الفهرس 
Acculturation and Assimilation:Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Acculturation is the process of cultural change and adaptation that occurs when individuals from different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact. As a concept, acculturation is commonly used to refer to how immigrant as well as non-immigrant ethnic groups get in touch with the culture and value of the United States. In this process, ethnic groups may either chose to hold onto their cultural heritage more strongly, or abandon their own cultural beliefs in favour of those of the mainstream culture. On some other occasions – perhaps the most successful form of acculturation – ethnic groups might allow their cultural beliefs and ideals to coexist with those of the dominant culture.
Assimilation is very closely interrelated to acculturation. The term refers to that process in which an individual adopts the values and concepts of the dominant culture and becomes a carbon copy of the major group. In doing so, the assimilationists shed themselves of all that makes them distinctive from the mainstream culture.
Cultural identity is a group of specific values, ideals, and beliefs adopted by a given cultural group, as well as one’s feelings about belonging to that group. Indeed, the changes attributed to acculturation, such as changes in linguistic preferences and in beliefs about the importance of the individual versus that of the group, may refer, in turn, to changes in one’s cultural identity. That’s why, a coherent cultural identity is necessary to support changes that follow the process of acculturation, as it generates positive feelings about the major community to which ethnic groups belong.
This thesis attempts to clarify the impact of acculturation and assimilation on immigrant and non-immigrant ethnic characters as exemplified in six contemporary novels, written by three female novelists of diverse ethnic backgrounds - Native American, Chinese American, and Irish American - in the United States. Love Medicine and Tracks by Louise Erdrish, The Joy Luck Club and The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan, and Final Payments and The Other Side by Mary Gordon. These novels are examined from a cross-cultural perspective, that is, in the context of their specific ethnic culture as well as the context of a broader shared United States culture. As they endeavor to acculturate into the mainstream culture, the ethnic groups portrayed in these novels suffer from various kinds of internal and external conflict, the most challenging of which is forming and developing a coherent cultural identity in that dominant society. Hence the need to clarify how Erdrich, Tan, and Gordon advocate the need to preserve the cultural tradition of the ethnic groups, as well as rejecting the forces of assimilation and domination practiced by the mainstream groups. In other words, the thesis will attempt to investigate how those three ethnic female writers sought some sort of a balance between their own ethnic traditional identity boundaries and the mainstream traditions in order to create a new cultural identity. To achieve this aim, the thesis is divided into an introduction, four chapters and a conclusion.
The first chapter provides a theoretical background of the concepts of acculturation and assimilation, exploring how these processes usually interact, exploring how both affect the cultural identity of ethnic groups in a mainstream country. The chapter will also shed some light on some ways in which Native, Asian, and Irish American cultures settle the complexities of how they are represented as others, and how they characterize their cultural identities into literary and cultural productions that define their cultural heritage. The chapter ends with a biographical background of the three female novelists under consideration - Louise Erdrich, Amy Tan, and Mary Gordon, examining the literary ways they manipulate to investigate the dominant cultural attempts in an effort to define the ethnic identity.
Chapter two attempts an insightful analysis of Louise Erdrich’s most celebrated novels, Love Medicine and Tracks, on the hope to probe and fathom some aspects of the cultural conflict between the traditional Natives and the assimilated contemporary Native Americans. In both novels, Erdrich reveals that the quest for cultural identity must continue, be honored, and acknowledged as the basis of the spiritual lives of Native Americans. She offers a new depiction of community to convey the remnants of Chippewa culture and the fragmented lives of contemporary people who continue despite the destructive loss of their tradition and the discontinuity of their existence. Most of the characters are forced to find their cultural identity on the variety between the politically compelling poles of the traditional Indian and the American Indian, between red and white, between traditional and assimilated culture. It was those characters who recognize that Indian identity must be redefined in the border between will survive. Indeed, a hybrid Indian identity created within the border becomes the definition of success in both Tracks and Love Medicine. The novels suggest that only hybridity can ensure the continuation of traditional life in the modern world, a world shaped not only by the Indian’s past, but also by the past, politics, and mainstream culture of their colonizer.
The third chapter investigates Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club and The Hundred Secret Senses, in which she portrays the effect of acculturation and assimilation from a different perspective. She stresses the difficulties Chinese-American immigrants face in the American society as well as the efforts they do to develop their cross-cultural identity and to renegotiate their sense of self-understanding. In her attempt to communicate her theme, Tan pays much attention to constructing a balanced Chinese and American narrative.
Emphasizing the consequences of the younger generation’s obsession with assimilationism, individualism, and materialism, Tan reveals the danger of limiting oneself in one culture. She asserts the importance to achieve a sense of reconciliation between the two cultures. In Tan’s view, acculturation does not just mean embracing American culture; it involves appreciating cultural and ethnical values passed down from older generations as well. In doing so, Tan succeeds to establish steadfast relationship between generations who symbolically represent, in turn, the type of connections that should exist between Chinese culture and American culture. Tan tries to create a new cultural identity for her characters, an identity that integrates Chinese and American cultures.
Exploring the dilemma of Irish Americans who are caught between two different cultures, chapter four provides a detailed analysis of Mary Gordon’s Final Payments and The Other Side. Gordon shows how the acculturation of the Irish immigrants and the related shrinking of ethnic Irish uniqueness were manifested in the break-up of the narrow-minded Catholic community. Through the downfall of this prominent public symbol of Irish cultural identity, Gordon suggests that the loyalty of the younger generation to and dependence on the Catholic Church had been damaged by the decrease of discrimination, the increase in educational and career opportunities, and the subsequent upward mobility.
As they attempt to assimilate the American culture and belief, the younger generation no longer felt attached to their cultural heritage. On the contrary, they keenly sought to distance themselves from it. As a result, a familial and cultural conflict rises between the younger generations and their parents who constantly attempt to control and dominate their lives. The fact remains true that Gordon succeeds to create characters who try to redefine the Irish tradition and value in the modern mainstream society. They decide to abandon the bad and take out the good from their old values to construct new rules, applicable to them in the United States. That is to say, they succeed to recreate a new identity that integrates the best values from the two cultures - the Irish culture and the American culture.
The conclusion sums up the results achieved.