Werewolf to Rudolph: Urban disciplining in public space and bubble acculturation of migrants

Abstract

Most research on migrant acculturation focuses on transnational, multi-ethnic contexts. This article examines internal rural-to-urban migrants in China, exploring how urban public space shapes their place-based acculturation. It rethinks acculturation through the lens of everyday disciplinary power, introducing place-based urban disciplining and the concept of bubble acculturation that challenges quasi-internal colonialism manifested as urban supremacy. Based on ethnographic research in a megacity, the study reveals a slow, fluid process of acculturation, where migrants’ initial sense of familiarity gradually becomes normality through interactions with the urban environment. Public space plays a dual role: it facilitates acculturation whilst also projecting dominant urban values that discipline migrants culturally. These findings challenge static or decontextualised models of acculturation by highlighting the spatial and cultural power embedded in urban life. The article argues for a critical cosmopolitanism that resists cultural hierarchies and recognises the agency of internal migrants in addressing dynamic urban transitions.