Throughout their international education experiences, international students accumulate many form... more Throughout their international education experiences, international students accumulate many forms of capital; economic, social, symbolic, cultural or otherwise. In the present study, prospective and returned international students in Mumbai, India, spoke often of their desire to ‘gain exposure’ by engaging with international education. This paper posits that ‘exposure’ is a form of cosmopolitan cultural capital that (re)produces class boundaries (Igarashi & Saito 2014; Weenink 2008), which allows the elite to maintain distinction between themselves and the middle class. Drawing from interviews with 46 students, as well as parents, education counsellors/agents and other industry representatives, this paper discusses how exposure as a form of cosmopolitan cultural capital is used by respondents as a marker of class that is mobilised to set classed expectations about the outcomes of international education. This paper finds that elite students use exposure as a form of cosmopolitan cultural capital to hierarchize the international student experience, ensuring that middle class Indian students do not realise true social mobility by engaging with international education.
With the rise of the middle class in India, and the increasing importance of transnational mobili... more With the rise of the middle class in India, and the increasing importance of transnational mobility as a class marker, international education has become a significant experience for many young urban Indian people. This paper draws on research that seeks to explore how youth in Mumbai imagine international education and its potential impact on their futures, particularly in relation to imaginaries and performances of class and social mobility. Based on interviews conducted with pre-departure students and their families, as well as various agents and intermediaries involved in international education, this paper will importantly consider the views of young people from different socio-economic backgrounds, as well as different regional communities and religious orders, within the broad and contested scape of Indian urban ‘middleclassness’. In doing so, it explores how transnational mobility attained through international education is imagined as a way to elevate or maintain class status by pre-departure students. Three key themes are explored in the process of unpacking notions of middleclassness: why students desire international education, how class and mobility interact and overlap, and how participants imagine a classed Other. Overall, the paper argues that imaginaries of class and social mobility are deeply embedded into imaginaries of the meaning and outcomes of studying abroad for young Indians in Mumbai.
Throughout their international education experiences, international students accumulate many form... more Throughout their international education experiences, international students accumulate many forms of capital; economic, social, symbolic, cultural or otherwise. In the present study, prospective and returned international students in Mumbai, India, spoke often of their desire to ‘gain exposure’ by engaging with international education. This paper posits that ‘exposure’ is a form of cosmopolitan cultural capital that (re)produces class boundaries (Igarashi & Saito 2014; Weenink 2008), which allows the elite to maintain distinction between themselves and the middle class. Drawing from interviews with 46 students, as well as parents, education counsellors/agents and other industry representatives, this paper discusses how exposure as a form of cosmopolitan cultural capital is used by respondents as a marker of class that is mobilised to set classed expectations about the outcomes of international education. This paper finds that elite students use exposure as a form of cosmopolitan cultural capital to hierarchize the international student experience, ensuring that middle class Indian students do not realise true social mobility by engaging with international education.
With the rise of the middle class in India, and the increasing importance of transnational mobili... more With the rise of the middle class in India, and the increasing importance of transnational mobility as a class marker, international education has become a significant experience for many young urban Indian people. This paper draws on research that seeks to explore how youth in Mumbai imagine international education and its potential impact on their futures, particularly in relation to imaginaries and performances of class and social mobility. Based on interviews conducted with pre-departure students and their families, as well as various agents and intermediaries involved in international education, this paper will importantly consider the views of young people from different socio-economic backgrounds, as well as different regional communities and religious orders, within the broad and contested scape of Indian urban ‘middleclassness’. In doing so, it explores how transnational mobility attained through international education is imagined as a way to elevate or maintain class status by pre-departure students. Three key themes are explored in the process of unpacking notions of middleclassness: why students desire international education, how class and mobility interact and overlap, and how participants imagine a classed Other. Overall, the paper argues that imaginaries of class and social mobility are deeply embedded into imaginaries of the meaning and outcomes of studying abroad for young Indians in Mumbai.
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