1st of April today…time flies so quickly. I am going through a deep process at a personal level at present, not easy at all…trying to re-define myself, relationships, things i do, the research, my life…it’s a lonely journey and i many times ‘talk’ to myself, trying to connect with the spirit as well. I have been reading this book by N.D. Walsch (1995). I record some interesting quotes that have touched certain chords inside: … Read more »

What a powerful read that is! Although it actually made me feel more ‘normal’ about the way i feel whenever i go back to my home country, it actually made me very anxious around how would i manage experiencing the ‘re-entry cultural shock’ and continuing with the stress of the PhD at the same time…will it all, me included, fall apart? what can i do to look after myself in that or prevent any ‘disaster’ or breakdown? I do not feel at home anywhere at present and this takes a lot out of me, it creates an emotional turmoil, it often affects my health. I have changed so much since living abroad and when i go back, it feels like goingback to a foreign land. Nothing is the same, not only i have changed, everybody else has changed, my family,my friends, the natural environment…we dont know how to be, how to relate. This is expected to be happening cause life is constantly brining changes…but we havent been ‘witnessing’ each other cause we have been far away etc…that’s normalas well…..but i do wonder how i will bear all that process, emotionally and practically … Read more »

This is a rather ‘old’ book i discovered but it does give some useful information around concepts I am looking at…my first reaction is that the study and research around cultural adaptation is vast and multidisciplinary that I can easily get ‘lost’ in it (as the author says is the preface: “the field of cross-cultural adaptation can be overwhelming to many researchers due to its vastness, complexity and disjointedness”). However, recording in this blog does help me digest the concepts, ground my understanding and come back to it whenever i want. The full reference of the book is:

K. Y.Y. (1988) Communication and Cross-Cultural Adaptation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd

I am keeping below some useful notes, quotes, definitions from this book: … Read more »

Interesting book to look at by Frank Furedi:

BOOK:

Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age (by Frank Furedi)
Frank Furedi is professor of sociology at the University of Kent, Canterbury. He is also, perhaps, the nation’s best known sociologist, partly as a result of popular books such as Therapy Culture, which has been extensively reviewed in the national press.Frank Furedi is professor of sociology at the University of Kent, Canterbury. He is also, perhaps, the nation’s best known sociologist, partly as a result of popular books such as Therapy Culture, which has been extensively reviewed in the national press.
In Therapy Culture he argues that the language and sentiment of psychotherapy have now spread outside the confines of the clinic, widely infecting society at large. As a result emotional vulnerability has become the defining feature of people’s psychology, leading to a “unique sense of powerlessness.” Furedi questions the widely accepted thesis that psychotherapy as an ideology represents an enlightened shift towards emotions. But is it really the case that people didn’t feel powerless before? … Read more »

What an excellent and inspiring article i discovered! It is so helpful both for my writing of the Book chapter around integration of original and host cultures and for the PhD literature review…as i was reading about resilience, i found that this is actually a positive concept i could focus on, sth that will give more positive flow and flavour to the project, beyond the trauma and pain involved in the experiences of ‘cultural shock’, losing sense of at-homeness, non-belonging etc. There are also some interesting reflections on the metaphor of the tortoise (also mentioned by P. Laungani). The tortoise is able to live, function and survive in two cultures: earth and water…will work on that when writing the book chapter. Here is the link of the interesting article by the norwegian Professor: Gunnestad’s article on Cross-cultural Resilience