Explaining the Theory of Acculturation

The theory of acculturation was explained with the living experiences of four African immigrants in Japan; Keita, Agyemang, Kadijah and Noella. These four represent the four acculturation strategies (separation, integration, assimilation and marginalization). It is worth to note that these four immigrants are non existence in Japan but were created to help provide a practical example of what the theory of acculturation is about. Acculturation generally requires a change of culture from Keita, Agyemang, Kadijah and Noella to accommodate the Japanese culture. To do that, they have to go through the psychological and behavioural changes.

Keita is a 27year old man from Senegal who migrated to Japan 5 years ago. Keita works with one of the construction companies in Japan. He has refused to adopt the Japanese culture and has also rejected his own culture as well. His rejection of both cultures has to do with his own individual traits such as demographic, behavioural and psychological traits and culture shock. Though he has been living in Japan for 5 years, he is unable to accept the Japanese culture such as food, religious beliefs, societal customs and norms. He gave up his own culture on the other hand because it was difficult for him to practice his culture in Japan. The dominance of the Japanese culture was a major contributing factor in giving up his culture.

Agyemang is a 35 year old Ghanaian man who has been living in Japan for the past 10 years. Agyemnag works as a customer service consultant with one of the popular hotels in Japan. Agyemang has been able to unlearn the Ghanaian culture and adopted the Japanese culture to better interact with the Japanese society and more importantly his clients. Agyemang, unlike Keita is more inclusive in the Japanese society and widely welcomed. He speaks fluent Japanese, participates in the traditions and religious beliefs, and lives according to the cultural and societal norms and customs among others.

Kadijah 30 is a female Sudanese freelancer in Japan. Like Keita, Kadijah has been in Japan for the past 5 years and has been unable to accept and adopt the Japanese culture. However, she has maintained strong ties with her home country. She communicates mostly through a translator app on a phone. Kadijah felt coerced like any other immigrant in Japan culturally due to the dominance of the Japanese culture. Her individual traits also contributed to her acculturation strategy. She spends most of her time after work talking to family and friends in Sudan.

Noella from Nigeria is a 25 year old international student in Japan. She has been in Japan since she was 18 years for her undergraduate degree. Noella has a good relationship with the Japanese society because she has been able to accommodate the Japanese culture like agyemang. However, she still maintains her culture.

To conclude, Keita’s experience is explains the marginalization strategy of acculturation. The assimilation strategy of acculturation was explained with the experience of agyemang. Kadijah’s and Noella’s experiences explain the separation and integration strategies of acculturation. It is important to note that acculturation strategies can be adopted dependent on the period and areas of one’s life such as private and public life. For instance, Agyemang may have adopted the assimilation strategy for the purpose of his work (public life). He may adopt the separation acculturation strategy in his private life. Individual traits as well as demographics help in deciding on which acculturation strategy to choose. It can also be deduced from the above experiences that individual traits played a role in the acculturation strategy and the individual traits varied among Keita, Agyemang, Kadijah and Noella. Individual traits highlight how well the four immigrants were able to cope with life changes through the shift in culture, cultural dominance or culture shock in Japan. Individual traits also determine how each immigrant experience and adapts to the stress associated with acculturation that arises from the life changes.