Grappling With a New Culture: Dynamic Courses of Action and Cognition of Indonesian University Students in Japan

This ethnographic study investigated the experiences of Indonesians who, after having learned to be adept in their first (and maybe second) culture in Indonesia, coped with a new culture in Japan as university students. It confirmed the importance of focusing on individuals in studying culture (Goodenough, 1981). In addition, this study clarified the possible processes by which culture becomes shared yet remains flexible, allowing individual differences in its internalization (D'Andrade, 1981). People's experience with a culture is complex, dynamic, and personal, as well as shared. Furthermore, understanding social situations and cultural practices in Indonesia as well as those in Japan was crucial for unveiling the processes of Indonesians coping with a new culture. Clarifying those contexts in the description and analysis of the events, together with the focus at an individual level of thought and action, enabled this study to examine the dynamic courses of action and cognition by Indonesian students grappling with a new culture in Japan.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2014

Author dc:creator

• Arikawa, Tomoko

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hill, Jacquetta

• Education, Bilingual and Multicultural
• Anthropology, Cultural
• Education, Higher

Identifier

(UMI)AAI9411557

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/71956