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

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 <i>Pachinko</i> 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.