Acculturation and Integration Patterns among Indian and African University Students in South Africa

Abstract

South Africa is a country in transition. Apartheid, akin to “ethnic cleansing”, created a siege ingroup mentality. The 1994 democratic elections ushered in the “Rainbow” nation. In this historical context, this exploratory study of acculturation and integration to western culture by young people of non–western origins was conducted. A sample of 63 African and 106 Indian, male and female students at the University of Durban–Westville (now part of the University of KwaZulu–Natal) was administered the Berry Acculturation Scale (1986), Naidoo Measure of Value Preferences (1986), and Triandis Individualism–Collectivism Scale (1990). Questions posed were: (a) What mode of acculturation to western culture do African and Indian students prefer; (b) what values do they admire and adopt from the dominant western individualistic value systems; (c) do these cultural groups retain ancestral collectivist values; and (d) what intergroup social/work contacts occur. Significant findings were obtained based on appropriate ANOVAS for data derived from the two ethnic groups and genders for the three measures used. Both groups shared commonalities, favouring integration of ancestral collectivist and western individualistic values; both expressed selectivity to western values. Both groups desired western education, careers, and opportunity for all, but also wanted to retain core collectivist family values. Indians felt strongly about the retention of religious values; Africans were staunch Christian. Women participants looked to the western culture for new feminist values. Indians had lost their ancestral languages but both shared English. The implications of the commonalities for ethno–gender co–existence in “Rainbow” South Africa have been discussed.

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