Culture Shock and Intercultural Adaptation

Culture shock is a common phenomenon among visitors and immigrants to other countries that has been studied for decades, although it has recently received more attention as the result of ethnic diversity. Culture shock affects people's behavior, attitude, performance, and the development of social networks; it is, nevertheless, part of the process of adaptation, which involves changes in the way people immersed in a new culture perceive, understand, and, to a certain extent, internalize elements of the culture surrounding them. This book presents a comprehensive ethnographic study involving Egyptians living in the United States, where their perceptions of cultural differences, sources of intercultural stress, and process of intercultural adaptation are explored in the context of narratives of experience. The information presented should help academics, administrators, and trainers in international programs understand some of the difficulties voluntary migrants face when immersed in a different culture; furthermore, it invites the reader to identify with the experience of informants while appreciating their progress towards intercultural adaptation.

An anthropologist, researcher and language instructor. She earned her MA and PhD degrees from UMBC in language, literacy and culture. Her work on intercultural communication, ethnic identity and Internet ethnography has been widely published. She currently works at the University Bristol, where she completed a PhD in social anthropology.