diasporic locations negotiate their multiple and often conflicting cultural identities. We specifically use the concept of voice to articulate the different forms of dialogicality-polyphonization, expropriation, and ventriloquation-that are involved in the acculturation experiences of two 2nd-generation South Asian-American women. In particular, we argue that it is important to think of acculturation of the South Asian-American women as essentially a contested, dynamic, and dialogical process. We demonstrate that such a dialogical process involves a constant moving back and forth between various cultural voices that are connected to various sociocultural contexts and are shaped by issues of race, sexuality, and gender.

9/11 and the Indian Diaspora: Narratives of Race, Place and Immigrant Identity

In this paper, I use narratives from the Indian diaspora to provide a counterargument to models of acculturation that claim that all immigrants undergo a universal psychological process of acculturation and adaptation. More specifically, I show how members from the Indian diaspora re-examined their ethnic and racial identity after the events of 9/11. Given the conceptual nature of this paper, my goal is to present an argument, supported by select autobiographical accounts and cases, to explain why the universal model of acculturation should be re-examined within the context of postcolonial, diaspora cultures. First, I undertake a brief review of the concept of acculturation in cross-cultural psychology. Next, I examine three autobiographical narratives of first-generation Indians living in south-eastern Connecticut in the USA to demonstrate how their discourses about 9/11 contests universal models of assimilation. Finally, I conclude with implications for understanding the construction of racialised identities within diaspora communities.

Darwin on Race, Gender, and Culture

Darwins theories of natural selection and sexual selection are significant scientific achievements, although his understanding of race and gender was defined and limited by his own life circumstances and the sociohistorical context within which he worked. This article considers the ways in which race, gender, and culture were represented and explained by Darwin and the ways in which his observations and opinions on gender and race were taken up by others and, more often than not, misapplied. Whereas the challenge of race (for Darwin) was to demonstrate the fundamental similarity and, hence, the common origin, of human races, the challenge of gender (for Darwin) was to identify a mechanism that could account for differences between women and men that, to him, were obvious, fundamental, and significant. The article concludes by considering the implications of Darwins views for contemporary scientific psychology.

Can We Return to the Concept of Duty in a Culture of Rights? Implications for Morality and Identity

The conception of duty that is outlined by the Moghaddam, Slocum, Finkel, Mor and HarrÈ (2000) is primarily based on the language of rights. Arights-based code is put into service by many Americans to understand conceptions of duty. There is much to be gained by locating the ‘social psychology’ of duty- and rights-based discourses with present-day India. Currently in India, alongside the multiple duty-based traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, there also exists a discourse about western notions of liberal humanism and secular ideologies of human rights. The discussion suggests that both duty- and rights-based discourses need reexamination because they have implications for how we make meanings about issues of morality and selfhood across cultures.

Critical Engagements with Culture and Self Introduction

This issue takes the binary of ‘culture’ and ‘self’ to be a problem of theorizing an entrenched dualism by simultaneously breaking down the dichotomy and re-theorizing its inherently contested members. In this introduction we describe briefly the problems confronting this theoretical project, the manner in which alternative frames of analysis can be brought to bear on the question, and the ways in which the authors of this issue have addressed their task. While eschewing the dichotomies of culture and self through an analysis of the experiences of body, emotions, colonization, immigration, gender, representation and language itself, these articles bring out considerations of culture and self that provide new opportunities for investigation, theory and understanding. We view this special issue as one that provides a range of tools within which to theorize the problematic of ‘self and culture’.

Reinterpreting the Inner Self in Global India:‘Malevolent Mothers’, ‘Distant Fathers’ and the Development of Children's Identity:

This essay provides an analysis and review of Dinesh Sharmas edited collection Childhood, Family, and Sociocultural Change in India: Reinterpreting The Inner World. The authors in this book provide a retrospective critique of Sudhir Kakars grand narrative on Hindu psychology and childhood. While recognizing the tremendous intellectual significance of Kakars book The Inner World: A Psychoanalytic Study of Childhood and Society in India, the authors in this collected volume make a case for reanalyzing and rereading this classic work within the contemporary cultural context of India. The review essay is organized around three significant themes of this book: (1) re-imagining the self in global India; (2) mothers, fathers and the development of self in Indian children; and (3) colonization, postcolonial identity and Indian psychology.

Decolonizing culture: Euro-American psychology and the shaping of neoliberal selves in India

Adopting a decolonizing framework, this article examines the role of mainstream Euro-American psychology in shaping neoliberal conceptions of self in many postcolonial nations such as India. We specifically draw on our respective ethnographic research to analyze identity formation in Indian cultural contexts. Our article is organized around three goals. First, we show how Indian outsourcing industries have become heavily reliant on Euro-American “personality tests” and are used for recruitment, screening, promotion, cross-cultural communication, and to motivate employees to become happy and positive workers. Second, we examine the tensions around identity or values that Indian youth face while embracing the ideology of Western corporate culture and acquiring new transnational identities. Third, we analyze how mental health in India is being shaped by neoliberalism by investigating the villagers’ narratives in Nandigram, who encountered brutal acts of political violence by the state of West Bengal in India.