# Newtonian-cultural motion method: a transdisciplinary method for migrant studies

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method combining physics and cultural theory to analyze how migrant identities and cultures change over time.

## Contribution

The Newtonian-Cultural Motion Method (NCMM) uniquely integrates Newton’s laws of motion with cultural theory to study migrant identity dynamics.

## Key findings

- NCMM redefines identity as motion and culture as force, offering a dynamic analytical lens.
- The method is demonstrated through the diasporic novel Pachinko, showing how cultural pressure and resistance shape migrant communities.
- NCMM provides a transdisciplinary approach to understanding cultural negotiation and transformation in migration narratives.

## Abstract

This paper introduces a transdisciplinary methodological approach, the Newtonian-Cultural Motion Method (NCMM), which integrates Newton’s laws of motion with Williams’ cultural theory of dominant, residual, and emergent culture. By reconceptualizing identity as motion and culture as force, NCMM offers a dynamic lens for analyzing cultural negotiation in migration narratives. Integrating physics and cultural studies, this method offers a new dimension to rethink identity formation shaped by sociopolitical pressures and inherited cultural inertia. This method is demonstrated through a critical analysis of the diasporic novel Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, a multigenerational family saga that traces the experiences of Korean immigrants in Japan. NCMM, explicate how cultural pressure, resistance, and transformation operate across generations of migrant communities. It enables researchers to understand migrant identity as a dynamic process shaped by both historically rooted cultural mass and sociopolitical forces. This new methodological approach provides a basis for the exploration of cultural negotiation, the mechanics of pressure, resistance, and transformation in migrant narratives. By bridging Newton’s law of motion with Williams’ cultural theory, NCMM provides a new transdisciplinary approach in analyzing the dynamics of identity, and transitions of culture. This method refigures identity as motion, and culture as a force.