Within the field of communication studies, the process of adaptation is a paramount concern for intercultural/cross-cultural researchers. Scholars have produced a rich body of research exploring how this process works, identified positive and negative aspects/effects of adaptation, and offered various alternatives to current adaptation models.Footnote1,Footnote2,Footnote3,Footnote4,Footnote5,Footnote6 While communication researchers studying adaptation have overwhelmingly adopted Kim’s theory of cultural adaptationFootnote7, alternatives to this approach have emerged, such as hybridity,Footnote8 differential adaptation theory,Footnote9 and cultural fusion theory.Footnote10 What each of these theories have in common is an interest in explaining and documenting the adaptation experience by either exploring the immigrant experience and the intersection of this experience with the dominant culture, or by showing how our methods can adapt.
The pieces in this themed issue on the state of adaptation research all share this interest, in exploring the experiences of immigrants/migrants, and dominant cultural groups. Lenis Separa’s piece, “Cultural adaptation experiences of people in New Zealand,”Footnote11 provides a literature review of various adaptation theories and applies them to the lived experiences of immigrants in New Zealand. In this piece, Separa reviews acculturation by Kim, cultural adaptation by Berry, cultural hybridity by Kraidy, and cultural fusion theory by Croucher and Kramer to offer insights on the communicative migration processes of immigrants in New Zealand.
Tina A Coffelt, in her piece, “Crossroads on the Silk Road: Accounts of a U.S. American faculty member’s culture shock and adaptation in Uzbekistan,”Footnote12 chronicles the culture shock and adaptation of a faculty member adjusting to life in Uzbekistan. Through the inclusion of anxiety uncertainty management theory and culture shock, Coffelt demonstrates how this staff member was able to navigate cultural differences. Through this account, Coffelt offers practical ways for other staff who might be in similar intercultural experiences to learn how to adapt to new environments.
Ahmet Aksoy, in his analysis of the lived experiences of second-generation Turkish-Americans, explores differential adaptation theory. In his piece, “Adaptation of Second-generation Turkish Americans in the U.S.A.: Extending Differential Adaptation Theory to the Offspring of Immigrants,”Footnote13 he interviewed second-generation Turkish immigrants and found that these immigrants take on a differential approach to adaptation. This approach, for example, showed that some immigrants use the workplace and their name as ways to communicate cultural identity.
Collectively, these three pieces show the variety of theories, methodological approaches, and contexts in which adaptation research is currently taking place. I encourage you to read each of these pieces and to engage with the authors for further questions and collaborations.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 John W. Berry, “Acculturation: Living Successfully in Two Cultures,” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 29, no. 6 (2005): 697–712.
2 Stephen M. Croucher, “Social Networking and Cultural Adaptation: A Theoretical Model,” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 4, no. 4 (2011): 259–64.
3 Stephen M. Croucher and Eric Kramer, “Cultural Fusion Theory: An Alternative to Acculturation,” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 10, no. 2 (2017): 97–114.
4 Young Yun Kim, Becoming Intercultural: An Integrative Theory of Communication and Cross-Cultural Adaptation (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1988).
5 Marwan W. Kraidy, Hybridity, or the Cultural Logic of Globalization (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2005).
6 Eric Kramer, “Cultural Fusion and the Defense of Difference.” In Socio-cultural Conflict between African and Korean Americans, ed. Molefi Kete Asante and Eungjun Min (New York: University Press of America, 2000), 183–230.
7 See note 4 above as well as: Young Yun Kim, “Cross-cultural Adaptation,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia, https://oxfordre.com/communication/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-21.
8 See note 5, Kraidy, 2005.
9 Antonio Tomas De La Garza and Kent A. Ono, “Retheorizing Adaptation: Differential Adaptation and Critical Intercultural Communication,” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication 8, no. 4 (2015), 269–89.
10 See notes 3 and 6 above.
11 Lenis Separa, “Cultural Adaptation Experiences of People in New Zealand,” Review of Communication 24 no. 2 (2024): 97–113.
12 Tina Coffelt, “Crossroads on the Silk Road: Accounts of a U.S. Faculty Member’s Culture Shock and Adaptation in Uzbekistan,” Review of Communication 24, no. 2 (2024): 114–130.
13 Ahmed Aksoy, “Adaptation of Second-Generation Turkish Americans in the U.S.A.: Extending Differential Adaptation Theory to the Offspring of Immigrants,” Review of Communication 24, no. 2 (2024): 81–96.