The flux of emergent ties in the city-state: Understanding the role of mobile phones in the acculturation of Christian Indian migrant workers in Singapore. Chib, A., I. & Aricat, R., G. In IAMCR 2011 - Istanbul.
abstract   bibtex   
The issue of intercultural adaptation of migrants gets a new dimension with the emergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as the increasingly proliferating technology of the mobile phone, and to a lesser extent, the internet (Ho, Kluver & Yang, 2003; Thomas & Lim, 2011). International migrant workers with temporary work permits are decreasingly engaging with the ethnic communities of the host culture as the former’s roots in the home culture are strengthened routinely by their ICT use. Thus, intercultural communication scholars (Flannery, Reise & Yu, 2001; Ryan, Sales, Tilki & Siara, 2008) are being pushed into a theoretical dilemma as to what extent intercultural adaptation is possible among migrant workers. A case study among an Indian sub-ethnic community in Singapore shows that ICTs actually hinder their cultural adaptation process. We conducted in-depth interviews with 20 male participants (on-going research), who ranged in age from 20-34 years, and comprised of a variety of low-skilled employees, namely, general technician, rigger, fitter etc. ICTs ensure better communication channels for these migrant workers in Singapore, the communication as mainly intra-group and hence hinders their acculturation process with the other groups comprising the local host culture. Through mobile phones and Computer-Mediated-Communication networks migrants associate themselves with their own ethnic community members in host culture. Goal-oriented attempts to use ICTs in the host culture are few and far between.
@inProceedings{
 title = {The flux of emergent ties in the city-state: Understanding the role of mobile phones in the acculturation of Christian Indian migrant workers in Singapore},
 type = {inProceedings},
 websites = {http://iamcr-ocs.org/index.php/2011/2011/paper/view/1175},
 city = {Istanbul},
 id = {af33ed48-f334-334f-9094-0f501458965b},
 created = {2012-03-18T18:21:13.000Z},
 accessed = {2012-03-18},
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 last_modified = {2013-02-26T17:49:35.000Z},
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 language = {en},
 abstract = {The issue of intercultural adaptation of migrants gets a new dimension with the emergence of information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as the increasingly proliferating technology of the mobile phone, and to a lesser extent, the internet (Ho, Kluver & Yang, 2003; Thomas & Lim, 2011). International migrant workers with temporary work permits are decreasingly engaging with the ethnic communities of the host culture as the former’s roots in the home culture are strengthened routinely by their ICT use. Thus, intercultural communication scholars (Flannery, Reise & Yu, 2001; Ryan, Sales, Tilki & Siara, 2008) are being pushed into a theoretical dilemma as to what extent intercultural adaptation is possible among migrant workers. A case study among an Indian sub-ethnic community in Singapore shows that ICTs actually hinder their cultural adaptation process. 
We conducted in-depth interviews with 20 male participants (on-going research), who ranged in age from 20-34 years, and comprised of a variety of low-skilled employees, namely, general technician, rigger, fitter etc. ICTs ensure better communication channels for these  migrant workers in Singapore, the communication as mainly intra-group and hence hinders their acculturation process with the other groups comprising the local host culture. Through mobile phones and Computer-Mediated-Communication networks migrants associate themselves with their own ethnic community members in host culture. Goal-oriented attempts to use ICTs in the host culture are few and far between.},
 bibtype = {inProceedings},
 author = {Chib, Arul I and Aricat, Rajiv G.},
 booktitle = {IAMCR 2011 - Istanbul}
}

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