|
|
Most often, as professors, researchers, and students, immigrant scholars are faced with the challenge of adapting their styles, personality, expertise, and prior different experiences and expectations to local requirements for effective practice within the confines of academe, which is a challenge separate from the challenges they face together with other immigrants in the wider community. In the universities and colleges that are their haven, their authority is challenged, their pedagogies are called into question or found inappropriate or wanting, their accents are considered strange and incomprehensible, and their ways of going about their daily tasks are considered quaint. On the other hand, immigrant scholars may find that they feel inadequate and unable to relate effectively in ways that can create engaging and effective learning opportunities for their students; additionally, they may feel rather outdated. Many often feel tokenized, and some carry the unenviable burden of the responsibility of representing to their host-campus populations other minorities or cultures with which they are themselves unfamiliar. As international students, their expectations for campus and classroom practices may be inaccurate, and their responses to class practices may be misperceived by the local professors and colleagues. There is, thus, much to be said for stress, tension, challenges, and opportunities that immigrant scholars can experience during their acculturation process in the host academic environment. The host population, no less, passes through difficulties in relating to the newcomers; as a result, both sides need to deal with issues that confront them so that they are able to relate better and function effectively. The chapters in this book seek to contribute to airing such experiences in the hope that university and college administrators, the campus population, and immigrant scholars will be able to learn one or two things that will improve on-campus intercommunication across cultures.
Most chapters in this book rely on an action research framework. The authors systematically reflected upon and assessed their classroom/lab interactions and their everyday professional experiences as immigrants in academia. The chapters are framed by a mix of methodological approaches including conceptual, theoretical, and interpretive