Whitewashed Cosmopolitan Dream: Cosmopolitan Identity Making of Elite International Schools in Asia

• In Event: 21020 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 13: Equity, Engagement, and Global Perspectives in the Evolving Learning Landscape

Abstract

International schools cultivate a cosmopolitan identity for their students from privileged backgrounds. Through their pedagogical approach, international schools conceive to socialize their students as global citizens who share concerns over humanity such as equity, human rights, and environmental issues and to view the world as a non-hierarchical space. Nonetheless, the white hegemonic ideologies persist among the students. This study examines how international schools in Asia reflect and reinforce white hegemonic ideology and the existing global hierarchy among the nations. It draws evidence from the analysis of 29 in-depth interviews with international school graduates in Asia, representing 10 different nationalities across East and Southeast Asia. This study addresses 1) embedded Westernized ideals in the cosmopolitan-identity-making strategies of international schools and 2) the shared narratives confirming white supremacy and global hierarchy among international school graduates. This study argues that international schools in Asia reinforce the existing hierarchy among nations rather than cultivate the ideals of cosmopolitanism with egalitarian principles. The findings confirm the persisting Western domination in defining cosmopolitanism in the context of elite education in Asia.

Authors

• Minji Hong, University of Chicago

• HongJin Jo, University of Chicago