Mixing and Moving Cultures Require a Dialogical Self

Abstract

Rational selfMore than ever in human history, we live in an era of immigration, traveling, dias-pora, intercultural contact, and globalization. These phenomena reflect a world order inwhich cultural groups, with their particular histories and memories, are increasinglymoving and mixing to a degree which is unprecedented in human history. As Bhatia andRam convincingly argue, this process puts into question the universalist assumption incross-cultural psychology that all immigrant groups undergo, on the level of the self, thesame psychological processes. Such an assumption would neglect the historical back-grounds of the cultural groups and the conditions of domination and power in whichthey are involved.As the authors demonstrate, a central problem in mainstream cross-cultural con-ceptions is the separation of culture and self. A universal self is assumed to exist onwhich a culture imprints itself. This assumption is misleading because it treats the self ofan immigrant from Asian or African origin as similar to the self of somebody of Euro-pean descent. In doing so, the specific historical background of the two groups, withtheir corresponding memories, stories, and expectations, are not taken into account.These groups already have different selves before their entrance as immigrants in asecond culture. Consequently, neither the selves of different cultural groups are univer-sal, nor the process of acculturation in which they are involved.Closely related to the assumption of the universality of the acculturation processand the ahistorical conception of the self is the problem of domination and power.These factors were not only of central concern in the period of colonization but theycontinue to play a central role in the post-colonial era. As Bhatia and Ram have demon-strated, the dominance relationships between the cultures in colonial times have shapedthe memories, stories, emotions, and expectations of people today.