Asian Indian "self-suppression" and self-disclosure - Enactment and adaptation of cultural identity

This article studies the cultural influences guiding Asian Indians in decid ing whether to express or suppress self-disclosures and self-expressive act ions. Philipsen's definition of ritual is used as a heuristic for examining situations in which overt self-expressions are prohibited or discouraged. The analysis provides a catalyst for reviewing Philipsen's definition of ri tual to include intrapersonal communicative resources that meaningfully ref lect and constitute the social realities and the social interactions of par ticipants. Ethnographic interviews with Asian Indian sojourners to the Unit ed States are used to examine how, on certain occasions, Asian Indians invo ke a culturally meaningful set of thought processes about appropriate role conduct and use a widely intelligible cultural rationale to prompt self-sup pression. The findings suggest that this form of communicative conduct adap ts to the cultural context by allowing a greater range of disclosures and s elf-expressive actions and that it guides sojourners' interpretations of so me intercultural encounters.