Aizpurúa, Romina Iebra and Fisher, Adrian (2008) Together but Separated: The Acculturation Experience of Latin American Women in Australia. The Australian Community Psychologist, 20 (2). pp. 30-43. ISSN 18357393

Abstract

Immigrants to a new land face significant acculturation issues. Although definitions of acculturation reflect a mutual change, most research and positioning considers this to be, mostly, a one-way process. It is also perceived as a process that seems to have an end point, and is reasonably comparable across all members of a group. In the current research, the position of 13 Latin American immigrant women, with an average of 32 years in Australia, is considered. Data from interviews indicated that acculturation is still an ongoing process for these women, with many barriers imposed. English language proficiency is seen as a key element for them to integrate, but they still face issues of overt and covert discrimination on grounds of accent and skin colour and expectations of assimilation. The challenges of acculturation are compounded for the women as they were often excluded from the original decisions to emigrate, had to establish a new household and life – but did not have the necessary formal and informal social support networks on which to draw.

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