After Shocks! The Good, the Bad and the Unintended Consequences of Coming Home

1. After Shocks!The Good, the Bad and the Unintended Consequences of Coming Home International Families in Global Transition 10th Anniversary Conference Houston, Texas March 6-8, 2008

2. Session Presenter Bruce La Brack, Ph.D. blabrack@pacific.edu School of International Studies University of the Pacific Stockton, California

4. Sentimental View Home Sweet Home

5. Ironic View “Home……where they are no longer foreigners…, where they don’t have to think before they speak or act, and where they needn’t ever worry again about having to adjust. Home: where it’s easy.” Source: Storti, 1990, p. 99

6. Cynics View “Home…is where when you have to go there they have to take you in!” Source: Unknown

7. Session Focus The Varieties of Reentry and Why They May Have Different Consequences

8. Session Overview Reentry Definition Types of After Shocks and Variability Common Assumptions about Reentry Models of Reentry - Pre- and Post-Modern Traditional Characteristics 20th & 21st Century Patterns Global Nomad vs. Expat Patterns Complex Training Implications New Challenges in Reentry

9. Types of AftershocksEncountering the Unfamiliar After Entering Another Culture • Culture Shockcomes from the natural contradiction between our accustomed patterns of behavior and the psychological conflict of attempting to maintain them in the new cultural environment. While the time of onset is variable, it usually occurs within a few weeks/months of entering a new culture and is a normal, healthy reaction.

10. Initial Culture Shock Characteristics & Responses • Culture shock is common • There are ways to minimize its effects • Accept that it is a real phenomenon • Learn to recognize its signs • Can result in serious reaction to continuing tension; anxiety; disconfirmation of behavior; possible severe physical/mental manifestations (e.g., anger, displaced aggression, “freeze”, health issues)

11. Reentry ShockEncountering the Familiar After Returning Home • Reactions that occur as a result of re-adaptation to our home culture; often called “reverse culture shock”; shares some aspects in common with culture shock, but timing of stages very different. • Added complication of surprise: returnees usually don’t expect home culture to be unreceptive to them or to be so difficult to come back to.

12. Reentry can = Reverse Mirror What was once ‘strange’ overseas has become ‘familiar’… …and what was ‘familiar’ at home has become ‘strange’.

13. Suggested Definition Reentry… the process or act of returning to one's native (passport) country after living or working internationally.

14. Reentry • …requires a period of readjustment just as much as moving abroad does. • …often, but not always, it is the last stage of post-sojourn cultural adaptation • …experiences are unique -- there are few generic versions although there are patterns • …may begin before you leave home and may never end

15. Reentry Variability • Expectations of self and others can play major role in adjustment process, and be a source of ongoing stress. • Specific context of reentry always a crucial variable. • Contexts always exhibit variety even within categories of returnees (e.g. Global Nomads, MK’s, Military, Business)

16. Types of Returnees* • Study Abroad Students • International Exchange/Foreign Students • Missionaries (aka MK’s or Missionary Kids) • International Business (including expat families) • Military (aka ‘Military Brats’) • TCK/Global Nomad • International Development/Aid • Diplomatic Corps • Peace Corps-type Organizations

17. Types of Returnees*, cont. 10. International Education 11. International Health Staff 12. Journalists/Media 13. Hospitality Industry • Refugee/Political Exiles • Professional Athletes * Note: these are not exclusive, separate categories but cross-cutting, especially with GN/TCK groups Developed by Bruce La Brack, School of International Studies, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA.

18. Common Assumptions on Why Reentry “Home” is Potentially Difficult • Unanticipated change – “home” is a given • Unadjusted expectations or false expectations • Heightened critical sense • Comparative frameworks (new perspectives)

19. More Assumptions • May be little opportunity for application or sharing of non-technical knowledge • Unprocessed experience • Getting socially up-to-speed may be frustrating • Reverse “home sickness”

20. The conception of being able to ‘choose’ how one will reenter one’s society…or of simply exercising ‘options’ regarding how one will or will not readjust to being home… is a wholly modern mindset!

21. Pusch’s Reentry Styles “Going Home: Styles of Reentry” by Margaret D. Pusch In Donal Lynch, Adrian Pilbeam and Philip O'Connor, Heritage and Progress, fromconference proceedings, SIETAR-Europa Conference, Bath, England, 1998.

23. Reassimilation/Reacculturation/Resocialization Dominant historical patterns characterized by: • Reinforcement of normative traditional values is paramount and applied society-wide • Deviation/non-conformity almost always results in negative sanctions • Communal social pressure to conform often intense and unrelenting

24. Reassimilation/Reacculturation/Resocialization Dominant historical patterns characterized by: • Limited ability or opportunity of returnee to use prior experience • Cultural variations are mainly structural and depend on type of society (e.g., tribal, peasant, industrial) and location (e.g., rural, urban, metropolitan) • Limited mobility and/or alternative options

25. Fit in or Suffer the Consequences! For 99% of human history, the role of the “returnee” was to fit back into prevailing cultural rules and roles of a specific society or kin group. The penalties for not doing so have ranged from ostracism to extreme isolation, banishment, and even death!

26. Shift in Goals of Repatriation Current philosophy of many study abroad and international exchange programs (at least in the West) revolves around a focus on Individual Growth: • Direct cross-cultural learning and exploration • Personal and cultural diversity seen as normal, positive and encouraged • Integration of sojourn with home academic and social life desired/expected to some extent

27. Shift in Goals of Repatriation • Result is a positive bias towards applying and integrating international experience into ongoing life and work post-experience.

28. Expansion of Possibilities for Returnees Reassimilation/Reacculturation/Resocialization models remain common world-wide, however… • Adaptation of Growth and Integration Models Common in Western Culture and among some strata of Asian societies are increasing More individualistic examples have emerged as alternative models that support readjustment strategies for both institutions and individuals, reflected in growing differentiation of “reentry styles.”

29. New Issues and Contexts in Reentry • Global Nomads as percentage of returnees • “Heritage-seeking” students and attendant identity issues • “Revolvers” (where and when is “home”?)

30. New Issues and Contexts in Reentry • “Sequential Assignments” without meaningful time “at home” to readjust • Attractive global alternatives (“just leave”) and local alternatives (“just stay”—but with limited networks and narrow comfort zones) • Veterans (PTSD and reverse culture shock)

31. Influences on Adjustment • Time Abroad • Location (degree of difference) • Prior Exposure Overseas • Extent of Immersion • Home Contact/Support Networks • Prior Reentry Experience(s) • Degree of Home Culture Contrast

32. Reentry Predictor Variables • Control Factors • Intrapersonal Factors (personality/idiopathic issues) • Somatic/Biological Factors (medical/mental/environmental) • Interpersonal (external support) • Time/Space (duration & locale) • Geopolitical (national/international)

33. Intensity Factors Adapted to Returnee Contexts 1. Cultural Differences 2. Ethnocentrism 3. Language 4. Cultural Immersion* 5. Cultural Isolation* 6. Prior Intercultural Experience* 7. Expectations* 8. Visibility/Invisibility 9. Status* 10. Power and Control* *may be particularly salient in reentry contexts Source: R. Michael Paige. “On the Nature of Intercultural Experiences and Intercultural Education,” in R. Michael Paige, ed., Education for the Intercultural Experience, Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press, 1994.

34. Global Nomads & Third Culture Kidsas Special Categories of Returnees

40. Positive Aspects of Global Nomads Expanded World View Linguistic Ability Cross-Cultural Skills Maturity Independence

41. Negative Aspects of Global Nomads Sense of Rootlessness Insecurity Sadness and Grief Sense of Loss Culturally Out-of-Step Developmentally Out-of-Step

42. Global Nomad Stages of Evolution • Cultural Sponge - Childhood • Cultural Chameleon - Expat GN Life • Hidden Immigrant - Repatriation • Transnationalist - Career/Life

43. Common Attitude “At Home Everywhere and Nowhere”

44. Quote from The Immigrants If you came back, you wanted to leave again; if you went away, you longed to come back. Where ever you were, you could hear the call of the homeland…You had one home out there and one over here, and yet you were an alien in both places. Your true abiding place was the vision of something very far off, and your soul was like the waves, always restless, forever in motion.

45. Global Nomads David C. Pollock & Ruth Van Reken Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds,2nd ed. Intercultural Press, 2001 Pico Iyer The Global Soul: Jet Lag. Shopping Mallsand the Search for Home Knopf, 2000

46. Corporate Reentry Goal-focused Career Centered Significant Ambiguity Problematic for Company Family Stressor

47. “The illusion that it is easy to return home after an expanded overseas living and working experience is shared both by expatriate employees and their employers. This common misconception can lead to a variety of problems, from individual concerns such as disappointment, boredom, depression and anger to company issues…

48. …concerns such as low employee productivity, and effective use of skills and knowledge gained from the overseas experience, and a loss in revenue due to high turnover rates in returned expatriate employee.” Source: J. Greenberg, 1997

49. Expat Allegiance Patterns Expatriates grouped into one of four allegiance patterns: • Free Agent: Expats who have low allegiance to both the parent firm and the local unit • Going Native: Expats who have a low allegiance to the parent firm and high allegiance to the local unit • Hearts-at-home pattern: Expats who identify more strongly with the parent firm than with the local operation • Dual Citizen pattern: Expats are highly committed to both parent and local operation Source: Black, J. Stewart, and Gregersen, Hal B. ” Serving Two Masters: Managing the Dual Allegiance of Expatriate Employees,” Sloan Management Review, Cambridge, Summer 1992

50. New Challenges in Reentry Training • Greater domestic and international variety in types of returnees than ever before • Their experiences, expectations, and reactions will exhibit greater complexity, range and, sometimes, intensity • Alternative adjustment possibilities are often extensive, but choosing among or recommending them can be difficult