Resistance Theory and the Transculturation Hypothesis

22The changes that corresponded with this phase of self-discovery were provocative.Students generally reported they became more relaxed and comfortable in college.Moreover, this self-discovery allowed transculturated students the ability to move intothe third stage of their educational, cultural process, that of realignment.Stage Three: RealignmentWith the strength and confidence that they found in their cultural identity, transculturatedstudents began a realignment process. At this stage, students made necessary (andpractical) adjustments in their personal, social, and academic worlds. They generallybegan to learn how to relate at both cultural levels as demanded by the situation.Further, at this third stage students reassessed themselves and their situation. As ageneral pattern they evaluated their repertoire of values, attitudes, and goals andmeasured them against those institutionalized in the higher educational system. Theythen began to align themselves with the nature of academia and used the appropriatenorms and behavior as needed. In short, most learned to cross cultural boundarieswhen necessary. At this stage, they were well into the process of transculturation.A middle-aged woman from the Pine Ridge (South Dakota) reservation, by anystandards a culturally traditional American Indian person (whose late father was a wellknown Lakota spiritual leader), described the realignment process this way:When we go to school we live a non-Indian way but we still keep our values . . . I couldput my Indian values aside just long enough to learn what it is I want to learn but thatdoesn’t mean I’m going to forget them. I think that is how strong they are with me.22