The Dimensions of Identity in a Foreign Land

• In Event: Civic Engagement and Equity: Dimensions of Exclusion, Identity, and Community

Abstract

The major purpose of the study is to assess Chinese international students’ views of global, national and personal-social domains of multiple identities at both national and international levels. By conducting a case study through the methods of survey and interview in an American university, the research demonstrates how Chinese students construct complicated identities in a context that provides different discourses of citizenship. Many of them demonstrate a convoluted nationalism that on one hand they possess a strong loyalty to the concept of nation and on the other hand, they tend to become more global-oriented in general. More importantly, the encounter with differences helps Chinese international students construct and reflect who they are and what should they do as citizens.

Author

• Xiaoying Qi, Teachers College, Columbia University