Blog #4: Understanding Intercultural Transitions

Martin and Nakayama (2012) outline four types of migrant groups. Voluntary migrants includes short-term sojourners and long term immigrants. Involuntary migrants include both short term and long term refugees. Long-term refugees are defined as "people who are forced to relocate permanently because of war, famine, and oppression" (Martin & Nakayama, 2012, p. 321). According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as of the end of 2009 there were an estimated 10.4 million refugees, with 80% or 8.3 million long-term refugees hosted by developing countries (cf. Martin & Nakayama, 2012). 

It is estimated that the U.S. admits 70,000 refugees per year from from six geographic regions: Africa, East Asia, Europe, Central Asia, Latin America/Caribbean, Near East/South Asia (NEBLINE, 2004). Refugees who resettle in the U.S. primarily relocate to California, New York, Washington, Florida, Texas, Minnesota, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Virginia, Massachusetts and Ohio.


In addition to these regions, refugees have been resettling in Nebraska including a high percentage in Lincoln (NEBLINE, 2004).  In the 1980's, immigration of refugee populations began to increase in Lincoln and Lancaster County. Lincoln has resettled almost 5,500 refugees since 1983. According to the Asian Community Center, Lancaster County is the nation's 18th largest resettlement area for Asian refugees and immigrants (cf. NEBLINE, 2004). Moreover, Nebraska has become fifth in refugee resettlement per capita when compared with states of similar population, and half of the state's refugees for the last 18 years resided in Lincoln.



Here are some links to recent news articles regarding refugees in Lincoln and the process of intercultural transitions:

http://www.newsnetnebraska.org/news/lincoln-community-home-to-refugees-from-around-the-world/

http://journalstar.com/lifestyles/family/lincoln-s-refugee-students-find-language-barriers-when-doing-homework/article_4fbd65f1-c12e-5702-90cd-1321dfda5257.html

http://journalstar.com/news/local/lincoln-refugee-finds-empathy-as-strife-hits-congo/article_6f011d2a-fe13-5d11-bbee-b5de6f5aba59.html

For this blog post, I would like you to read the above posted articles. Then pick one concept from chapter 8 on intercultural transitions that could be applied to these news stories (think culture shock, U & W curve models, migrant-host relationships, cultural adaptation, living on the border, critical perspective, etc.) . Define this particular concept, and then give specific examples from the news stories that are relevant to the concept. Finally, discuss how an intercultural communication perspective can help inform the process of refugee resettlement in Nebraska and intercultural transitions overall. (Hint: You might want to revisit chapter 3 on defining communication to complete this question.

References

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2012). Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. 

NEBLINE. (2004, June). Lincoln's refugees. Lincoln, NE: Yelena Mitrofanova.