Acculturation orientation and expectation: mapping the labour migration processes of Cham youth in Cambodia

ABSTRACT

In multi-ethnic societies, different cultures interact with each other, and communities often have to consider acculturation strategies. These strategies are fluid and develop across geographical boundaries while intersecting with cultural diversity. A host society’s stance toward migrants and governmental migration policies significantly influence these strategies. This dynamic is evident in the case for Cambodia’s ethnic Cham youth, who are Muslims in a predominantly Buddhist Khmer society. Chamic ethnicities are found widely in South East Asia, including in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, so their transnational connections and experiences are worth investigating in detail. This article draws on discourses on acculturation orientation and expectation to delve into Cham youth’s acculturation, particularly exploring the factors shaping their labour migration patterns. Based on fieldwork conducted in Cham villages in the Tbong Khmum Province of Cambodia, this research introduces a conceptual model highlighting ineffective enculturation and differential acculturation among Cham migrant workers. The findings enrich academic knowledge of acculturation orientation and expectation as well as labour migration patterns.

KEYWORDS:

• Acculturation orientation
• acculturation expectation
• labour migration
• enculturation
• Cham
• Cambodia

Acknowledgements

The author appreciates the advice and assistance of Phnom Srey Organization for Development for the arrangement of the author’s fieldwork in Tbong Khmum and the recruitment of interviewees.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Kampong Cham was divided into two provinces in 2016. The province’s original name was retained but with a smaller boundary and population, and the newly created one is known as Tbong Khmum Province.

2 Following Gonzales et al. (2004, 287–288), acculturation is defined as the process for migrants to acquire knowledge and values usually in contact with other cultures in the host society; enculturation is the process of acquiring knowledge and values associated with their ethnic culture, usually through socialization with co-ethnic contacts.

3 The sample of this qualitative research was made up of a small number of selected interviewees.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported financially by the POSCO TJ Park Foundation- Research Grants for Asian Studies