The interplay of acculturation attitudes, cultural beliefs and educational values in negotiating my identity as an Indo-Australian academic

One of the key debates within acculturation theory is to clearly demarcate the differences between integration and assimilation. These concepts are central to understanding acculturation and the ways of finding one’s identity amid getting accustomed to new cultural and social norms through migration experiences. In this chapter, I explore my own experiences with acculturation, cultural beliefs and educational values in negotiating my identity as an Indo-Australian transnational woman and an academic. I first borrow on Berry’s (1997) theoretical concepts on acculturation, thereby highlighting the need to understand migration experiences of transnational women academics such as myself, since my move to Australia from India in 2005. Using auto-ethnography, I critically review my push-pull experiences in negotiating my emerging identity as an Australian teacher educator and academic. This chapter concludes by opening an ongoing conversation with educational policy practitioners in addressing the need to offer more integrated opportunities and space to immigrant women for sharing of their educational experiences, acculturation processes and negotiation of identities as informed by their personal lives and professional careers in host countries.