Revisiting cross-cultural adaptation: An embodied approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article provides an embodied approach to theorizing cross-cultural adaptation. I argue that a more diverse and holistic view of adaptation pays attention to the body as an experiencing subject in adaptation contexts. Engaging body geopolitics as guiding a concept, embodied approach to adaptation is a processual experiential approach in which the body engages intersubjective interactions that shapes a newcomer’s adaptation experiences. Using the autoethnographic analytic method, I examined my adaptation experiences as an African postcolonial migrant in the United States. I categorized these experiences into three interconnected situations: the felt geographies of my body, the corporeal experience of adaptation, and disidentification and geopolitics of my body. I theorized that adaptation is non-linear, and its complexity can be understood when the body is studied as the adapting subject.