When Healing and Culture Meet: How Women Rebuild Life Through Transformative Acculturation

Dr Allison R. King Developer of Transformative Acculturation (TA)

Across the world, millions of forcibly displaced people are rebuilding their lives far from home. For many refugee women, this journey is shaped not only by migration but also by the long shadow of gender-based violence (GBV). In my research with refugee women resettled in Switzerland, I found that cultural adaptation can become far more than a practical adjustment to a new society. Under certain conditions, it becomes a mechanism of healing.

This process — which I have termed Transformative Acculturation (TA) — is an original theory that emerged directly from my interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of women who had survived GBV or intimate partner violence (IPV). This blog introduces the concept in an accessible way, showing how culture change can intersect with trauma recovery, identity reconstruction, and relational autonomy.

Why Culture Matters in the Aftermath of Violence

Acculturation is typically defined as the cultural and psychological changes that occur when people come into sustained contact with a new culture (Berry, 1997; Redfield et al., 1936). Much of the classical research focuses on strategies such as assimilation, integration, separation, or marginalisation.

However, these models often assume that people choose how to adapt. Refugee women who have survived GBV rarely have that luxury.

Their choices are shaped by:

• safety needs

• legal constraints

• gendered power imbalances

• disrupted support networks

• structural barriers in the host country

• trauma that reshapes identity and worldview

In this context, acculturation cannot be understood simply as cultural “fit”. For some survivors, it becomes a deliberate act of rebuilding.

Where Transformative Acculturation Came From

Transformative Acculturation (TA) emerged through an IPA study with forcibly displaced women from Turkey, Kurdistan, Iraq, Colombia, Cuba, and Pakistan, all resettled in the Swiss canton of Aargau. The women had lived with violence, coercion, or control before and/or after migration. Their narratives revealed something that existing acculturation models could not explain:

They were not only adapting to a new culture they were using the host culture as a tool to reconstruct their lives.

This included:

• redefining gender roles

• renegotiating intimate relationships

• reinterpreting faith and tradition

• reclaiming self-worth

• setting boundaries shaped by trauma and safety

• selectively adopting cultural elements that aligned with autonomy

TA captures this purposeful, trauma-informed, agency-driven process.

What Makes Transformative Acculturation Different?

Unlike traditional models, TA is not about how much of the “old” or “new” culture someone keeps or adopts. Instead, TA asks a different question:

How do trauma, agency, and safety needs shape the cultural meanings that refugee women choose to retain, reject, or reconstruct?

Three features distinguish TA from classical acculturation theory:

1. Trauma becomes a driver of change

Trauma—from family violence, IPV, coercion, or state inaction—was the catalyst that reoriented how women engaged with cultural norms. It shaped:

• what felt safe

• what felt oppressive

• what relationships were acceptable

• which traditions could be carried into the future

This is not accounted for in existing models.

2. Agency is enacted through selective cultural adoption

Participants adopted host-country practices because these practices offered:

• legal protection

• economic participation

• personal autonomy

• space to redefine womanhood and family roles

Acculturation was not about “becoming Swiss” but about becoming safe.

3. Self and culture are reconstructed together

Identity change was inseparable from cultural change. As one woman put it:“When we come to Switzerland… we can see other women and men… and we know we can be the same.”

Reconstruction of self, relationships, and culture unfolded as a single, intertwined process.

How Refugee Women Described Their Transformation

TA unfolded differently in each narrative, but three consistent patterns appeared.

1. Leaving harm as a moral decision

Women framed departure from violent partners or oppressive contexts not only as a practical move, but as a moral stance:

• a refusal to accept domination

• a rejection of family-sanctioned violence

• a belief that life “should not be lived in fear”

2. Everyday autonomy as healing

Small steps — learning German, obtaining an identity card, taking a first job — were described as:

• claims to dignity

• markers of renewal

• evidence of self-authorship

For many, work symbolised both independence and moral responsibility to children.

3. Redefining culture without abandoning heritage

Participants did not reject their origins. They rejected:

• interpretations of religion used to justify control

• patriarchal norms that silenced women

• family practices that denied autonomy

They retained:

• language

• food

• faith

• family connection

• cultural pride

But these were filtered through a new ethical lens guided by wellbeing and equality.

Why Transformative Acculturation Matters Beyond Research

TA has relevance for practitioners, policymakers, and community groups.

For practitioners

TA reminds us that trauma recovery and cultural adaptation cannot be treated separately. Survivors may be rebuilding identity, relationships, and cultural meanings simultaneously. Support must be:

• trauma-informed

• autonomy-focused

• culturally safe

• flexible to women’s own goals

For policymakers

TA highlights how support systems influence safety and autonomy. Policies that accelerate access to:

• safe housing

• legal status

• language courses

• childcare

• employment pathways

can directly shape women’s ability to reconstruct life after violence.

For communities

Belonging is a central element of healing. When local communities offer:

• non-judgemental spaces

• cultural recognition

• women-led groups

• opportunities for participation

they become part of the transformation process.

A New Way to Think About Acculturation

Transformative Acculturation shows that acculturation is more than adjustment. For refugee women who have survived GBV, it can become:

• a trauma-informed reorientation

• a moral realignment

• a reconstruction of identity

• a renegotiation of culture and relationships

• a pathway to safety and dignity

It re-frames acculturation as something active, purposeful, and deeply human.

Not assimilation.Not passively “fitting in”.But re-authoring life after violence — in ways that honour both heritage and the hope for something safer.