Category: Research Highlights

Research Highlighted:

Lan, S. (2021). Finding a Chulu (Way Out): Rural-origin Chinese Students Studying Abroad in South Korea. Pacific Affairs, 94(4), 661-681.

Based on multi-sited research in China and South Korea, this paper examines the motivations for rural-origin Chinese students to study abroad in South Korea and how their overseas experiences are mediated by the intersection of internal and international educational hierarchies. Existing literature on transnational student mobility from Asia mainly focuses on students from urban middle-class background, little attention has been paid to students from less advantaged background. Scholars have noted that China’s seemingly meritocratic gaokao (national college entrance exam) policy in reality functions to perpetuate the structural marginalization of rural students in its educational system. This research moves beyond the internal migration paradigm by examining how social inequalities associated with the rural/urban divide get reproduced and re-articulated by the intersection of class, gender, place of origin, and time management at the transnational scale.

Existing literature on Chinese students in South Korea often treat them as a homogeneous group, rather than making distinctions based on class, gender, and place of origin. This research attends to the heterogeneity within the Chinese student population by focusing on a relatively invisible group of students from rural background. In 2018 when this research was conducted, there were 68,184 Chinese students enrolled in universities in South Korea, constituting almost half of the total foreign student population. Although the majority of them are from urban middle-class or lower middle-class backgrounds, there is a small group of rural-origin students who identify themselves as from wage-earning or low-income families. They remain invisible in the Chinese student community for several reasons. First, social stigmatization associated with the rural often makes them hesitant to identify their rural origin. Second, rural students usually do not share the conspicuous consumption behaviors of more affluent Chinese students and are thus marginalized in the social circle of Chinese students. Last but not least, they are usually busy working at multiple part-time jobs to cover their tuition and living expenses. Although most Chinese students in South Korea engage in some type of part-time employment, those from rural background face more pressure to work hard to support themselves due to their family’s lack of financial resources. This research investigates the following questions: What motivates rural students to study in South Korea? How do class, gender, and place of origin mediate their overseas educational experiences and future mobility trajectories?

Scholars have noted that the expansion of China’s higher educational system has become the main engine for the production of a new generation of educated middle-class. Yet they also note that this new educated middle-class is internally stratified due to university ranking in China.This research contributes a transnational dimension to the formation of the educated middle-class by examining social stratifications among overseas Chinese students. Due to the hierarchical ranking of study abroad destinations and the prevalence of a global educational hierarchy, rural-origin graduates from South Korea will most likely occupy the lower stratum of the educated middle-class compared to their urban peers. Tang and Unger further divide the educated middle-class into those who hold jobs “within the system,” i.e. the public sector, and those who work “outside the system”, i.e. the private sector. The two argue that jobs within the system are not only secure (in terms of welfare benefits)  and financially sustainable, but provide privileged access to “within-the-system” resources that may generate significant grey income outside the system. Due to their less privileged educational credentials and rural family background, and lack of localized social networks in big cities, my respondents usually turn to the transnational realm or the private sector for job opportunities. Despite their overseas degrees and transnational experiences, they are still marginalized within the Chinese social system.       

Robertson et al develop a “mobile transitions” framework to examine the intertwinement of youth’s aspirations for transnational mobility and their transition to adulthood. The popularization of overseas education in China means that an increasing number of Chinese youth are transitioning to adulthood during their time studying abroad. However, such mobile transitions are marked by stratifications along the line of class, gender, and place of origin. The marginalization of rural students in China’s educational system has pushed some of them to become new consumers of overseas education. However, the rural/urban divide continues to shape rural students’ study and work experiences in South Korea in important ways. This research finds a notable tension in my rural participants’ narratives of educational mobility. On the one hand, they are highly aware of structural inequalities in both the Chinese and the transnational educational systems; on the other hand, they also embrace the neoliberal ideology of self-responsibility and self-entrepreneurship. While appealing to the desire for transnational mobility among youth from different social backgrounds, China’s liberalization of policy in the self-funded study abroad market also functions to hide structural inequalities in its social and educational system. Although overseas education offers some rural students opportunities to negotiate their structural marginalization in Chinese society, it also reflects the expansion of internal social spatial inequalities to the international realm. The rural/urban divide and the regional scale of their transnational capital conversion have largely pre-determined rural youth’s disadvantaged position in a stratified Chinese society.

Author Bio

Shanshan Lan is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and a member of the Moving Matters research group. She received her Ph. D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She had worked as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University and Connecticut College in the United States. Before joining the University of Amsterdam, she was a Research Assistant Professor in the David Lam Institute for East-West Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University. Lan is the Principal Investigator of the ERC project “The reconfiguration of whiteness in China: Privileges, precariousness, and racialized performances” (CHINAWHITE, 2019-2024). Funded by the European Research Council, this project examines how the western notion of whiteness is dis-assembled and re-assembled in the new historical context of China’s rise as a global superpower.

Research Highlighted:

Lan, S. (2021) Between Privileges and Precariousness: Remaking Whiteness in China’s Teaching English as a Second Language industry. American Anthropologist, n/a(n/a). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/aman.13657

This research examines the multiple and contradictory racialization of white identities in China’s booming ESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) industry. China represents a new geography of whiteness studies beyond Euro-America due to the transformation of corporeal whiteness into a minority identity as a result of international migration. This research makes distinctions between white privilege as a form of structural domination in western societies and white skin privilege as a form of embodied racial capital in China, which can be easily transformed into white skin vulnerability. It interprets the tension between white skin privilege and precariousness as a concurrent and mutually constitutive process that foregrounds the open-ended nature of white racial formation in China. By focusing on the intersections between global white supremacist ideologies and local Chinese constructions of self/other relations, this project explores new forms of racialization beyond the black/white, superiority/inferiority binaries in the western context.

The rise of China as a global superpower has generated abundant debates in western media, which contribute to the “China threat” discourse in the political, economic, and security domains (Jacques 2009; Xie & Page 2010). However, little attention has been paid to the racial implications of shifting power relations between China and the West. Existing literature on international migrants in China mainly focuses on black Africans in Guangzhou (Bodomo 2012; Haugen 2012; Lan 2017; Mathews 2017). The relative absence of whites in migration studies literature points to the racialization of “migrant” as a category reserved mainly for non-white people (Lundström 2017). This research denaturalizes whiteness as an invisible norm by rethinking it in a context of international labor migration and cross-cultural interaction. China represents a space of rupture where white skin can be decoupled from white hegemony due to the transformation of corporeal whiteness into a minority identity. Since mainland China was never fully colonized by any single western power, there is no historical legacy of an institutionalized structure to support white supremacy. Rather than commanding institutional power, corporeal whiteness is often conflated with foreignness and subjected to the disciplinary power of multiple Chinese gazes. By critically interrogating China’s role in contributing to the reconfiguration of whiteness, this research sheds light on the intricate yet contentious ways that white supremacy may reproduce itself, albeit in distorted and fragmentary manners, in multiple social and cultural contexts.

The social construction of whiteness in China is mediated by multiple and intersecting factors, which both obscure and intensify the racialized nature of white identities. Indigenous distinctions between Chinese and non-Chinese became institutionalized in the state’s waishi (foreign affairs) policy, which contributed to the conflation of whiteness, westernness and foreignness. The elastic meanings of “foreigner” often hide the racialization of white identity due to the latter’s unmarked status within the foreign category. Although the vulnerabilities experienced by white migrants in China’s ESL sector are also faced by non-white migrants, there is a certain degree of flexibility in the white experiences that is absent from that of non-white migrants. That is, the flexibility to move between markedness and unmarkedness, between different categories such as “foreigners”, “native speakers,” and “westerners.” This research interprets the tension between white skin privilege and precariousness as a concurrent and mutually constitutive process that foregrounds the open-ended nature of white racial formation in China. The racialization of native English speakers as white may lead to unethical hiring practices which facilitate the hierarchical ranking of different groups of white migrants. Although white teachers may enjoy preferential treatment over non-white teachers in finding employment, white skin privilege cannot shield them from state immigration control and workplace exploitation. The fetishization and depreciation of white bodies often go hand in hand due to the commodification of whiteness in the profit-driven ESL industry.        

The slippery boundaries between white skin privilege and precariousness indicate the possibility for some white English teachers to degrade from professional talents to low-skilled migrants with dubious legal status. Recalling Cezard’s artistic portrayal of low-skilled white migrants in China at the beginning of this article, it seems that one no longer needs to wait until 2050 for that to happen. In addition to white face jobs in the ESL sector, the rise of white monkey jobs, where white bodies are reduced to a spectacle for curious Chinese gazes in provincial Chinese cities, presents another example of new types of precarious whiteness in China’s stratified labor market for “foreigners” (Toropov 2019). However, instead of reading these as symbols of the crisis of white identity, which presumes white domination as the norm, I interpret the Chinese case as contributing to the fragmentation and pluralization of whiteness in a global context. While stratification in white identities may lead to the emergence of multiple versions of whiteness, of which the precarious white English teacher is just one example, it should not hinder us from interrogating the persistence of white supremacy as a global power system.

Author Bio

Shanshan Lan is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam and a member of the Moving Matters research group. She received her Ph. D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She had worked as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University and Connecticut College in the United States. Before joining the University of Amsterdam, she was a Research Assistant Professor in the David Lam Institute for East-West Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University. Lan is the Principal Investigator of the ERC project “The reconfiguration of whiteness in China: Privileges, precariousness, and racialized performances” (CHINAWHITE, 2019-2024). Funded by the European Research Council, this project examines how the western notion of whiteness is dis-assembled and re-assembled in the new historical context of China’s rise as a global superpower.

Macro data analysis focusing on restricting factors and lifelong planning

Research Highlighted

Sato, Y. (2021). “What influences the direction and magnitude of Asian student mobility? Macro data analysis focusing on restricting factors and lifelong planning”. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2021.1976618

Abstract

This study aims to explore the factors that influence Asian student mobility using a life planning model, which focuses on students’ lifelong planning and restricting factors in decision making. As a result of macro data analysis of student mobility from six Asian source countries (including China) to eight major destinations (including China) from 1999 to 2017, the income gap between source country and destination country shows a negative correlation with student mobility, which supports the hypothesis that a decrease in budgetary constraints promotes study abroad. This finding is contrary to the assumption of the traditional push-and-pull model. This may be explained by the expansion of a middle-class population who are eager to send their children abroad whenever the budgetary constraint is lifted. Bilateral trade shows a positive correlation, which supports the hypothesis that prospect of employment, associated with economic connectedness, promotes study abroad.

Background and purpose

While the total number of international students has tripled in the last twenty years, several significant changes have been observed during the period, such as the rising personal incomes and aspirations for international education in source countries, and diversification of study destinations. Although the push-and-pull theory of migration has been the foremost utilized theory to explain decision making of international students (Rounsaville 2012), its assumption that economic and social gaps between source countries and destination countries are the major driving forces for student mobility must be re-examined.

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the factors which influence the direction and magnitude of international student mobility and to obtain clues to predict the future direction of international education.

The target of this study is Asian international students who account for half of the international students in the world. International student data from six major source countries in Asia (i.e. China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Nepal) to eight major destination countries (i.e. the USA, the UK, Australia, Germany, France, Canada, China, and Japan) is examined in terms of economic and social indicators which seem to influence the mobility.

Method

As a theoretical framework, “life planning model” was selected after a careful review of existing models. This model assumes that restricting factors (cost, language, intention of family, visa, etc.) are considered first in international students’ choices of study destination and the other four factors (i.e. capacity development/utilization, better employment prospect, social environment, and others) are considered in the second round, depending on their priorities. It also assumes that the choice of study destination is often made by considering their future choice of workplace and is influenced by the policies and economic, institutional, and cultural factors of source and destination countries.

Based on this model, panel data (regression) analysis was conducted by setting the number of international students from six Asian countries (including China) to eight destination countries (including China) between 1999 and 2017 as objective variables. Explanatory variables are selected from the indicators which represent the assumptions in the life planning model.

Findings

As the result of the analysis, the ratio of per capita GDP of the destination country relative to that of the source country (income gap) shows a negative correlation with student mobility at the 1 % level, which supports the hypothesis that a decrease in budgetary constraints promotes study abroad. This finding is contrary to the assumption of the traditional push-and-pull model in which income gap is a driving force for student mobility.

Bilateral trade between source and destination countries shows a positive correlation with student mobility at the 1 % level, which also supports the hypothesis of the life planning model that prospects of employment, associated with economic connectedness, promote study abroad.

Youth unemployment in source countries has a positive correlation with student mobility at the 10% level, which is in agreement with the hypotheses in both the life planning model and the push-pull model.

Tuition fees at destination country show a positive correlation with student mobility at the 1% level, contrary to the assumption of the life planning model.

As the result of the analysis of student mobility from the six Asian countries to four English-speaking countries and four non-English-speaking countries, a higher fitness of the model is observed in the analysis of student mobility to English-speaking countries.

Discussion

The analytical result supports the hypothesis of the life planning model that the decrease of budgetary constraints plays a critical role in the decision to study abroad. This may be explained by the expansion of middle-class population who are eager to send their children abroad whenever the budgetary constraint is lifted.

Bilateral trade shows a positive correlation, which also supports the hypothesis that prospect of employment, associated with economic connectedness, promotes study abroad.

The reason why tuition fees in the destination country show a positive correlation with student mobility may be explained by the Chivas Regal Effect that higher price is perceived as evidence of a quality brand (Askin & Bothner 2016), implying the aspiration of the Asian households who hope to let their children have a better international education.

Although this study could not capture the factors that do not appear in macro-level data, the result reveals an important fact that the expansion of international education has been sustained by the aspiration for better education and employment of the emerging middle-class families in Asia. It is necessary to examine if a similar tendency is observed in international students from other parts of the world.

References

Askin, N., and M. S. Bothner. 2016. “Status-Aspirational Pricing: The ‘‘Chivas Regal’’ Strategy in U.S. Higher Education, 2006–2012.” Administrative Science Quarterly XX: 1–37. doi: 10.1177/0001839216629671.

Barnett, G. A., M. Lee, K. Jiang, and H. W. Park. 2016. “The flow of international students from a macro perspective: a network analysis.” Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 46 (4): 533–559. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2015.1015965.

Beine, M., R., Noël, and L. Ragot. 2014. “Determinants of the international mobility of students.” Economics of Education Review 41: 40–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2014.03.003.

Rounsaville C. A. 2012. “Where should I study? International students’ perceptions of higher education in the UK, Ireland, and the U.S.” PhD diss., University of Nottingham.

Wei, H. 2013. “An empirical study on the determinants of international student mobility: A global perspective.” Higher Education 66 (1): 105–122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9593-5.

Yang, P. 2020. “China in the global field of international student mobility: an analysis of economic, human and symbolic capitals.” Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. doi: 10.1080/03057925.2020.1764334.

Author Bio

Dr. Yuriko Sato is an associate professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. She has been engaged in the study of international students for twenty years and is one of the most prominent scholars in this field in Japan. Her research fields cover International Student Policy, International Education, and Development Economics reflecting her experience of working for Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) before joining her current workplace. She was awarded Best Paper Prize of Japan Association of International Student Education in 2013 and the Best Paper Prize & the Best Presentation Prize at the 1st Asia Future Conference. She also received the Best Teacher Award of her university in 2007 and 2013. She can be contacted via email: sato.y.ad@m.titech.ac.jp.