Los escritos etnográficos y la contextualización de las performances

There is extensive international literature on interethnic contact. Initial work focussed on interracial contact, and the focus changed later to intercultural contact and acculturation. This work is briefly reviewed below.

3.2.1 Interracial Contact

Early research concerned interracial contact and focussed on the clash between 'white' and 'black' people and sought explications for attitudes such as racism and prejudice. Research began in the 1 920s, in the USA, with studies of the Negro-White situation (e.g. Bogardus, 1 925, 1 933; Thurstone & Chave, 1 929; Katz & Braly, 1 933, 1 935; Horowitz, 1 936, 1 944; Likert, 1 942; Bray, 1 950). This theme has continued to dominate the field of social psychology around the world today (Eagly, 1 992), particularly in the USA and to a lesser extent in Britain, Canada, Europe, Israel, Africa and Australia. Most studies of prejudice have focussed on the determinants of prejudicial attitudes, and as noted by Korzenny and Schiff ( 1 986) and van Dijk ( 1 983), have examined these from the perspective of westerners who have discriminated against non-westerners (e.g. AlIport, 1 954; Laishley, 1 975; Brislin, 1 98 1 ; Pate, 1 983; O'DriscolI & Feather, 1 983; Marin, 1 984; Haddock et aI. , 1 99 1 ; Hurwitz & Peffley, 1 992; Schwarzwald & Hoffman, 1 993). A comparatively small number of studies has considered the non-western minority perspective (e.g. Bagley & Verma, 1 975; Tajfel, 1 98 1 ; MelIor & Firth, 1 983; van Dijk, 1 982/3 ; Arredondo, 1 983; Bennett, 1 984; Stephan & Stephan, 1 985; Korzenny & Schiff, 1 986; Lichter & Lichter, 1 987; Ascher, 1 989; AlIen et aI, 1 990; TulIy, 1 995).

In AotearoalNew Zealand the study of interracial contact began in the late 1 950s with the investigation of European attitudes toward Maori (Vaughan, 1 959; Vaughan & Thompson, 1 96 1 ; Vaughan, 1 964). This was later extended to include attitudes toward Polynesian immigrants, which remained the major theme till the early 1 990s (e.g. Graves, 1 973; Nicholson, 1 976; 0' DriscolI & Feather, 1 983 ; St. George, 1 983).

3.2.2 Intercultural Contact and Acculturation

The increase in migration from non-western to western countries, and students studying abroad in the last few decades prompted a deluge of studies on immigrants and international students around the world, and shifted the focus from interracial contact to intercultural contact and acculturation and its consequences of prejudice and

discrimination (e.g. Chang, 1 99 1 ; Yang et aI., 1 994; Yau & Smetana, 1 993; Zheng &

Berry, 1 99 1 ). There is a substantial body of research of intergroup relations amongst ethnically and culturally diverse communities within heterogeneous societies, and on economic adaptation in migrant populations. More of this research has been undertaken on children in migrant communities, and theory has been based on intergenerational comparisons (Ward et al., 200 1 ). However, psychologists have tended to focus on studying intergroup processes such as those concerning conformity and social influence, and the large majority of studies have continued to present the perspective of the majority culture which is usually of European origin (Taylor & Moghaddam, 1 987). Most studies focus on the 'pull' of immigrants and the 'push' of refugees, consequently, they do not appear to realise, and consider the possibility, that immigrants could also suffer traumatic effects of migration as refugees do. They also focus on the adaptation of the immigrant to the host community, with comparatively few recognising or acknowledging the need for host adaptation to immigrants as well (e.g. Ward et al. , 200 1 ; Taylor & Moghaddam, 1 987).

In AotearoalNew Zealand, the 1 990s saw the beginnings of studies of other ethnic minorities, although still from the majority culture's perspective. These include the investigation of the impact of immigrant minorities on New Zealand customs and culture by the University of Auckland ( 1 990), the investigations of non-English speaking background students by the Ministry of Education and the Auckland Education Advisory Service ( 1 992), and the impact of international students on domestic students and host institutions, commissioned by the Ministry of Education (Ward & Brown, 2002). Since the early 1 990s, several studies have been undertaken on social interaction between international 'sojoumer' students and domestic students, usually at tertiary level and from the perspective of the international student. These studies have considered the quality and quantity of contact, friendship patterns, social support networks, educational aspirations, and the functional roles of intercultural interactions (e.g. lp, 1 990; Lyons, 1 992). The results of this work indicate that the amount of cross-national interaction is typically low, that international students expect and desire greater contact, and that interaction with domestic peers is generally associated with psychological, social and academic benefits for the international student (Ward & Brown, 2002).

3.2.3 Issues of Perspective

The first AotearoalNew Zealand studies that focused on the ethnic minority immigrant perspective were conducted by ethnic minority immigrant researchers on their experiences in their new environment (e.g. Chung & Walkey, 1 989; lp, 1 990; Maharaj, 1 993 ; Ho et al., 1 994). While much work has been done on international, short-term students, comparatively little work has been done in AotearoalNew Zealand that presents the perceptions of visible ethnic minority immigrant pupils on their social acceptance at secondary school.

While there is a considerable overlap of circumstances between international and immigrant students, there are also many differences which set them apart. The significant difference lies in the length of expected stay in the host community and the psychological orientation associated with that time frame. In most cases ' international' students would be ' sojourners' (Ward et al., 200 1 ) expecting to spend a short period of time in the foreign country, which would impact positively on their perceptions of and responses to negative experiences. The knowledge of their imminent return to a familiar and safe environment would provide a protective buffer against serious and long-term psychological trauma. Immigrant children, on the other hand, who are presented with the prospect of having to endure negative circumstances possibly for the rest of their lives, are situated in a totally different psychological space to that of the 'sojourner'. These children are vulnerable and not in a position to be dismissive of negative attitudes and behaviour as their 'sojourner' counterparts are. From a psychological perspective, the plight of the visible ethnic minority immigrant child is quite different from that of the international student. It is this perspective on which this thesis focuses.