Migrant doctors’ narratives about patients

Narratives of personal and vicarious experience are part and parcel of being a doctor, as doctors routinely (re)interpret and (re)tell patients’ narratives when reflecting on clinical cases. Taking an interest in migrant doctors’ self-initiated narratives about patients in doctor-researcher interviews about cultural transitions, this study examines over thirty hours of audio-recordings of forty semi-structured interviews conducted as part of a collaborative project in Chile and Hong Kong. The study explores how migrant doctors construct their professional ‘self’ through narratives about patients, and how these narratives help migrant doctors legitimise their arguments and professional stance in criticizing cultural and societal attitudes towards health and illness, and the professional practices of local doctors. Finally, the paper reflects on the ways in which migrant doctors’ identity positionings provide space for the creation of a “symbolic territory” in which the practices of migrant doctors co-exist within the boundaries of the practices of local doctors in the host culture.

Japanese Immigrants In Sarawak Before World War Two: Assimilation Through Inter-Ethnic Marriages

The arrival of Japanese immigrants, especially karayuki-san, traders, and farmers in Sarawak between the 1880s and1940s, has rarely been given sufficient attention by scholars. For the most part, not only did the Japanese immigrants successfully integrate into the economic eco-system, but they also assimilated with the locals through inter-marriages. Archival records, primarily obtained from the Sarawak State Archives, suggests that families of inter-ethnic marriages went through a life of hardship, especially when Japanese spouses or relatives were imprisoned in the internment camps soon after World War Two ended. For the most part, the research mainly focuses on Seiji Kuno or otherwise known as Mohamed Towpik Kuno, who married a local Malay woman and embraced Islam. The life of Kuno depicts the extent to which a Japanese immigrant became absorbed into the dominant culture of the mainstream Sarawak society. Kuno’s general attitude towards the local society, his service to the community in various capacities, his attitude towards political matters and finally, his religious inclination showcased the extent to which assimilation had taken place voluntarily. Apart from Kuno, the research also examines other personalities’ lives, like Sunao Miyaji, who was married to Lamah Binti Bakar, and Maria Osaichi and Oasa, who were Japanese immigrants married to Chinese Sarawakians. It is against this background that this research argues that marriages between Japanese immigrants and locals in Sarawak before World War Two was indeed a cause for further assimilation into the host culture between spouses, family members and the broader community. At the same time, the research posits that cemeteries involving Japanese immigrants should be promoted as tourist destinations as they reflect Sarawak’s rich multicultural heritage and history of assimilation with foreigners.

Pragmastilistic Analysis of Migration Discourse (Based on Speeches by British Politicians)

Introduction. The present study examines the pragmastilistic potential of migration discourse based on the speeches of modern British politicians. The relevance of the chosen topic lies in the acute social specifics of migration discourse and its manipulative component. In today’s world, migration processes have become global and their impact on the development of the host culture is becoming increasingly evident. There is still no established strategy for the integration of migrants into the new society, which creates a conflict environment and determines the hostility of the indigenous population towards migrants. Migration discourse as one of the directions of policy discourse becomes an effective tool for managing public opinion. Various persuasive tactics are incorporated in the speech of politicians using linguistic means, the use of which in the British migration discourse is considered in this article.Methodology and sources. The key tasks of the study are to identify specific discursive tactics, by means of which the persuasive strategy is implemented in the British migration discourse, and to analyze the stylistic techniques used to design the discovered tactics. During the study, pragmastilistic analysis was used, the application of which involves referring to the following methods of linguistic research: the method of continuous sampling, quantitative, descriptive and comparative methods, the method of stylistic analysis, discursive analysis. The material of the study was the speeches of modern British politicians from 2004 to 2021. Results and discussion. The analysis of migration discourse based on the texts of speeches by modern British politicians allows to talk about the stylistic saturation of the material and the main means of expressiveness used in the framework of the discourse under consideration. The main tactic of opponents of free migration is the comparison of “good/bad” migrants, which is actualized using antithesis. As for the lexical stylistic means, the use of the epithet should be specified, which is also a way of actualizing opposition tactics. Thus, this tactic is implemented both at the lexical and syntactic level. Similar tactics are also relevant in the framework of pro-migration rhetoric, namely, when comparing the local elite and the visiting population, which performs all the work necessary for the functioning of society. In most cases the main stylistic technique for tactics actualization is antithesis (or the convergence of antithesis and epithet). Proponents of pro-migration policies also use metaphor (tactics for describing the political process) and syntactic parallelism (tactics for describing the benefits of migration). Finally, the most common tactic inherent in both poles of migration discourse is the tactic of generalization. It consists in equating the speaker with his audience, their “fusion”, and is most often actualized using hyperbola.Conclusion. Migration discourse is characterized by an ideological orientation, which is actualized using certain speech techniques, tactics and strategies. Migration discourse, as a multifaceted entity, can also serve to harmonize social life by facilitating the integration of migrants into the host culture. Migration discourse is a powerful ideological weapon that can be used both to contribute to integration and to incite ethnic hatred. Stylistic tools play a key role in the implementation of a persuasive strategy, which is actively used both in migration and in political discourse in general. The main tactics of the migration discourse of modern British politicians are opposition and generalization, used both in pro- and anti-migration rhetoric.

Relationships among immigrant consumers' cultural orientation, innovativeness and opinion leadership

PurposeThis research examines the direct and indirect effects of immigrant consumers' (heritage vs host) cultural orientation on their opinion leadership, in relation to heritage versus host culture peers. In addition to examining the potential mediation of different exhibitions of innovativeness, the research tests whether the relative size of the immigrant population in a country might affect the relationship of consumers' cultural orientation and opinion leadership.Design/methodology/approachTests of the theoretical arguments rely on data from three samples of more than 1,000 consumers collected from Russian immigrants to three countries–Israel, Germany and the United States.FindingsThis study offers broad support for the foundational theorizing, in that the findings confirm a mediating role of consumer innovativeness. Cultural orientation relates directly to opinion leadership, though only in two countries with a relatively small (Russian) immigrant population, that is, Germany and the United States. Accordingly, these findings have pertinent theoretical and practical implications.Originality/valueLittle research centers on opinion leaders among immigrant consumer segments or details the antecedents of opinion leadership relative to ethnic and immigrant consumer segments. This study contributes to marketing theory and practice by investigating immigrants from Russia who have migrated to Israel, Germany or the United States and by elucidating whether and to what extent their heritage versus host culture orientations exert indirect (via innovativeness) or direct impacts on their opinion leadership, expressed toward heritage and host culture peers.

Technical Brokering of Immigrant Adolescents in Switzerland: A Developmental-Acculturative Perspective

In the present digital age, intrafamilial dynamics and adolescents’ support of their parents in media use (technical brokering, Katz, 2010) are increasing in attention. However, the significance of migration-specific processes in adolescents’ technical brokering is less understood. In immigrant families, adolescents’ technical brokering may help families in adapting to the host culture and in keeping contact with friends and family abroad. This study investigated differences in the level of technical brokering between German immigrant and native Swiss adolescents and tested whether migration-unrelated (family life) or migration-related (i.e., culture brokering, Tse, 1995) factors are better predictors of interindividual differences in technical brokering in high SES immigrant families. The sample comprised 301 adolescents in Switzerland: 136 German immigrant adolescents (average age = 15.3, 65% female) and 165 native Swiss adolescents (average age = 15.9, 61% female). Adolescents stated the frequency of technical brokering tasks as well as culture brokering and migration-related processes. The results revealed that German immigrant adolescents provided technical brokering more frequently than native Swiss adolescents. Hierarchical regressions confirmed that technical brokering in German immigrant families is best explained by adolescents’ supporting their family in mastering the transition to a new country, as predictors pertaining to culture brokering, and host culture orientation explained most of the variance. This interpretation received further support by an interaction effect showing that technical brokering is particularly frequent when adolescents act as a culture broker in families with substantial socio-cultural adaptation difficulties. This study complements an often deficit-oriented view on immigrant youth with a view of their active and constructive role in immigrant family processes.

Re-Inculturation of Pashtunwali and Afghaniyat in Naheed Hasnat Senzai’s Shooting Kabul

The paper analyses the immigrants’ perspective on their homeland and tradition while living in a host culture as an immigrant in the novel Shooting Kabul. By focusing on Afghaniyat, the article underlines the critical aspects of Afghan culture incorporated by Senzai in this work and the re-inculturation of Pashtunwali and Afghaniyat in the immigrant communities. The argument builds on Mir Hekmatullah Sadat’s concept of Afghaniyat and regurgitates that immigrants are reluctant to surrender their cultural norms outside their homelands. Practising Afghaniyat is challenging, demanding and continuous adherence to the subverting strife between the host majority society and minority Afghans. For the mentioned purpose, the text paper focuses on text analysis, giving references to culturally significant points and provides a view on immigrant feelings portrayed by the author. The study refers to the multiple historically significant codes of Afghaniyat, which combine the entire Afghan immigrant community into an Afghan nation outside Afghanistan.

"Rules you have to know"

As more universities internationalize, interest in engagement between international and domestic students has increased. University initiatives to bring students together often adopt a deficit approach dependent on international students’ “adjustment” to the host culture, overlooking the need for adjustment to be a two-way exchange and the role of the institution in this process. Focusing on educational group work as a salient site of cross-national interaction, this study draws on focus group data to explore how institutional habitus, or unwritten rules, are enacted at a large U.S. university. Findings indicated that domestic students were better socialized to understand the habitus of the institution and thus tend to take charge in group work. In contrast, international students were seen as linguistically and academically deficient and are relegated to passive roles in a group. Important implications for practitioners and scholars of U.S. higher education are discussed.

Diasporic Subjectivities: A Study of the Second-generation Immigrant in Hiromi Goto’s Chorous of Mushrooms

This article analyses the formation of the hybrid and multiple subjectivities of the second-generation immigrant Murasaki in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms. In diaspora, Murasaki simultaneously vacillates in the cultural spaces of her homeland Japan and host land Canada. She follows cultural practices of both cultural spaces in her cultural negotiation in the diaspora. Her simultaneous vacillations in two cultural spaces render hybridity and multiplicities in her subjectivities that deconstruct bipolar notion of home and host culture. Moreover, her subjectivities involve in a constant process of formation and reformation undermining the notion of stability and consistency.Murasaki’s evolving subjectivity is analyzed through Stuart Hall’s notion of cultural identity and Homi Bhabha’s postulation of third space in this study.

Acculturation Processes and Communication

Acculturation processes and communication is a research area studying how communication changes when two or more cultures meet. Much research has focused on how sojourners or immigrants adapt their communication to meet the demands of a new cultural environment, while some scholars are interested in how the host culture or people change as a result of immigrants’ communication and culture. Communication broadly refers to attitudes, feelings, and behaviors associated with message exchanges in interpersonal interaction and the media. Historically, anthropologists have been studying acculturation among immigrants since the 1930s. Lysgaard and Oberg developed the U-curve model of cultural adaptation that moves from a honeymoon period into culture shock and onto adjustment, while Gullahorn and Gullahorn proposed the W-curve model linking the phenomenon of initial entry culture shock with reverse culture shock at the reentry into the home country. Communication scholar Young Yun Kim started using a communication approach to study acculturation and developed an interactive theory of communication acculturation in the 1970s. Since then, several theories have been developed to examine the role of communication in acculturation processes. Overall, research findings have indicated that longer lengths of stay in the host culture, social contact with the host people, host language competence, host media use, identification with the host culture, and social support from the host people all help sojourners or immigrants improve their attitudes and skills in interaction with the host people and satisfaction living in the host culture. Several factors have also been found to mediate the relationships between acculturation and communication, including uncertainty reduction, intergroup anxiety, intercultural communication apprehension, and personal-enacted and personal-relational identity gaps.

Stereotypes from the Inside

Communication scholars often examine immigrants’ ingroup favoritism to study their intergroup/intercultural communication. Less is known about how some immigrants exhibit outgroup favoritism for the host culture and how outgroup favoritism relates to their ingroup communication. Drawn upon literatures on outgroup favoritism, this study understands international/intercultural communication in a global system where some immigrants favor the hosting outgroup. The researcher investigates how Chinese international students experience their peers’ performance of outgroup favoritism 崇洋媚外 in the U.S. Through in-depth interviews (n = 15), this study identified how outgroup favoritism enacts negative ingroup stereotyping and ingroup distancing. Students with outgroup favoritism strategically negotiate for less ingroup membership and more outgroup affiliation, creating mutual exclusion among ingroup members. Discussion focuses on Chinese international students’ communication dilemma with outgroup-favoring ingroup members