Adaptation of second-generation Turkish Americans in the U.S.A.: extending differential adaptation theory to the offspring of immigrants

ABSTRACT

Contributing to the attempts to explore communication and adaptation, this study centers on the lived experiences of second-generation Turkish Americans as they navigate a space that is shared among the culture of their origins and the U.S. culture into which they are born. By extending differential adaptation theory (DAT) to the offspring of Turkish immigrants, this qualitative study illustrates how the U.S. shapes the agency these offspring immigrants have in communicating their cultural identity. Twenty-two second-generation Turkish Americans were interviewed about communication challenges from a DAT lens. Findings suggest that U.S.-born children of Turkish immigrants take on differential means of adaptation in communicating cultural identity held in their names and access to their cultural groups. The experiences of offspring immigrants demonstrate how differential adaptation contrasts with differential adaptation experiences of their immigrant parents. Finally, limitations to this study are explored and offer a call to the continuation of cultural adaptation research.

KEYWORDS:

• Turkish
• offspring immigrant
• differential adaptation theory
• cultural identity

Acknowledgements

A large thank you goes out to the second-generation Turkish Americans and the Turkish American community who shared their experiences, time, and insight with me. Your support resulted in a product that elevates our voices in the United States. Also, I would like to thank Fabiola Aksoy and Sarai Connor for their support and insight in the growth of this piece.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

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3 Ibid.

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5 De La Garza, Antonio Tomas and Kent A. Ono. “Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 8, no. 4 (2015): 269–89; Martinez, Amanda R. “Intersectionality, Voz, and Agency: A Culture-Centered Approach to Understanding US-born Mexican Americans’ Depression Experiences.” Southern Communication Journal 82, no. 5 (2017): 278–97.

6 “The Turkish American Community.” Turkish Coalition of America, 2023, https://www.tc-america.org/community/the-turkish-americancommunity-463.htm.

7 Ibid.

8 Kaya, Ilhan. “Turkish-American Immigration History and Identity Formations.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 24, no. 2 (2004): 295–308.

9 Bastug, Mehmet F. “Senses of Belonging and Identity within North American Turkish Diaspora in the post-9/11 Era.” American Journal of Qualitative Research 4, no. 1 (2020): 1–15.

10 Kaya, Ilhan. “Turkish-American Immigration History and Identity Formations.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 24, no. 2 (2004): 295–308.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 Bastug, Mehmet F. “Senses of Belonging and Identity within North American Turkish Diaspora in the Post-9/11 Era.” American Journal of Qualitative Research 4, no. 1 (2020): 1–15; Altınörs, Görkem and Akçay, Ümit. “The Authoritarian Consolidation Attempt in Turkey.” The Loop. https://theloop.ecpr.eu/the-authoritarian-consolidation-attempt-in-turkey/.

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15 Kaya, Ilhan. “Turkish-American Immigration History and Identity Formations.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 24, no. 2 (2004): 295–308.

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17 Bastug, Mehmet F. “Senses of Belonging and Identity within North American Turkish Diaspora in the post-9/11 Era.” American Journal of Qualitative Research 4, no. 1 (2020): 1–15.

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19 Berry, John W., Jean S. Phinney, David L. Sam and Paul Vedder. “Immigrant Youth: Acculturation, Identity, and Adaptation.” Applied Psychology 55, no. 3 (2006): 303–32.

20 Portes, Alejandro, Patricia Fernandez-Kelly and William Haller. “Segmented Assimilation on the Ground: the New Second Generation in Early Adulthood.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 28, no. 6 (2005): 1000–40.

21 Ibid.

22 Asfari, Amin and Anas Askar. “Understanding Muslim Assimilation in America: An Exploratory Assessment of First & Second-Generation Muslims Using Segmented Assimilation Theory.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 40, no. 2 (2020): 217–34.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 Kim, Young Yun. Becoming Intercultural: An Integrative Theory of Communication and Cross-Cultural Adaptation (Sage, 2001).

26 Ibid.

27 Kim, Y. Young and W. Gudykunst. “Adapting to a New Culture.” Theorizing About Intercultural Communication (2005); Gudykunst, B. and Kim, Y.Y. (1997). Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

28 Gudykunst, B. and Kim, Y.Y. (1997). Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

29 Kim, Young Yun. Becoming Intercultural: An Integrative Theory of Communication and Cross-cultural Adaptation (Sage, 2001).

30 Ibid.

31 De La Garza, Antonio Tomas and Kent A. Ono. “Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 8, no. 4 (2015): 269–89; Kramer, Eric Mark. “Cultural Fusion and the Defense of Difference.” Socio-cultural Conflict Between African and Korean Americans (2000): 182–223.

32 De La Garza, Antonio Tomas and Kent A. Ono. “Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 8, no. 4 (2015): 269–89.

33 Kramer, Eric Mark. “Cultural Fusion and the Defense of Difference.” Socio-cultural Conflict Between African and Korean Americans (2000): 182–223; Croucher, Stephen M. “Social Networking and Cultural Adaptation: A Theoretical Model.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 4, no. 4 (2011): 259–64.

34 Croucher, Stephen M. and Eric Kramer. “Cultural Fusion Theory: An Alternative to Acculturation.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 10, no. 2 (2017): 97–114.

35 De La Garza, Antonio Tomas and Kent A. Ono. “Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 8, no. 4 (2015): 269–89.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid.

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid

40 Ibid.

41 Ibid.

42 Ibid.

43 Khosravi, Shahram. “White Masks/Muslim Names: Immigrants and Name-changing in Sweden.” Race & Class 53, no. 3 (2012): 65–80.

44 De La Garza, Antonio Tomas and Kent A. Ono. “Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 8, no. 4 (2015): 269–89.

45 Ibid.

46 Ibid.

47 Fong, Timothy. The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park, California (Temple University Press, 2010).

48 Ju, Bei and Todd L. Sandel. “Who Am I? A Case Study of a Foreigner’s Identity in China As Presented Via WeChat Moments.” China Media Research 14, no. 2 (2018): 62–74; Ju, Bei and Todd L. Sandel. “Adaptation of Mainland Chinese labour migrants in Macao.” Journal of Intercultural Communication Research 48, no. 3 (2019): 257–73.

49 De La Garza, Antonio Tomas and Kent A. Ono. “Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 8, no. 4 (2015): 269–89.

50 “Second-Generation Americans.” Pew Research Center, February 7, 2013, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/02/07/second-generation-americans/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSecond%20generation%E2%80%9D%20refers%20to%20people,country%20are%20considered%20second%20generation.

51 Lindlof, Thomas R. and Bryan C. Taylor. Qualitative Communication Research Methods (Sage Publications, 2017).

52 Deakin, Hannah and Kelly Wakefield. “Skype Interviewing: Reflections of Two PhD Researchers.” Qualitative research 14, no. 5 (2014): 603–16.

53 Perez, Daniel F., Jason X. Nie, Chris I. Ardern, Natasha Radhu and Paul Ritvo. “Impact of Participant Incentives and Direct and Snowball Sampling on Survey Response Rate in an Ethnically Diverse Community: Results from a Pilot Study of Physical Activity and the Built Environment.” Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 15 (2013): 207–14.

54 Mark P. Orbe, Constructing Co-Cultural Theory: An Explication of Culture, Power, and Communication (Sage Publications, 1997).

55 DeTurk, Sara. “Allies in Action: The Communicative Experiences of People Who Challenge Social Injustice on Behalf of Others.” Communication Quarterly 59, no. 5 (2011): 569–90.

56 Richard L. Lanigan. Phenomenology of Communication (Duquesne University Press, 1988); Mark P. Orbe, Constructing Co-cultural Theory: An Explication of Culture, Power, and Communication (Sage Publications, 1997).

57 Ibid.

58 Lindlof, Thomas R. and Bryan C. Taylor. Qualitative Communication Research Methods (Sage publications, 2017).

59 Mark P. Orbe, Constructing Co-cultural Theory: An Explication of Culture, Power, and Communication (Sage Publications, 1997).

60 Ibid.

61 DeTurk, Sara. “Allies in Action: The Communicative Experiences of People Who Challenge Social Injustice on Behalf of Others.” Communication Quarterly 59, no. 5 (2011): 569–90.

62 Ibid.

63 Richard L. Lanigan. Phenomenology of Communication (Duquesne University Press, 1988).

64 Lindlof, Thomas R. and Bryan C. Taylor. Qualitative Communication Research Methods (Sage Publications, 2017).

65 Mark P. Orbe, Constructing Co-cultural Theory: An Explication of Culture, Power, and Communication (Sage Publications, 1997).

66 De La Garza, Antonio Tomas and Kent A. Ono. “Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 8, no. 4 (2015): 269–89.

67 Ibid.

68 Ibid.

69 Ibid.

70 Ibid.

71 Ibid.

72 Ibid.

73 Ibid.

74 Ibid.

75 Ibid.

76 Ibid.

77 Ibid.

78 Ibid.

79 Ibid.

80 Ibid.

81 Ibid.

82 Ibid.

83 Ibid.

84 Ibid.

85 Ibid.

86 Kim, Young Yun. Becoming Intercultural: An Integrative Theory of Communication And Cross-cultural Adaptation (Sage, 2001); Gudykunst, B. and Kim, Y.Y. (1997). Communicating with Strangers: An Approach to Intercultural Communication, 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill).

87 Kramer, Eric Mark. “Cultural Fusion and the Defense of Difference.” Socio-cultural Conflict Between African and Korean Americans (2000): 182–23; Croucher, Stephen M. “Social Networking and Cultural Adaptation: A Theoretical Model.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 4, no. 4 (2011): 259–64; De La Garza, Antonio Tomas and Kent A. Ono. “Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 8, no. 4 (2015): 269–89.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Clint Formby and Wendell Mayes, Jr. Student Research Endowment in the College of Media & Communication, Texas Tech University.