The Matter of Acculturation, Racial Identity, and Immigrants Africans Essay

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The principles of acculturation generally depend on the mentality of the people that leave their motherland, and the character of the “accepting” side. Therefore, it is stated that Europeans are mainly close to each other by national spirit, some common traditions, and common history. Africans often feel strange in America or Europe. The same is for the Europeans in Asia. Hence, the matter of acculturation, racial identity, as well as attitude to the people with different origins are closely associated with the overall readiness of the immigrants and acceptors to arrange a proper contact. (Sala, E. et al. 2009)

In general, the articles are quite clear and properly structured. The research principles and assessment methods are described in detail, and it is generally hard to lose the overall research and results thread. I did not experience essential difficulties in reading these articles. The cultural value orientations associated with how cultural groups view relationships are regarded as the key aspects of the entire acculturation process, and it should be stated that the key values of the general immigration principles are discovered from the perspective of adaptation to a different environment, as well as overcoming difficulties associated with being a stranger. Hence, as Adkins (2010, p. 422) emphasized:

Disparities in mental health treatment have been documented for ethnic minority populations. Barriers to treatment may be pronounced for African-Americans, with this group overrepresented in the nation’s poor, as well as having low utilization rates for mental health services. Yet, the exact reasons for African-Americans’ underutilization of these services remain somewhat elusive in the literature. Some barriers to treatment have been suggested such as socioeconomic status and cultural mistrust.

In the light of this fact, it should be emphasized that the actual value of the mental origin of the people plays a significant role in their adaptation and acculturation. Nevertheless, the matters of mental adaptation are not clearly described. Therefore, this aspect should be paid additional attention for a clearer explanation of the mental difference concept, as well as possible conflicts in adolescent development caused by the changes in the social, ethnic, and cultural environment.

The key difficulty that I experienced reading these articles is associated with the problem of dilemmas that immigrants generally experience. It should be stated that few articles offer a clear explanation of the origins of these dilemmas, while most researches are focused on the consequences and methods of overcoming. Anyway, Lorenzo-Hernandez and Ouellette (1998, p. 2007) emphasized the following:

Dilemmas were used to measure value orientations and perceived congruence between personal and group values. Ethnic identity was positively related to self-esteem. The perception of value congruence was not related to ethnic identity or self-esteem. There was within-group concordance in the ranking of value solutions. In addition, the groups differed in the strength of ethnic identity, perceived value congruence, and the ranking of the value solutions.

Therefore, the solutions that are taken are mainly defined by the necessity to get adapted to the unfamiliar environment and try to understand the different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Since the actual importance of the researches is to assess the necessity and importance of acculturation, it should be emphasized that the researches are based on the key values of the adaptation. (Parham and Helms, 2007) Hence, some of the researches were difficult to understand and evaluate from the perspective of traditional adaptation patterns. This research of the regarded topic will be rather helpful for the grad school, and for creating a reliable basis for arranging independent research.

References

Adkins, A. J. (2010) Help-Seeking Patterns of African Americans: Variables That Affect Professional Help-Seeking. Austin, TX: Texas Tech University.

Lorenzo-Hernandez, Jose, and Suzanne C. Ouellette. (1998) “Ethnic identity, Self-Esteem, and Values in Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and African Americans.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 28.21: 2007-2008.

Parham, T. A., & Helms, J. E. (2007) The Influence of Black Students’ Racial Identity Attitudes on Preferences for Counselor’s Race. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University.

Sala, E. et al. (2009) ‘Real Italians and Wogs’: The Discursive Construction of Italian Identity among First Generation Italian Immigrants in Western Australia. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.: Milton, Australia.

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