Reclaiming identity as resistance: exploring sociopolitical identity formation of Chinese international students in the West

• In Event: Poster Group 6
  In Poster Session: Reclaiming identity as resistance: exploring sociopolitical identity formation of Chinese international students in the West

Proposal

Educational researchers have explored identity formation in relation to learning, power, and politics, but relatively little attention has been paid to international students. Building upon earlier studies that had a deficit understanding, assuming that "home country" identities are barriers to learning in the host country, researchers in the past two decades have shifted their focus towards exploring the experiences and agency of international students (Feng, 2009; Marginson, 2014). Additionally, a new trend has emerged, wherein researchers are increasingly studying the sociopolitical aspects of identity formation of international students (Stein & Andreotti, 2016; Yao et al., 2019). However, there remains a significant lack of studies that examine the identity formation of Chinese international students (CISs), particularly how they make sense of narratives of power and control across China and the West.
Drawing on the field of Comparative and International Education and Learning Sciences, this study conceptualizes sociopolitical identity formation as encompassing one's social, cultural, and political practices, as well as the sense-making process in the context of transnational and intersectional power relations (Esmonde & Booker, 2016; Politics of Learning Collective, 2017; Sato & Hodge, 2015). To gain insights into the identity formation of CISs, particularly those actively engaged in significant sociopolitical issues, we employ a collaborative autoethnographic approach, examining our own sociopolitical practices as international students and activist-scholars struggling to reconstruct our understanding of critical issues such as gender, race, and class across national borders. Through this process, we confront the narratives imposed by nation-state power, both in China and the Western context. The act of unlearning and relearning serves as an essential aspect of our sociopolitical identity formation, enabling us to challenge existing power structures and dominant narratives.
One significant challenge we face is finding a theoretical framework that aligns precisely with our experiences, for a research project like this, and also for making sense of the sociopolitical topics in our daily lives. Despite this challenge, our determination remains steadfast throughout this long journey. Moreover, we recognize that the process of researching and developing a "perfect theoretical framework" is, in itself, a means of reclaiming our sociopolitical identity. In this exploration, we have turned to Transnational Feminism (Swarr & Nagar, 2010) and Asian Critical Theory (Iftikar & Museus, 2018) as our theoretical guides for this poster presentation. We theorize the struggles we face in the process of our sociopolitical identity formation while resisting the dominant Western-centric domination of knowledge production. We use collaborative autoethnography (Chang et al., 2013) as our methodology to analyze empirical data collected from a two-year study group of Chinese activist-scholars living in the US and UK. In this poster presentation, we emphasize sociopolitical identity formation as a series of conscious choices, highlighting agency, empowerment, and the cultivation of solidarities. Through our academic inquiry and identity reclamation, we aspire to contribute to a deeper discussion on sociopolitical identity formation of international students, shedding light on the nuanced ways they resist and navigate oppressive power structures while forging their own paths toward self-determination and liberation.

Authors

• siqi Liu

• Xun Yu, Univ. of Minnesota