Cross-Cultural Adaptation in the Discourse of Education and Teaching: An Autoethnography of a Female Colombian Immigrant in Academia in the United States

Immigrants, refugees, and visitors face cross-cultural boundaries when they move to a new “host culture” and strive to build a new life in an unfamiliar place. Recent studies indicated that every year, the population of the United States becomes increasingly ethnically diverse and the number of female graduate immigrants has been increasing as well (Guramatunhu-Mudiwa, 2015). Yet, knowledge about female graduate students who are international immigrants and have become college teachers is limited. Given this trend, the purpose of this research is to examine the cross-cultural adaptation experience of myself as a female Colombian immigrant in academia, as well as the way I have undergone throughout the process of my integration to adjust and feel comfortable in a new culture. I hope my story offers institutions, local community members, and other international students who want to become college teachers, a unique perception of the characteristics of a teacher of color’s lived experiences and a drive to change the culture toward diversity. I am optimistic that my cross-cultural teaching experience could contribute to the general understanding of adaptation in the context of a diverse society in the United States.