Foreign Formators-Seminarians and the Acculturation Process

FOREIGN FORMATORS-SEMINARIANS AND THE ACCULTURATION PROCESS

Missionaries, Exchange Students/Formators, Foreign Seminarians, Visiting Staff

(Article by Fr. Julian)

Missionaries: Priests/Religious who move to another country voluntarily. The decision to move can take weeks, months, or even years, which allows these people to prepare for the move and to begin the acculturation process before the move.

Exchange Seminarians/Formators:where Seminarians/Formators choose tostudy/teach abroadin partner institutions. The terms 'seminarian exchange' and 'study abroad' are often used interchangeably however study abroad usually involves the seminarian study full time and not in partnered institution like seminarian going for exchange where they will be studying in the partner seminary of their home institution.But in some cases, an exchange seminarian is also considered a study abroad seminarian because they are studying in different country than their own. Seminarian exchange program does not necessarily require the seminarian going out of the country but it could also be an exchange program within the country and its provinces.

Objectives

To enhance the educational/formative experience of seminarians/formators
To strengthen the networking between seminarians and Seminaries/Study Centres
Broaden personal and congregational perspectives
Explore, appreciate and understand different cultures
To enhance the ability of the seminarian in second language learning
To eliminate fear and prejudice among people
Enable seminarians to experience international education/formation

Host Study Centre/Seminary

A host Seminary/Study Centre is a volunteered community that welcomes Seminarians/ Students/Professors from different places or countries to stay with them during the program/formative/study period.

Visiting Professor: (a) A temporary /full professor position, e.g. to cover the teaching load of a faculty member on sabbatical. (b) A professor on leave who is invited to serve as a member of the faculty of another seminary/study centre for a limited period of time, often an academic year. They are a professor at another seminary/study centre/university that is spending some period of time (usually a year, sometimes a semester) teaching and researching at a foreign seminary/study centre/university.

Common Experiences of Foreign Formators and Seminarians

Language Barriers: Leads to awkward and guarded relationships between people-over dependence on some who can speak better-people feel alienated, insecure, distrustful , and useless-some lose a sense of the importance of their native tongue-Ghetto mentality because of language barriers-feelings of tension and anxiety caused by the inability to adapt in the new country(acculturative stress)-isolation and discrimination from majority groups-confusion and humiliation-lack of social support networks willing to translate.
Lack of Support Networks: Cut off socially and emotionally from families/communities of origin-lack of financial resources to stay in contact with family/confreres oversees on a consistent basis-social isolation and stress.
Community Hierarchies: Decision-making power and the community hierarchy begin to shift-Over respect or over familiarity of Superiors is a must in some cultures-Independence from collective decisions-some demand equality/same status among peers- rebellious behaviour-placating (appeasing) behaviours- Learned helplessness (a condition of a person in which he has learned to behave helplessly, even when the opportunity is restored for him to help himself by avoiding an unpleasant or harmful circumstance to which he has been subjected).
New Roles: Lead to conflicts- Favouritism- Drop in esteem-some have more power around language issues-additional responsibilities/studies-taken advantage of off-
Education: differences in the grading system- Lecturing and note taking-Mode of assignments-rebel against new ways-Curriculum-Comprehension-Plagiarism.

Acculturation: experiences and changes that groups and individuals undergo when they come in contact with a different culture. The process of acculturation can indeed be difficult, and many stories attest to this fact.

“My family lived in the Philippines until I was about twelve years old. Coming to America brought about mixed emotions because of stories we hear about the American people. First of all, we always saw Americans who looked like Ken and Barbie dolls, so we assumed that this is how they all looked. This somewhat prepared us for how different we would look beside them. Secondly, America was supposed to be a great country of opportunity and success. Everything that happened in between was never considered.

My sister was eight years of age and my brother five when we settled in America. The main reason we came was due to my father’s job in a prestigious firm that was based in Michigan. We chose to live in California due to the numerous relatives we had residing the state. My family immediately went through changes within the year that we had arrived. Due to these changes, and the incomplete and unrealistic stories we were told, my brothers, my sisters, and I became more different than we were alike.

I wanted to be American. I stayed in front of the television for hours at a time, attempting to rid myself of the Filipino accent. I was determined to stay out of the sun, so I could be more “white,” and adopt the Californian accent. Most of my friends were White during high school, and my father was very proud.

My sister “hung out” with Filipinos and Asians. She insisted on being Filipino only, denying any other cultural parts that were a part of our won family, much less others. For the most part, she refused to eat like Americans, act like Americans, or be among Americans. She dated only Filipinos and Asians and never really looked at any other ethnic groups as dating partners.

My brother became a loner. He didn’t associate with any ethnic/cultural group in particular. As a matter of fact he prided himself in being different. He would go out of his way to be different from “the norm” of what a Filipino AND an American should be. Although he never got in trouble, he always made sure that he was noticed for being apart from everyone.

Now as adults, it is somewhat surprising that I am the one who took it upon myself to learn about my culture and “my different selves.” I retained the language and cultural beliefs. My sister married an Asian man and brother remains an enigma” and continues to go “against the waves.”

Although as family we went through many hardships and struggles, we were thankful that we had other family members to rely on when things became difficult. We were prepared to come to America, if not to survive, to live a dream. Those dreams changed as soon as we settled, but were revived as we grew to realize that holding on to our family was just as important as “fitting into” a society that struggles to accept us.”

Sylvia, 23+-Year-Old Filipina Woman

Models of Acculturation

Models help us to determine the ways that people adapt to new cultures:

Assimilationist – an individual who assimilates/blends/dissolves completely into the host society, taking on the values of that society and rejecting his or her original values
Separationist – an individual who refuses to take on any values of the host society, hanging on to his or her original values completely
Marginalist – an individual who does not adopt either the host society’s values or his or her original values
Integrationist – an individual who holds on to his or her original values while also learning and adopting the values of the host culture
Alternationist- an individual who alternates between his or her culture of origin and the host culture depending on what the context dictates.
Multiculturalist: an individual who understands that his/her culture of origin is acceptable by the host culture as one of the many cultures connected by the social structure. There is interaction, and mutual influence, and cultures of origin tend not to be distinctly maintained.

The Migration Process

Pre-migration Period – the time period before migration, when the acculturation process can begin to take place
Migration Period – the period when a group is migrating from the country of origin to the host country. This includes the period immediately before the migration, when the final feelings about moving are experienced and leave is taken from family and friends from the country of origin
Post migration Period – the period after settling into the host culture, when the stress of migration continues to be experienced and the adjustment to the new culture takes place

Ecological Context and Fit

It refers to the similarity of the social and cultural environments between an immigrant’s country of origin and new host country. These four systems are interrelated, which means things occurring at the smallest level of context can affect what occurs in the largest context.

Microsystem – a layer of context that includes relationships among family members living within one household. E.g. relationships among family members living in the same household.
Mesosystem – a layer of context that includes relationships in the immediate area outside the family, such as schools, work, the extended family, and the community in which one lives.
Exosystem – a layer of context that includes major societal institutions, such as the media, laws and the government.
Macrosystem – a layer of context that includes cultural norms and societal rules that determine rules of conduct.

When a person travels to another country, we can imagine how a person’s ecological fit is disrupted. The context changes and all that one was familiar with become unknown. As persons go through various stages of migration (premigration, migration, and post migration), they will experience changes within the different layers or systems. The changes, sometimes drastic, result in culture shock and acculturative stress. Certain groups will experience more culture shock and acculturative stress than do others.

Critical Thinking Questions

What hardships did you encounter when you came in contact with persons of another culture/country?
Did you speak English (or any other language) or did you have to learn English (another language) after arriving in a new country? If you spoke a non-English language what issues did you encounter?
What roles changed after you arrived in a new country? How would you characterize yourself according to the acculturation models?