Cover not available
Part of
Exploring the Ambivalence of Liquid Racism: In between antiracist and racist discourse
Edited by Argiris Archakis and Villy Tsakona
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 341] 2024
► pp. 93–117

Chapter 4
What culture?

Supranational cultural norms in the construction of the cultural adaptation of refugee children by employees in an NGO for unaccompanied refugee children

| Democritus University of Thrace
| Democritus University of Thrace
Acculturation theory and research has examined the changes in cultural patterns that people undergo when they enter a new cultural milieu. Berry’s (2001, 2005) seminal model has been a very influential theoretical framework but several criticisms have been yielded over the years, one of which argues that the notion of culture within acculturation research is undertheorized. In our chapter, we examine how people who work for an NGO that looks after unescorted refugee children talk about the acculturation of refugee children. Participants often argued that refugee children should not adopt Greek cultural elements but supranational cultural norms and values. It is argued that this may be a form of liquid racism (Weaver 2011a), an ambivalent form of racism which on the one hand denies its racist undertones, while on the other hand may covertly promote assimilation. In our data, participants often argued for the maintenance of children’s culture, while on the other hand they constructed it as deficient, failing to match western European standards or not respecting women rights.
Keywords: acculturation, liquid racism, refugees, Critical Discursive Social Psychology, ideological dilemmas
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Berry’s model of acculturation: Critical advances and its relation to culture
  • 3.Liquid racism and ambivalence
  • 4.Method
    • 4.1The context of the study
    • 4.2Participants and interviewing
    • 4.3Coding and analytical method
  • 5.Analysis
    • 5.1Greece as an exemplar country of law and order
    • 5.2Adaptation to the European culture
    • 5.3Creating cultural distance through the role of women in Muslim societies
    • 5.4Banal culture and cultural adaptation
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 February 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.341.04sap
References (53)
References
Archakis, Argiris. 2022. “Tracing Racism in Antiracist Narrative Texts Online.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 45 (7): 1261–1282. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Archakis, Argiris, and Villy Tsakona. 2016. “Legitimizing and Resistance Identities in Immigrant Students’ School Essays: Towards a Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy.” Brno Studies in English 42 (1): 5–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bartlett, Lesley, Mary Mendenhall, and Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher. 2017. “Culture in Acculturation: Refugee Youth’s Schooling Experiences in International Schools in New York City.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 60: 109–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bauman, Zygmunt. 1998. Globalization: The Human Consequences. European Perspectives. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
. 2000. Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Berry, John W. 1997. “Immigration, Acculturation, and Adaptation.” Applied Psychology: An International Review 46 (1): 5–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berry, John W. 2001. “A Psychology of Immigration.” Journal of Social Issues 57 (3): 615–631. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berry, John W. 2005. “Acculturation: Living Successfully in Two Cultures.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 29: 697–712. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008. “Globalization and Acculturation.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32: 328–336. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Billig, Michael. 1988. “The Notion of Prejudice: Rhetorical and Ideological Aspects.” Text 8 (1–2): 91–110.Google Scholar
. 1994. “Sod Baudrillard! Or Ideology Critique in Disney World.” In After Postmodernism: Reconstructing Ideology Critique, edited by Herbert W. Simons, and Michael Billig, 150–171. Inquires in Social Construction Series. London: Sage.Google Scholar
. 1995. Banal Nationalism. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Billig, Michael, Susan Condor, Derek Edwards, Mike Gane, David Middleton, and Alan Radley. 1988. Ideological Dilemmas: A Social Psychology of Everyday Thinking. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Birman, Dina, and Corrina D. Simon. 2014. “Acculturation Research: Challenges, Complexities, and Possibilities”. In APA Handbook of Multicultural Psychology, Vol. 1: Theory and Research, edited by Frederick T. L. Leong, Lilian Comas-Diaz, Gordon C. Nagayama Hall, Vonnie C. McLoyd, and Joseph E. Trimble, 207–230. APA Handbooks in Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bourhis, Richard Y., Lena C. Moise, Stephane Perreault, and Sacha Senécal. 1997. “Towards an Interactive Acculturation Model: A Social Psychological Approach.” International Journal of Psychology 32 (6): 369–386. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bozatzis, Nikos. 2009. “Occidentalism and Accountability: Constructing Culture and Cultural Difference in Majority Greek Talk about the Minority in Western Thrace.” Discourse and Society 20 (4): 431–453. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2005. «Αναπαριστώντας ‘Εμάς’, ‘Αυτούς’ κι ‘Εμάς σαν Αυτούς’: Ταυτότητες εν δράσει στο λόγο του Ελληνικού τύπου για την κρίση των Ιμίων και τους σεισμούς στην Τουρκία [Representing ‘Us’, ‘Them’ and ‘Us like Them’: Identities in action in Greek press discourse on the Imia crisis and the earthquakes in Turkey].» In ΜΜΕ, κοινωνία και πολιτική: Ρόλος και λειτουργία στη σύγχρονη Ελλάδα [Mass media, society and politics: Their role and function in Modern Greece], edited by Χρήστος A. Φραγκονικολόπουλος, 347–380. Athens: I. Sideris. [in Greek]Google Scholar
Broesch, James, and Craig Hadley. 2012. “Putting Culture back into Acculturation: Identifying and Overcoming Gaps in the Definition and Measurement of Acculturation.” The Social Science Journal 49 (3): 375–385. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chirkov, Valery. 2009. “Critical Psychology of Acculturation: What Do We Study and How Do We Study It when We Investigate Acculturation?” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33: 94–105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chtouris, Sotiris, and DeMond S. Miller. 2017. “Refugee Flows and Volunteers in the Current Humanitarian Crisis in Greece.” Journal of Applied Security Research 12 (1): 61–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Condor, Susan. 2011. “Rebranding Britain? Ideological Dilemmas in Political Appeals to ‘British Multiculturalism’.” In Nationalism, Ethnicity, Citizenship: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, edited by Martin Barrett, Chris Flood, and John Eade, 101–134. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Edwards, Derek, and Jonathan Potter. 1992. Discursive Psychology. Inquires in Social Construction Series. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Fairclough, Norman. 2000. New Labor, New Language? London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Figgou, Lia, Antonis Sapountzis, Anieza Gorrea, and Panos Tzouvelekis. 2019. “Acculturation as Intergenerational Trajectory and Accountability Concerns in Immigrant Youth Discourse.” Discourse and Society 30 (5): 465–481. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gordon, Milton M. 1964. Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion and National Origins. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hewitt, John, and Randall Stokes. 1975. “Disclaimers.” American Sociological Review 40 (1): 1–11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jefferson, Gail. 1990. “List Construction as a Task and Resource.” In Interactional Competence, edited by George Psathas, 63–92. Lanham: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Kotsiou, Ourania, David S. Srivastava, Panagiotis Kotsios, Aristomenis K. Exadaktylos, and Konstantinos I. Gourgoulianis. 2018. “The Emergency Medical System in Greece: Opening Aeolus’ Bag of Winds.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 15 (4): 745. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lechuga, Julia. (2008). “Is Acculturation a Dynamic Construct?: The Influence of Method of Priming Culture on Acculturation.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 30 (3): 324–339. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lester, Rebeca. 2004. “Eating Disorders and the Problem of ‘Culture’ in Acculturation.” Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 28 (4): 607–615. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mancini, Tiziana, and Benedetta Bottura. 2014. “Acculturation Processes and Intercultural Relations in Peripheral and Central Domains among Native Italian and Migrant Adolescents: An Application of the Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM).” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 40: 49–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Michos, Ioannis, Lia Figgou, and Antonis Sapountzis. 2020. “Constructions of Participatory Democracy Institutions and Same-sex Union Rights in Online Public Deliberation in Greece.” Political Psychology 41 (5): 1013–1029. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Navas, Marisol, María C. García, Juan Sánchez, Antonio J. Rojas, Pablo Pumares, and Juan S. Fernández. 2005. “Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM): New Contributions with regard to the Study of Acculturation.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 29: 21–37. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Navas, Marisol, Antonio J. Rojas, María C. García, and Pablo Pumares. 2007. “Acculturation Strategies and Attitudes according to the Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM): The Perspectives of Natives versus Immigrants.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 31: 67–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
NCSS [National Center for Social Solidarity]. 2019. «Επικαιροποιημένα Στατιστικά Στοιχεία για την Κατάσταση των Ασυνόδευτων Ανηλίκων στη Χώρα [Updated data on unescorted minors in the country].» Available at: [URL] (accessed 19/6/2022). [in Greek]
Pappas, Nicolas, and Andreas Papatheodorou. 2017. “Tourism and the Refugee Crisis in Greece: Perceptions and Decision Making of Accommodation Providers.” Tourism Management 63: 31–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piontkowski, Ursula, Arnd Florack, Paul Hoelker, and Peter Obdrzálek. 2000. “Predicting Acculturation Attitudes of Dominant and Non-dominant Groups.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 24: 1–26. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piontkowski, Ursula, Anette Rohmann, and Arnd Florack. 2002. “Concordance of Acculturation Attitudes and Perceived Threat.” Group Processes and Intergroup Relation 5 (3): 221–232. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pomerantz, Anita. 1986. “Extreme Case Formulations: A Way of Legitimating Claims.” Human Studies 9: 219–229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Potter, Jonathan. 1996. Representing Reality: Discourse, Rhetoric and Social Construction. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Potter, Jonathan, and Margaret Wetherell. 1987. Discourse and Social Psychology: Beyond Attitudes and Behavior. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Psathas, George, and Timothy Anderson. 1990. “The “practices” of transcription in conversation analysis.” Semiotica 78 (1/2): 75–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rudmin, Floyd W. 2009. “Constructs, Measurements, and Models of Acculturation and Acculturative Stress.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33: 106–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sam, David L., and John W. Berry. 2010. “Acculturation: When Individuals and Groups of Different Cultural Backgrounds Meet.” Perspectives on Psychological Science 5 (4): 472–481. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sapountzis, Antonis, and Maria Xenitidou. 2018. “Criteria of Citizenship and Social Inclusion in Immigrants’ Discourse in Greece.” Qualitative Psychology 5 (1): 155–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Skleparis, Dimitris, and Ioannis Armakolas. 2016. “The Refugee Crisis and the Role of NGOs, Civil Society, and Media in Greece.” In Balkan Human Corridor: Essays on the Refugee and Migrant Crisis from Scholars and Opinion Leaders in Southeast Europe, edited by David L. Phillips, 171–184. New York: Columbia University, Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR).Google Scholar
Tilley, John J. 2000. “Cultural relativism”. Human Rights Quarterly 22:501–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsakona, Villy, Rania Karachaliou, and Argiris Archakis. 2020. “Liquid Racism in the Greek Anti-racist Campaign #StopMindBorders.” Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 8 (2): 232–261. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wetherell, Margaret. 1998. “Positioning and Interpretative Repertoires: Conversation Analysis and Post-structuralism in Dialogue.” Discourse and Society 9 (3): 387–412. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wetherell, Margaret, and Jonathan Potter. 1992. Mapping the Language of Racism: Discourse and the Legitimation of Exploitation. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Weaver, Simon. 2011a. The Rhetoric of Racist Humor. Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
. 2011b. “Liquid Racism and the Ambiguity of Ali G.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 14 (3): 249–264. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wooffitt, Robin. 1992. Telling Tales of the Unexpected: The Organization of Factual Accounts. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar