Anthropology 2
Cultural Anthropology

Jorge Sanchez

EXAMPLE 1

EXAMPLE 2

Final Project: Adaptation Dynamics of Immigrants

Due Date: July 24, 2002
send answers via e-mail to jsanchez@hartnell.cc.ca.us by midnight of due date!

Objective

This project is design to help you understand more about the process of acculturation on an individual level and how people adapt to a new cultural setting. This process of adaptation takes place at many levels, including psychological and emotional adjustments, changes in social relationships, and economic change, often in the form of downward social mobility and displacement.

Method

Find an individual who has immigrated to the United States within the last two to three years to act as your informant. Select someone from a different cultural background so that you can be as objective as possible. Interview this perosn for about 1-2 hours regarding how he/she experienced the process of adapting to American culture. Ask your informant for specific, personal experiences whenever possible, and try not to talk in generalities. (No names are necessary so everything your informant says is confidential). Some of the questions you should ask are as follows:

• What aspects of U.S. culture did he/she find most difficult to adapt to and why?

• What aspects of U.S. culture did he/she find easiest to adjust to and why?

• What specific changes did the informant have to make? Include physical changes such as food, clothing; emotional changes in values or religion; social changes in terms of family or other personal relationships; changes in skills, jobs or education. Did he/she experience upward or downward mobility? Ask for specific examples.

• What type of cultural differences exist in the native culture and the U.S. culture regarding gender roles? What are the attitudes toward dating and personal freedoms in the native culture? How does his/her family feel about socializing with/dating people from another ethnic group/culture than their own?

• What sources of support (personal, institutional, etc.) did he/she use in making the adjustments to U.S. culture?

• What do they find personally most and least satisfying about adapting to U.S. culture and lifestyle? What has he/she gained, given up in this transition?

• What does he/she miss most about life and culture in the native country?

Written Analysis

Record your informant's answers to the above questions plus any other pertinent information. Be sure you inclue the country of origin, sex and age of your informant. In conclusion, what factors do you believe made this individual's acculturation to American society relatively easy or relatively difficult? If you have experienced the process of migration and adaptation yourself, you may wish to compare your experience with that of your informant and include it in this mini-ethnography. Your interview data and analysis should be 3-5 typewritten pages. It can be written in a narrative or question and answer format. It is not necessary to include raw data.