By ALEXANDER DOLITSKY
According to prominent American sociologist Joseph Elton, “Acculturation is the adoption of cultural traits, norms and customs by one society from another… There is no clear line [that] can be drawn between acculturation and assimilation processes. Assimilation is the end–product of a process of acculturation, in which an individual has changed so much as to become dissociated from the value system of his group, or in which the entire group disappears as an autonomously functioning social system.”
Acculturation and assimilation to a new culture by newcomers is a personal and self-determined process—the right to make one’s own decisions without interference from others. No one can force a newly arrived legal and properly vetted immigrant to accept the cultural traditions, lifestyle, and customs of his/her new country. The newcomer himself must see a socio–economic necessity and benefits in accepting new traditions and values to ultimately embrace and accept his/her new culture without external influence.
Indeed, language, religion, education, economics, technology, social organization, art, appearance and political structure are typical categories of culture. Culture is a uniquely human system of habits, moral values, and customs carried by the society from one’s distant past to the present.
True, for a newcomer’s adaptation, these socio-economic and cultural categories are essential for survival in a foreign environment. Nevertheless, changing/adapting people’s behavior (e.g., temperament, manners, demeanor, gestures, conducts, actions, bearing, comportment, preferences, motivation, ambition, etc.) is the most critical obstacle for acculturation and assimilation to new cultural traditions. To assimilate to a new socio-economic environment, newcomers often face culture shocks, as I did in my early days in the United States.
I was born and raised in an internationally isolated, socially closed and predominantly Caucasian socialist society—Kiev, former Soviet Union. While riding public transportation in Kiev, I would occasionally be in the presence of a student from Africa and, as everybody else, I would stare at this person with an epistemic curiosity. In fact, it was only upon my arrival to the United States (Philadelphia) in February of 1978 that I, for the first time, interacted with black people and other ethnic minorities daily in various public places; I have not had any preconceptions about or prejudice toward blacks or other ethnic groups in America—absolutely none.
Initially, as a young emigree in my mid-20s in the United States, I held various menial minimum-wage jobs: I shoveled snow, painted houses, assisted in various construction projects, washed dishes and served customers in the restaurants, and participated in several archaeological projects for Temple University, etc.
In 1979, I successfully completed the course of study in mixology and customer service and passed all necessary tests given by the Philadelphia Professional Bartenders School.
Soon after my completion of the bartender school, I was called for an interview in one of the unassuming bars in southwest Philadelphia, a large area encompassing Philadelphia International Airport and several residential districts, with streets lined with row houses. Southwest Philadelphia’s demographics included a large West African community and a population that was about 70% black, 25% white, and 5% Asian.
Upon arriving for the interview in the early afternoon, the owner of the bar (middle-aged black man) greeted me and briefly checked my credentials. “You must be a qualified bartender,” he acknowledged, glaring directly into my eyes. “But look around you, what do you see?” he continued, pointing to the surroundings. There were 5-6 black customers in the smokey bar observing the scene of the interview. “You will never make it here, you don’t belong here,” declared the owner. He then showed me to the door.
A week later I found a bartending job in the Greek “Dionysus Restaurant” in Society Hill, which is nestled in the heart of historic Philadelphia, a picturesque enclave known for its well-preserved Georgian and Federal-style homes. For about a year, I sincerely enjoyed my work, as well as my humorous Greek coworkers, traditional Greek dancing, generous customers, delicious food and the authentic environment of the restaurant until I departed for the Graduate School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in the Fall of 1980.
In 1983, after receiving my M.A. in anthropology from Brown University, I was enrolled in the Ph.D. program in anthropology at Bryn Mawr College until the Summer of 1985. Bryn Mawr is located on the Main Line of the western suburbs of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue. It is a long-established upper-middle class area, incorporating small cities of Overbrook, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford and Bryn Mawr.
My stipend at Bryn Mawr College was only $400 per month; I had to supplement my income by working the night shift as a security officer at the Bryn Mawr College and as a waiter in a small restaurant in Ardmore for several hours in the early afternoon. The restaurant in Ardmore was owned by a Jewish family and mostly visited during lunch hours by middle-aged and elderly white customers from the neighboring Main Line cities. The ambiance in the restaurant was pleasant and the food was delicious.
Frankly, I was a lousy waiter; I was always tired after my night shift and mentally preoccupied with my studies. However, my coworker, a young black man in his early 20s, was a thorough and energetic waiter. He was quick, clean, disciplined, punctual, served customers efficiently and remembered all items in the menu from A to Z. He was also a hard-working student at the Philadelphia Community College. In observing this young man and his work ethic, I could predict that he was going to succeed in life and fulfill his dreams and aspirations. And, eventually, regardless of his race and ethnic background, all doors would be open for him in our country.
Indeed, the process of acculturation and assimilation can be long and turbulent for many legal newcomers. It is critical, therefore, for American society to be inclusive, tolerant, and educated in cross–cultural communication to welcome legal and properly vetted newcomers to our multi-ethnic and exceptional country.
Alexander B. Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev in the former Soviet Union. He received an M.A. in history from Kiev Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine, in 1976; an M.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Brown University in 1983; and was enroled in the Ph.D. program in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also a lecturer in the Russian Center. In the U.S.S.R., he was a social studies teacher for three years, and an archaeologist for five years for the Ukranian Academy of Sciences. In 1978, he settled in the United States. Dolitsky visited Alaska for the first time in 1981, while conducting field research for graduate school at Brown. He lived first in Sitka in 1985 and then settled in Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was a U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and social scientist. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at the Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education from 1988 to 2006; and has been the Director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center (see www.aksrc.homestead.com) from 1990 to present. He has conducted about 30 field studies in various areas of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky has been a lecturer on the World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus, and Clipper Odyssey vessels in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. He was the Project Manager for the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Memorial, which was erected in Fairbanks in 2006. He has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology, and ethnography. His more recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka; Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia; Old Russia in Modern America: Russian Old Believers in Alaska; Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During WWII; Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Folktales of the Russian Far East; Living Wisdom of the Far North: Tales and Legends from Chukotka and Alaska; Pipeline to Russia; The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in WWII; and Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of the Russian Old Believers; Ancient Tales of Chukotka, and Ancient Tales of Kamchatka.