Intercultural personhood: Globalization and a way of being§
Young Yun Kim *
Department of Communication, University of Oklahoma, 610 Elm Avenue, Norman, OK 73072, USA
1. Introduction
We live in a world of ‘‘simultaneous events and overall awareness’’ (McLuhan, 1962, p. 40). In the dizzying interface of
national, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious traditions, the once clear definitions of ‘‘us and them’’ are being blurred.
The tightly knit system of communication and transportation has brought differing cultures, nationalities, races, religions,
and linguistic communities closer than ever before in a web of interdependence and a common fate. The business-as-usual
ways of doing things are fast losing their relevance, as culture in its ‘‘pure’’ form has become more a nostalgic concept than a
reality. Individuals are challenged to face one another’s various differences and search for human similarities, so as to be able
to move beyond their customary imagination in search of creative solutions to problems. In Toffler’s (1980) words, we find
ourselves ‘‘[facing] a quantum leap forward. [We face] the deepest social upheaval and creative restructuring of all time.
Without clearly recognizing it, we are engaged in building a remarkable new civilization from the ground up’’ (p. 44).
Ours is also a world of clashing traditions and collective identities. The very forces that diminish physical boundaries
exacerbate ethnic and national rivalries, rendering alarming daily news headlines and a deeply unsettling political
International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32 (2008) 359–368
A R T I C L E I N F O
Keywords:
Intercultural communication
Stress–adaptation–growth dynamic
Intercultural personhood
A B S T R A C T
This theoretical essay makes a case for ‘‘intercultural personhood’’ as a viable model for
human development in today’s increasingly integrated world. Critiquing the largely static,
monolithic, and value-laden perspective on cultural identity prevalent in social science
literature, the author emphasizes the complex and evolving nature of identity. The term,
intercultural identity, is employed as a counterpoint to, and as an extension of, cultural
identity, and as a concept that represents the phenomenon of identity adaptation and
transformation beyond the perimeters of the conventional, categorical conception of
cultural identity. The stress–adaptation–growth dynamic in the author’s integrative
theory of cross-cultural adaptation provides a systemic account for the identity
development process as the interplay of acculturation and deculturation. The author
argues that, through prolonged and cumulative intercultural communication experiences,
individuals around the world can, and do, undergo a gradual process of intercultural
evolution. The emerging intercultural personhood is characterized by two interrelated key
patterns in self-other orientation: individuation and universalization. Empirical evidence
for this theoretical argument is offered through some of the pertinent research findings as
well as case illustrations based on publicly available personal testimonials and biographic
narratives.
ß 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
§
Some of the ideas discussed in this paper with respect to intercultural identity development and intercultural personhood have been presented
elsewhere (Kim, 2006b). In writing the present theoretical essay, the author has sought to refine her ideas and arguments further and to apply them to the
broader context of globalization.
* Tel.: +1 405 360 9681; fax: +1 405 325 7625.
E-mail address: youngkim@ou.edu.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
International Journal of Intercultural Relations
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijintrel
0147-1767/$ – see front matter ß 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2008.04.005
landscape. To many people around the world, the seemingly innocent banner of some kind of group identity is now a
compelling sore spot galvanizing them into us-against-them posturing. Some of the most passionate domestic and
international conflicts headlining the daily media involve differing identities, particularly along tribal, racial, and religious
lines. From long-festering prejudices, discriminations, and hatreds to the more recent acts of violent rage and terror, people
in all corners of the world are witnessing so many angry words, hurt, and destruction. The relatively simple civic consensus in
the vision of a diverse yet peaceful and democratic society is being challenged by one that upholds a particular group identity
in place of the larger identity of national and world citizenry. Often absent in the identity polemics are the main ideals of
multiculturalism itself, that is, people with different roots can coexist, that they can learn from each other, and that they can,
and should, look across and beyond the frontiers of traditional group boundaries with minimum prejudice or illusion, and
learn to strive for a society and a world that celebrates diversity side by side with unifying cohesion.
Pragmatic concerns such as these underpin, and signify, the central aim of this theoretical essay, that is, to describe,
explain, and make a case for intercultural personhood as a constructive way of being a member of our increasingly integrated
communities, both local and global. This is a way of relating to oneself and others that is built on a dynamic, adaptive, and
transformative identity conception—one that conjoins and integrates, rather than separates and divides. This alternative
model of identity is built on an open systems meta-theoretical perspective of a human being as a complex and evolving
entity (Bertalanffy, 1956; Jantsch, 1980). It includes a vital component of an outlook on humanity that is not locked in a
provincial interest of one’s ascribed group membership, but one in which the individual sees himself or herself to be a part of
a larger whole that includes other groups, as well.
The term ‘‘cultural identity’’ is employed here broadly as a generic term that is interchangeable with other terms
commonly used in both international and domestic contexts such as national, ethnic, ethnolinguistic, and racial identity, or
more generic concepts such as social identity and group identity. In this sense, the present use of the term, culture, is
inclusive of common ethnic, linguistic, racial, and historical backgrounds. Correspondingly, intercultural identity is
employed inclusively and exchangeably with interethnic, interracial, and intergroup identity.
2. Literature review: pluralism and cultural identity
From the early years of the 20th century (e.g., Simmel, 1908/1950; Stonequist, 1937), and particularly for the past several
decades, the notion of identity, in general, and cultural identity, in particular, have occupied a central place in social science
research, most extensively in the United States. Systematic investigations of cultural identity can be traced back to
psychologist Erikson’s (1950) theoretical framework. Erikson described the process of identity development as one in which
the two identities—of the individual (or the personal) and of the group (or the social collective)—are merged into one. Erikson
thus placed cultural identity at the core of the individual and yet also in the core of his or her ‘‘common culture.’’
Erikson’s identity conception has since been echoed in subsequent academic writings, but in a way that is increasingly
idealized. For De Vos (1990), for example, cultural identity is rooted in ‘‘the emotionally profound self-awareness of
parentage and a concomitant mythology of discrete origin,’’ (p. 14) and provides ‘‘a sense of common origin, as well as
common beliefs and values, or common values’’ and serves as the basis of ‘‘self-defining in-groups’’ (p. 204). For Yinger
(1986), ethnic attachment is a ‘‘genuine culture’’ that forms the person’s ‘‘basic identity’’ and offers ‘‘a sense of historical
continuity and embeddedness and a larger existence in a collectivity of one’s group’’ (p. 21). Roosens (1989) saw cultural
identity as the psychosocial driving force of individual and collective ethnic self-affirmation’’ (p. 15). Giordano (1974)
likewise saw it essentially as a psychological foundation offering the individual a ‘‘ground on which to stand’’ that ‘‘no one
can take away’’ (p. 16).
2.1. The pluralistic turn
Idealized conceptions of cultural identity such as the ones sampled above parallel, and mirror, the ideological shift toward
greater pluralism and multiculturalism in the United States and elsewhere, beginning with the ‘‘new ethnicity’’ movement
prompted by the civil rights movement in the 1960s in the United States. In their early work, Glazer and Moynihan (1963)
concluded a sociological analysis by stating that ethnicity pervades all spheres of life among ethnic minorities: ‘‘The point
about the melting pot is that it did not happen’’ (p. 290). Novak (1971), in The Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics, argued against
assimilation and advocates ‘‘equal ethnicity for all.’’ He described the feelings of alienation held by one large ethnic group,
Poles, who had been drawn to ‘‘ethnic power’’ movements in the competition for jobs, respect, and attention.
The pluralistic turn in academic conceptions of cultural identity has capitalized on the inherent and profound dilemma,
that is, a contradiction arising from the inevitable gap between the assimilationist emphasis on transcending group
categories and the reality of everyday life in which group categories continue to constrain ethnic minorities. In this
movement, the primacy of individual identity has been challenged by contrary claims of group identity and the associated
attempts to elevate group distinctiveness over a larger, national identity. It, thereby, has replaced the traditional ‘‘meltingpot’’
metaphor with newer ones such as ‘‘mosaic,’’ ‘‘quilt,’’ and ‘‘salad bowl.’’ In Pettigrew’s (1988) words, ‘‘To many, talk of
mosaics and quilts to emphasize the autonomous nature of identity and its relationships among cultural identities is both an
attempt to describe the way America is headed and an effort to hurry it along’’ (p. 19).
Underlying the pluralistic, group-based construction of personhood and society is the presumption of collective interests
as a concern to the individual, above and beyond their implications for personal self-interest. Cultural identity, in effect, is
Y.Y. Kim / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32 (2008) 359–368360
deemed an extension of the self; it entails ‘‘a shift towards the perception of self as an interchangeable exemplar of some
social category and away from the perception of self as a unique person’’ (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987, p.
50).
2.2. Research as advocacy: ‘‘Whose Side Are You On?’’
Along with the pluralistic turn in the United States and now around the world, we have seen an increasing trend of
departure in research addressing issues of cultural identity from the traditional normative-representational stance of valueneutrality
to the stance of social advocacy and other forms of activism. This politicization of research is reflected in the
increased number of traditional social scientists who are committed to the social causes of diversity and justice and who find
the principally value-neutral stance of the traditional normal science approach less than satisfying (cf. Hammersley, 1995;
Thornton, 1996). Academic arguments are made, for example, for a redistribution of power and resources to overcome
inequalities in group status (e.g., Hacker, 1992) and for a greater diversity of the university curriculum by replacing it with
one ‘‘that would focus on the achievements of marginalized peoples’’ (Traub, 1998, p. 25). Pressure is felt by many traditional
researchers who find the field too politicized, so much so that a given theory, along with the credibility of the theorist,
appears to be dismissed by some based on the implied question, ‘‘Whose side are you on?’’
The shift in emphasis from value-neutral theory to value-driven activism has been fueled by the rise of radically
relativistic worldviews underpinning ‘‘postmodern’’ schools such as ‘‘critical theory,’’ ‘‘cultural studies,’’ and ‘‘muted group
and standpoint theory,’’ among others. They have been mounting vigorous arguments to gear research directly to
‘‘emancipatory’’ political goals of eliminating ‘‘White racism’’ at home and countering Western/American ‘‘imperialism’’
abroad. Tsuda (1986), for instance, criticized the Western cultural domination as the genesis of ‘‘distorted intercultural
communication’’ around the world. Tsuda argued that the dominance of English language embodies the dominance of
Western ideology, which imposed an overt restriction on non-Western peoples’ freedom of expression and damages their
identity. Similarly, Young (1996) presented his criticism of Western ‘‘cultural imperialism’’ by depicting today’s global
reality as one of power asymmetry between communicators rooted in ‘‘oppressive’’ and ‘‘imperialistic’’ Western cultural–
institutional systems.
3. Problematics in pluralistic conceptions
A close examination of the contemporary pluralistic academic writings on issues of cultural identity and intercultural
relations, such as the ones cited above, reveals at least two main problematics: positivity bias and oversimplification. These
two themes are identified based on the implicit or explicitly stated common assumptions that often fail to reflect the reality
of identity experiences at the level of individuals.
3.1. Positivity bias
A positivity bias is reflected in the unconditional moral imperative commonly seen in various academic conceptions of
cultural identity. Pluralistically inclined social scientists in general, and postmodern-critical scholars in particular, have been
largely silent about the ‘‘dark side’’ of cultural identity—the tendencies of collective self-glorification and denigration of
other groups. An insufficient amount of attention has been given to the fact that too strict an adherence to an cultural identity
can raise even separatist sentiments, fear and distrust of other groups, and even the dangers of violence, cruelty, and political
humiliation (Levy, 2000). Intended or not, some critical writings suggest a sense of ‘‘cultural identity at any cost.’’ Cultural
identity is not only to be recognized, respected, and preserved, but also to be a means to combat unjust practices of an
outgroup, real or imagined. Implicit in such a claim is the notion that cultural groups are deemed inherently equal in their
original states, but that their original natures are seen as being distorted and corrupted in the process of interaction with
others in society and through the development of sociocultural institutions (Tsuda, 1986, pp. 62–63). As such, equality is
defined less in terms of fairness of rules as in the procedural equality in the sense of classical liberalism, and more in terms of
group status equality, at least in terms of the inherent moral rights of all groups expressed in the ‘‘pride’’ and ‘‘dignity’’ of a
people.
Positive values assigned to cultural identity clearly reflect the desire to offer an intellectual voice to the traditionally
subordinated or oppressed people. They collectively offer a philosophical thesis urging readers to fight for change in the
unjust status quo. At the same time, the positivity bias becomes problematic when it is applied selectively. There is a lack of
evenhandedness and realism results in the conspicuous silence among pluralistically inclined social researchers in the face
of human sufferings and systematic injustices instigated within non-Western countries. Relatedly, unconditional positive
moral values assigned to cultural identity fails to acknowledge one of the basic tenets of intergroup theories such as the
social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). That is, individuals identify with a group in a manner that is self-serving. The
way people experience cultural identity is essentially not a rational but an emotionally driven experience. When it comes to
our relationships to an outgroup in competition or conflict, we are less than likely to be fair and objective, and more likely to
be irrational and defensive, favoring our ingroup and discriminating against the outgroup that threatens our ingroup.
The positivity bias with respect to cultural identity is suggested in the approval in October 2005 by all members of the
UNESCO, except the United States, of the convention on the ‘‘protection and promotion’’ of cultural diversity. The drafters
Y.Y. Kim / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32 (2008) 359–368 361
worried that globalization represented a challenge for cultural diversity, namely, in view of risks of imbalance between rich
and poor countries. The fear is that the values and images of Western mass culture, like some invasive weed, are threatening
to choke out the world’s native flora, so to speak. Yet, as Kwame Anthony Appiah (2006), the Ghana-born professor of
philosophy at Princeton University, points out, this UNESCO convention offers a misplaced moral judgment.
What’s really important, then, cultures or people?. . .many globalization’s cultural critics are aiming at the wrong
targets. . .Human variety matters. . .because people are entitled to options. . .If we want to preserve a wide range of
human conditions because it allows free people the best chance to make their own lives, we can’t enforce diversity by
trapping people within differences they long to escape. . .Cultural consumers are not dupes. They can adopt products to
suit their own needs, and they can decide for themselves what they do and do not approve of. (Appiah, 2006, pp. 32–35)
3.2. Oversimplification
The positivity bias in the common conceptions of cultural identity, and the selective applications thereof, is inseparably
linked to the tendency in many pluralistic academic writings to portray cultural identity as an ‘‘all-or-none’’ or ‘‘either-or’’
entity that belongs exclusively to a particular category of people. A person is often viewed to belong to one, and only one,
particular ethnic group. The monolithic and static conception of cultural identity is often reflected in statements that inflate
uniformity among the individuals who are associated with a particular group category. Some researchers have tended to
lump together all individuals ascribed to a particular group and portray them as though they are a homogeneous group with
identical characteristics. In Two Nations, for example, Hacker (1992) described the contemporary Black as someone who was
marginal, separate, and victimized in the White world, despite the many contrary statistics presented in the book.
The categorical characterizations belie the complexities in the way cultural identity plays out in the grass-roots reality,
particularly in the United States. Revealing the continuing transcendence of group categories, the United States has seen a
significant increase in the percentage of Americans who approve of marriage between blacks and whites from 25% in 1972 to
61% in 1995 (USA Today, August 8, 1995, p. A11). In terms of actual inter-marriages, the number has escalated roughly from
310,000 in the 1960s to more than 1.1 million in the 1990s. In 2005, more than 7% of America’s 59 million married couples
are reported to be interracial, compared to less than 2% in 1970 (Crary, 2007). Correspondingly, the incidence of births of
mixed-race babies has multiplied 26 times as fast as that of any other group. As of the early 1990s, 52% of Jewish Americans,
65% of Japanese Americans, and 70% of Native Americans are reported to have married out of their faith, race, or ethnic
heritage (Smolowe, 1993, pp. 64–65).
A broader indication of complexity in the reality of cultural identity lies in the attitudes and opinions of the American
public at large concerning cultural identity and interethnic relations in the United States (Kim, 2006a). Despite the
contentious identity polemics dominating media headlines, identity orientations of the majority of American people today a
significant level of adaptation to the increasingly interethnic social environment. Straddled between the poles of traditional
assimilationism and the counter-pole of pluralism, the majority Americans have been making strides in reconciling the two
ideological poles and rejecting any ideological extremes. This observation echoes the conclusion Wolfe (1998) makes when
he characterizes ‘‘the new middle-class morality’’ in the United States. Based on 200 in-depth interviews conducted in the
Boston, Atlanta, Tulsa, and San Diego metropolitan areas, Wolfe finds ‘‘little support for the notion that middle-class
Americans are engaged in bitter cultural conflict with one another’’ (p. 278). Instead, they are ‘‘struggling to find ways in
which their core beliefs can be reconciled with experiences that seem to contradict them’’ (p. 281), while insisting on a set of
values ‘‘capacious enough to be inclusive but demanding enough to uphold standards of personal responsibility’’ (p. 322).
4. Intercultural communication, adaptation, and transformation
Many of the current theories in social psychology and intercultural communication address such individual variations in
cultural or ethnic identity orientations. For example, identity variation and flexibility are also noted in several models of
intercultural communication competence or effectiveness. Imahori and Cupach (2005) highlight the fact that individuals are
able to manage their cultural identity when interacting with individuals of differing backgrounds, and that ‘‘facework’’ or the
ability to handle each other’s cultural identity flexibly is a key to being a competent intercultural communicator. A similar
identity conception underlies Ting-Toomey’s (2005) theory that places ‘‘identity negotiation’’ at the center of
‘‘communicative resourcefulness’’ in intercultural encounters. Likewise, Kim’s (2005b) contextual theory of interethnic
communication identifies ‘‘identity inclusivity’’ and ‘‘identity security’’ as the key communicator characteristics that help
explain the degree to which individuals tend to engage themselves in associative interethnic behaviors and activities.
Although varied in focus, scope, and perspective, theoretical models such as these offer conceptions of identity that are not
fixed or monolithic but flexible and varied across individuals and situations.
Moving beyond individual variations and flexibility in identity orientation, the present author (Kim, 1988, 2001, 2005a)
has theorized about, and documented empirical evidence for, its dynamic and evolving nature. Grounded in the General
Systems perspective (Bertalanffiy, 1956), this theory argues that each person is an ‘‘open system’’ that exchanges
information with the environment through communication, and co-evolves with the changing environment. As such, the
theory characterizes a person’s identity undergoing changes throughout life. Plasticity, the ability to learn and change
Y.Y. Kim / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32 (2008) 359–368362
through new experiences, is highlighted as one of the most profound characteristics of the human mind and as the very basis
upon which individuals acquire an identity.
4.1. Acculturation and deculturation
This theory (Kim, 1988, 2001, 2005a) is intended primarily to explain the common adaptive experiences of individuals
who are born and raised in one cultural or subcultural environment and have relocated to a new and different one for an
extended length of time. Yet, the core concepts and the theoretical arguments are applicable to the broader context of the
increasing intercultural communicative interface accompanying the process of globalization. One no longer has to leave
home to experience acculturation. Through mass media and other technological means of communication, people around
the world are increasingly exposed to the images and sounds of once distant cultures. In large urban centers, local people are
routinely coming in contacts with foreign-born individuals. In many ways, globalization presents individuals with numerous
situations that deviate from the familiar original cultural script.
The activity of intercultural communication and new cultural learning is the essence of acculturation, that is, the
acquisition of the new cultural practices in wide-ranging areas including the learning of a new language. Acculturation
brings about a development of cognitive complexity, or the structural refinement in an individual’s internal informationprocessing
ability with respect to the target culture. An equally significant aspect of acculturation is the acquisition of new
cultural aesthetic and emotional sensibilities, from a new way of appreciating beauty, fun, joy, as well as despair, anger, and
the like. Acculturative learning does not occur randomly or automatically following intercultural contacts and exposures.
New cultural elements are not simply added to prior internal conditions. Rather, it is a process over which each individual
has a degree of freedom or control, based on his or her predispositions, pre-existing needs and interests. Such an egoprotective
and ego-centric psychological principle is demonstrated in Bognar’s (2001) identification of an uneven
development in gender role change between male and female immigrants, and in Chang’s (2001) finding in a study of Asian
immigrants in Singapore of relatively higher levels of acculturation in workplace-related and public norms and values
compared to private realms and home life.
As new learning occurs, deculturation or unlearning of at least some of the old cultural elements has to occur, at least in the
sense that new responses are adopted in situations that previously would have evoked old ones. ‘‘No construction without
destruction,’’ in the words of Burke (1974). The act of acquiring something new is the suspending and, over a prolonged
period, even losing some of the old habits at least temporarily. This interplay of acculturation and deculturation underlies the
psychological evolution individuals undergo—from changes in ‘‘surface’’ areas such as outwardly expressive behaviors such
as choices of music, food, and dress, to deeper-level changes in social role-related behaviors and fundamental values.
4.2. The stress–adaptation–growth dynamic
As the interplay of acculturation and deculturation continues, each experience of adaptive change inevitably
accompanies stress in the individual psyche—a kind of identity conflict rooted in resistance to change, the desire to retain old
customs in keeping with the original identity, on the one hand, and the desire to change behavior in seeking harmony with
the new milieu, on the other. This conflict is essentially between the need for acculturation and the resistance to
deculturation, that is, the ‘‘push’’ of the new culture and the ‘‘pull’’ of the old. The internal disequilibrium created by such
conflicting forces can be manifested in intense emotional ‘‘lows’’ of uncertainty, confusion, and anxiety. Such intense
situations can generate ‘‘crises’’ in which our mental and behavioral habits are brought into awareness and called into
question.
Stress, indeed, is an expression of the instinctive human desire to restore homeostasis, that is, to hold constant a variety of
variables in internal structure to achieve an integrated whole. Some people may attempt to avoid or minimize the
anticipated or actual ‘‘pain’’ of disequilibrium by selective attention, denial, avoidance, and withdrawal, as well as by
compulsively altruistic behavior, cynicism, and hostility toward the new external reality. Others may seek to regress to an
earlier state of existence in the familiar ‘‘home’’ culture, a state in which there is no feeling of isolation, no feeling of
separation. From this open systems perspective, then, the extensively investigated phenomenon of ‘‘culture shock’’ (e.g.,
Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001) or ‘‘transition shock’’ (e.g., Bennett, 1977) can be regarded essentially as a manifestation of
the generic process that occurs whenever an individual’s internal capabilities are not adequate to the demands of the new
environment.
Even in the form of anguish and tribulations, however, stress presents us with an opportunity to search deep inside
ourselves for new possibilities to recreate ourselves. Over time, such conflicts, in turn, make us susceptible to external
influence and compel individuals to learn new cultural elements. For most people, internal changes take hold as they
embrace environmental challenges and strive to stabilize themselves by overcoming the predicament and partake in the act
of adaptation. Adaptation, as such, is defined from an open-systems perspective as the entirety of the phenomenon of
individuals who, through direct and indirect contacts with an unfamiliar environment, strive to establish and maintain a relatively
stable, reciprocal, and functional relationship with the environment. At the core of this definition is the goal of achieving an
overall person-environment ‘‘fit,’’ a congruence between their internal conditions and the conditions of the new
environment. Adaptation, thus, is an activity that is ‘‘almost always a compromise, a vector in the internal structure of
culture and the external pressure of environment’’ (Sahlins, 1964, p. 136).
Y.Y. Kim / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32 (2008) 359–368 363
What follows a successful, long-term, and cumulative management of the stress–adaptation disequilibrium is a
subtle and often imperceptible psychological growth in the sense of an increased complexity in an individual’s internal
system. Periods of stress pass as an individual works out new ways of handling problems, owing to the creative forces of
self-reflexivity of human mentation. Together, the concepts of stress, adaptation, and growth constitute three-pronged
experiences of the stress–adaptation–growth dynamic of psychological movement in the forward and upward direction of
increased chances of success in a changing or changed environment. Stress, in this regard, is intrinsic to complex open
systems and essential in the adaptation process—one that allows for self-(re)organization and self-renewal. The
stress–adaptation–growth dynamic does not play out in a smooth, steady, and linear progression, but in a dialectic,
cyclic, and continual ‘‘draw-back-to-leap’’ pattern. Each stressful experience is responded to with a ‘‘draw back’’ (or a
state of ‘‘regression’’), which, in turn, activates adaptive energy to help individuals reorganize themselves and ‘‘leap
forward.’’ As growth of some units always occurs at the expense of others, the adaptation process follows a pattern
that juxtaposes integration and disintegration, progression and regression, and novelty and confirmation. This
systems-theoretic explanation echoes Dubos’ (1965) view of human adaptation as ‘‘a dialectic between permanence and
change’’ (p. 2).
The stress–adaptation–growth process continues as long as there are new environmental challenges, with the overall
forward and upward movement in the direction of greater adaptation and growth. In this process, large and sudden changes
are more likely to occur during the initial phase of exposure to a new or changing cultural milieu. Such drastic changes are
themselves indicative of the severity of difficulties and disruptions. Over a prolonged period of undergoing internal change,
the diminishing fluctuations of stress and adaptation become less intense or severe, leading to an overall ‘‘calming’’ of our
internal condition, as depicted in Fig. 1.
4.3. Identity transformation: individuation and universalization
Emerging from the experiences of acculturation, deculturation, and the stress–adaptation–growth dynamic is an
emergence of intercultural identity—an open-ended, adaptive, and transformative self-other orientation. The concept,
intercultural identity, highlights one of the well-known central maxims for all living systems, that is, ‘‘The whole is greater
than the sum of its parts’’ (Ruben, 1972). It depicts a dynamic and integrative transformation of identity and, thus, is
differentiated from other similar terms that represent various forms of additions and subtractions of specific cultural
components such as ‘‘bicultural,’’ ‘‘multicultural,’’ ‘‘multiethnic,’’ and even ‘‘hybrid’’ identity. Existing terms close to
intercultural identity include ‘‘meta-identity,’’ ‘‘cosmopolitan’’ or ‘‘transcultural’’ identity, all of which indicate less dualistic
and more meta-contextual, conceptions of self and others rather than rigid boundedness vis-a`-vis conventional social
categories such as ethnicity or culture.
One of the two key elements of intercultural identity development is individuation that involves a clear self-definition
and definition of the other as a singular individual rather than a member of a conventional social category. With this
capacity, one is better able to see oneself and others on the basis of unique individual qualities rather than categorical
stereotypes. Individuation, thus, fosters a mental outlook that exhibits greater cognitive differentiation and
particularization (Oddou & Mendenhall, 1984). Accompanying individuation is universalization in self-other orientation,
a parallel development of a synergistic cognition ‘‘of a new consciousness. Universalization is born out of an awareness of
the relative nature of values and of the universal aspect of human nature’’ (Yoshikawa, 1978, p. 220). As people advance in
identity transformation process, they are better able to see the common humanity among different cultures and ethnicities,
and locate the points of consent and complementarity beyond the points of difference and contention. They are on the way
to being better able to overcome parochialism and form a vital outlook that is not locked in a provincial interest of one’s own
group membership, but one in which the individual sees himself or herself to be a part of a larger whole that includes other
groups as well.
Fig. 1. The stress–adaptation–growth dynamic (Source: Kim, 2001, p. 59).
Y.Y. Kim / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32 (2008) 359–368364
5. Data and illustrations
A broad array of research data offers a broad empirical support for the present theoretical accounts of acculturation and
deculturation, and of the interrelationship of intercultural stress and subsequent adaptation and growth leading to a gradual
identity transformation toward an increasingly intercultural personhood. Additional empirical evidence can be obtained
from a variety of publicly available personal accounts told in biographical stories that provide illuminating anecdotes on
intercultural identity transformation. (See Kim, 2001, for an extensive documentation of empirical studies as well as case
illustrations.)
5.1. Research evidence
Direct and indirect research evidence for the acculturation–deculturation process and the stress–adaptation–growth
dynamic comes largely from more than half a century of social scientific studies of immigrants and of temporary sojourners
conducted in the United States and many other parts of the world. Eaton and Lasry (1978), for example, reported that the
stress level of more upwardly mobile immigrants was greater than those who were less upwardly mobile. Among JapaneseAmericans
(Marmot & Syme, 1976) and Mexican-American women (Miranda & Castro, 1977), the better adapted immigrants
had initially experienced a somewhat greater frequency of stress-related symptoms (such as anxiety and a need for
psychotherapy) than the less adapted group. In addition, data from studies of temporary sojourners have shown similar
patterns of relationship between stress, adaptation, and growth. Findings from Ruben and Kealey’s (1979) study of Canadian
technical advisors in Nigeria, for example, suggested that those who were the most effective in their new environment
underwent the most intense culture shock during the initial transition period.
Similarly, in a study in Japan among college students from the United States and a number of other countries, Milstein
(2005) concluded that the sojourn experience resulted in increased levels of ‘‘self-efficacy.’’ Employing Kim’s (2001)
theoretical account of the stress–adaptation–growth dynamic, Milstein showed further that the increase in self-efficacy was
linked positively to the level of challenge the students reported to have experienced and to the eventual perceived success of
their sojourn. In another study employing a 15-month ethnographic fieldwork among American exchange students studying
in a college in France, Pitts (2007) has described in detail how, at various stages of the sojourn, the stress–adaptation–growth
dynamic plays out in the college students’ intercultural experiences and in their own verbal accounts thereof.
With respect to long-term, cumulative acculturation–deculturation and intercultural transformation, Suro (1998)
reported that Hispanics in the United States showed diminished Hispanic ‘‘cultural scripts’’ in their judgments and increased
social interactions with non-Hispanics. Similarly, Murphy-Shigematsu (1987) reported that Amerasians with firstgeneration
Japanese mothers and White American fathers struggled with their mixed racial and cultural conditions and were
successful in forming their authentic identity in society. Another study by Dasgupta (1983) indicated that Asian-Indian
immigrants were able to resolve the conflict between their traditional value of holism and ascription and the American
cultural values of individualism, achievement, and competition by dichotomizing and attaining a healthy balance between
primary ingroup relationships and achievement in their occupational lives in the larger society. Similar patterns of
intercultural identity development and emergence of intercultural personhood have been observed by Shearer (2003) in
native-born ‘‘mainstream’’ individuals, as well. Using a biographical case study method, Shearer examined two white
Australians’ intercultural communication experiences over the years. Through an in-depth interpretive analysis, Shearer
reported that the cases of two mainstream Australians show some evidence of intercultural personhood and make identity
claims comparable with minority ethnic individuals.
5.2. Case illustrations
Along with systematic research data such as the ones described above, information gleaned from publicly available firsthand
personal accounts of individuals whose life stories bear witness to concrete realities of intercultural persons. Such
accounts have appeared in case studies, memoirs, biographical stories, and essays of self-reflection. Many of these accounts,
including the three presented below as case illustrations, provide compelling empirical support for the present theoretical
articulation of intercultural identity and intercultural personhood.
5.2.1. Muneo Yoshikawa
One of the most succinct testimonials to the present conceptual formulation of intercultural personhood was offered by
Muneo Yoshikawa (1978) in terms of an individualized and universalized self-other orientation. As someone who had lived
in Japan and in the United States, Yoshikawa offered the following insight into his own psychological development—an
insight that captures the very essence of what it means to be an intercultural person:
I am now able to look at both cultures with objectivity as well as subjectivity; I am able to move in both cultures, back
and forth without any apparent conflict. . .I think that something beyond the sum of each [cultural] identification took
place, and that it became something akin to the concept of ‘‘synergy’’—when one adds 1 and 1, one gets three, or a little
more. This something extra is not culture-specific but something unique of its own, probably the emergence of a new
attribute or a new self-awareness, born out of an awareness of the relative nature of values and of the universal aspect of
Y.Y. Kim / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32 (2008) 359–368 365
human nature. . .I really am not concerned whether others take me as a Japanese or an American; I can accept myself as
I am. I feel I am much freer than ever before, not only in the cognitive domain (perception, thoughts, etc.), but also in
the affective (feeling, attitudes, etc.) and behavioral domains. (Italics added; p. 220)
5.2.2. Yo-Yo Ma
The many-faceted career of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, his life story, and his philosophy offer yet another testament to a continual
search for intercultural learning and synthesis. Born to Chinese parents living in Paris, he began to study the cello with his
father at age 4 and soon came with his family to New York, where he spent most of his formative years and received his
musical education at the Juilliard School. He draws inspiration from a wide circle of collaborators, and has explored music as
a means of intercultural communication and as a vehicle for the migrations of ideas across a range of cultures throughout the
world. In his own words posted on his website (www.yo-yoma.com), Ma explains his intercultural journey as follows:
In my musical journey I have had the opportunity to learn from a wealth of different musical voices—from the immense
compassion and grace of Bach’s cello suites, to the ancient Celtic fiddle traditions alive in Appalachia, to the soulful
strains of the bandoneon of Argentina’s tango cafes. Throughout my travels I have thought about the culture, religions
and ideas that have been influential for centuries along the historic land and sea routes that comprised the Silk Road,
and have wondered how these complex interconnections occurred and how new musical voices were formed from the
diversity of these traditions. . .In 1998, I founded the Silk Road Project to study the ebb and flow of ideas among different
cultures along the Silk Road, illuminating the heritages of its countries and identifying the voices that represent these
traditions today. Through this journey of discovery, the Silk Road Project hopes to plant the seeds of new artistic and
cultural growth, and to celebrate living traditions and musical voices throughout the world. (Italics added)
5.2.3. Orhan Pamuk
The creative insight into human conditions rooted in the life of intercultural personhood appears to have been also the
driving passion for the 2006 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk. Like Rushdie,
Pamuk is recognized for having captured in his writings new symbols for the interlacing of cultures. In an interview with the
National Public Radio following the Nobel Prize announcement (National Public Radio, October 12, 2006), Pamuk was
reminded by the interviewer that he had talked previously about ‘‘coming from one of those countries. . .on the periphery of
the Western world where the art was developed, and being one of those writers who is grabbing that art from the center to
the periphery and then producing something new to show the world’’ (Italics added). Pamuk reaffirmed this intercultural
focus in his work and explained his inclusive intercultural identity as follows.
My whole book, my whole life, is a testimony to the fact that East and West actually combine, come together gracefully
and produce something new. That is what I have been trying to do all my life. . .I don’t believe in clashes of civilization. I
think that was a fanciful idea which, unfortunately, is sometimes coming to be true. But no, I think that East and West
meet. I think that my whole work is a testimony to the fact that we should find ways of looking, combining East and West
without any clash, but with harmony, with grace, and produce something new for humanity. (Italics added)
6. Conclusion: toward intercultural personhood
There is a great deal of uncertainty and stress in our rapidly globalizing world. With the advent of electronic
communication and globalization, distance no longer dictates the extent of intercultural communication. Whether at home
or in a foreign soil, numerous people the world over are being challenged to undergo at least some degree of acculturation,
deculturation, and the experience of the stress–adaptation–growth dynamic. To the individuals, social organizations,
communities, and nations that are nostalgic for the age of certainty, permanence, and a fixed and unitary cultural identity,
this changing global reality can represent a particularly unsettling discontinuity and malaise. One may refuse to admit this
reality, but only at the cost of the immense effort of spending one’s life resisting or denying it. Such a psychological posture
may help one to ‘‘feel better,’’ at least temporarily, about oneself and one’s group. Yet it is also likely to engender a further
refusal to adapt.
The theoretical account presented in this essay offers a viable alternative vision of being oriented to oneself and to the
world that is more open, flexible, and inclusive. It speaks to the process a uniquely human plasticity, ‘‘our relative freedom
from programmed reflexive patterns. . . the very capacity to use culture to construct our identities’’ (Slavin & Kriegman, 1992,
p. 6). It projects a special kind of mindset in which cross-borrowing of identities is not an act of ‘‘surrendering’’ one’s personal
and cultural integrity, but an act of respect for cultural differences that leaves neither the lender nor the borrower deprived.
The dynamic and evolutionary concept of intercultural personhood is no less genuine than the familiar ways of being and
relating. It points to a way of existence that strives to embrace and incorporate seemingly divergent cultural elements into
something new and unique. Intercultural personhood projects a way of relating to oneself and to fellow human beings with
greater objectivity, realism, and evenhandedness.
It is, in the end, up to each person to decide for himself or herself as to how one wishes to relate to changing global cultural
environment. The intercultural outlooks on self, others, and life are represented by the integrative thoughts of Muneo
Yoshikawa, Yo-Yo Ma, and Orhan Pamuk. It is individuals such as these in which the viability of the present model of
intercultural personhood rests. They represent numerous others around the world who bear witness to the remarkable
Y.Y. Kim / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32 (2008) 359–368366
human spirit and capacity for self-renewal vis-a`-vis the globalizing world. Their individuated and universalized identity
orientations defy the simplistic and conventional categorizations of people and reveal a way of being in the world. Instead,
their intercultural orientations can help to hold together, integrate, and elevate diverse cultures, to help fellow citizens see
their collective ‘‘blind spots,’’ and to discourage excessive claims for cultural identity. Their personal insights show a way of
being in the world that nurtures the primacy of individual freedom in meeting one of the singular challenges of our time, that
is, the necessity of what Toffler (1980) referred to as the ‘‘personality of transcendence’’:
[The individual] must reach out in totally new ways to anchor himself, for all the old groups—religion, nation,
community, family or profession—are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust of
change. . .each time we link up with some particular subcultural group or groups, we make some change in our self
image.’’ (pp. 121–123)
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