What does it mean to assimilate? The first time I heard the word “assimilate” was when I was twelve, during a cultural orientation class. The instructor, who was white, defined the term as the process by which an individual adopts the values, behaviors, language, and customs of the dominant host society over time. In my mind, I interpreted it as blending into the society and environment because my biggest fear was standing out. I didn’t want my British-African English accent to be noticed. I would repeat each sentence in my mind, trying to make it sound as American as possible before speaking it aloud. I was doing so well that it didn’t take long for me to lose my British-African English accent. I felt proud of my achievement; I no longer had to repeat a word multiple times for someone to understand me. I wasn’t questioned about where I was from because of my accent, and I no longer needed to take English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Most importantly, I was acclimating quickly to my environment.
What I didn’t realize then was that I was slowly losing a part of myself. I grew tired of juggling two different identities: being Eritrean and being American. It took me until college to understand that what I had been running from was, in fact, my greatest pride. Seeing a diverse group of students around me, confidently proud of their accents and sharing them with others, greatly inspired me.
I began to ask myself, where does this notion of assimilating originate? Why was I proud of an idea that also made me feel distant and conflicted? I struggled with these questions for a long time until I hit a wall. I understood that assimilating was a survival technique, yet I acknowledged that it challenged me to “catch up” with my peers at school.
The day I found answers to my questions was during Shirley Gunn’s symposium on statelessness on World Refugee Day. Professor Khan stated that, according to Article 34 of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, the term “assimilation” was meant to refer to integrating refugees into the economic, social, and cultural life of the host community, rather than forcing them to forsake their own culture. I realized that my understanding of “assimilation” had been a social and internal construct that I imposed on myself. This is a challenge many refugees, displaced individuals, and stateless people face. The symposium made me realize that my Eritrean and American identities can coexist, rather than forcing me to struggle with balancing them every day in whichever space I find myself.
I now have a new understanding of the term “integrating.” To me, integrating is a two-way process by which newcomers and the receiving community mutually adapt to one another. I am grateful to have attended Shirley Gunn’s symposium and to learn about statelessness as well as what it means to integrate rather than assimilate.
I am also thankful to attend a school where I don’t have to assimilate but can integrate.
P.S. The quote in my featured image by Robert Sobukwe resonated with me during our visit to the museum. It perfectly aligns with the conversations we had during Gunn’s symposium: “No one who is from the continent of Africa should be a refugee in their own continent.”