Return Migration and Identity: A Global Phenomenon, A Hong Kong Case

6 - Subtractive identity

Subtractive identity 6 When I go back I know I shall be out of it; we fellows who’ve spent our lives out there always are. The Gentleman in the Parlour W. Somerset Maugham There is a long record of both historical and fictional accounts of remigrants feeling uncomfortable on their return home. The Old Testament describes the anguish of the Jews returning to their homeland following the Babylonian exile. Cervantes, the Spanish novelist, described in 1613 the psychological and romantic difficulties of an Estramaduran, who returned to Spain after twenty years of living and prospering in South America. His psychological readjustment was complicated when he discovered his former friends were now dead.1 The Cultural Identity Model suggests that one common response to cultural transition is adaptation and a shift in identity away from one’s home culture attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Labeled “subtractive” identity, this profile is adopted by individuals who experience the shift most saliently once they return to their homeland and endure great psychological distress. Emotionally, subtractive identity is characterized by depression, anxiety, and displacement. Cognitively, those with a subtractive profile perceive themselves as dissimilar from their compatriots in their essential values, beliefs, interpretation of others’ behavior, and self-definition; they frequently experience isolation and bewilderment. 162 Return Migration and Identity A Norwegian industrial and organizational psychologist, returning home after ten years abroad, found readjustment painful.2 He suggested that re-entry becomes very difficult if the sojourner had become integrated fully in the host society. Various factors may account for this consequence: (1) the stress of severing the strong social bonds created overseas; (2) the changes one has undergone in opinions, perceptions, and development that result in returnees’ feeling alienated when they go back to their own culture; (3) the loss of special and positive attention paid by host nationals to expatriates (being an object of local curiosity has its appeal); and (4) the indifferent or negative reaction from compatriots to the returnees’ homecoming. The subtractive response has been poignantly articulated by an Indian who repatriated after working for many years in Dubai. He expressed his confusion in a series of missives sent to friends and relatives. With his permission, here are some excerpts. November 11. I do not think I will be able to live in my home country … at least I still call it that coz [sic] I am an Indian citizen. For the first time I am disappointed to say I got a culture shock in my own country. There are so many things about this society that I cannot tolerate … There is a very low tolerance towards an alternative view. January 12. Life here is not getting any better, quite the contrary a bit worse and I think every time I open my mouth to reach out and have an honest conversation I get the most negative reactions. So I have decided to shut up until I leave which is gonna be by the next month. It is tragic that my time with my family is the most mentally unstimulating time I have had. February 11. Here things have took [sic] a turn for the worse. My brother-in-law came to our house completely pissed [drunk] … and he hit my sister. Now I am a peaceful person by nature and do not think fighting physically fixes anything it’s immature and does not improve the situation. But this was an extreme circumstance and I reacted instinctively I think. I went mad and hit him repeatedly … Looks like my Indian fantasy is over. I dreamt of retiring in India for a long time. But there is nothing for me here. The subtractive response is the most common response to repatriation of Europeans, Americans, and other Anglo-country citizens, although it is not uncommon among Asian returnees either. Have Hong Kongers adopted subtractive identities and felt emotional distress upon their return? 163 Subtractive identity Hong Kong subtractive identity Analyses of both quantitative and qualitative data have revealed some surprising results. First, in contrast to American and other Western returnees, only one of the 50 Hong Kong respondents (2% of the total) exhibited a pure subtractive identity profile accompanied by negative emotionality. The lack of subtractive identity was found irrespective of country of resettlement, gender, or length of time overseas. The lone “subtractive” was a male respondent who took his university degree in Scotland, returned to Hong Kong, later immigrated to...