Hongxia Shan
Biographic Data
| ID | 205520 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Hongxia Shan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Hongxia |
| FAMILY NAME | Shan |
| SIGNATURE | SHAN H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of British Columbia |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3286-9870 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 96 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Shadow language policy in digital and GenAI-supported language learning for adult immigrant English language learners
The learning triad
Expanding engineering practices
Research shows a positive association between skilled migration and innovation. Related literature however is largely limited to the use of proxies such as patents, and publications. There is also a lack of attention to how innovation is accomplished in practices. This paper addresses these gaps with an examination of the innovative contributions made by immigrant engineers in Canada. Conceptually, informed by practice-based theories, it conceive…
Professional learning and knowledge ‘transfer’ in practice
The social reproductive labour of university students with hostile Jobs
This paper focuses on the social reproductive labour of one group of young people - university students who hold hostile jobs. Engaging in paid work while studying full-time has become common for university students. Despite the desire for high-quality work-integrated learning opportunities, many working undergraduate students face precarious working conditions in service sector jobs. Full-time undergraduate students at two Canadian universities …
Academic association through overseas visits
Studies of Chinese (visiting) international doctoral students typically focus on how students are socialized into the Western academy. Not only does the literature reinforce Western institutions as ‘the academic centre’, but it also conjures a unidirectional image of academic learning and knowledge transfer from the West to the rest of the world. This paper complexifies these images by proposing academic association as an alternative image to und…
Learning and knowledge ‘transfer’ as translation
Existing literature on international health partnerships is largely normative, with an evaluative interest in their impacts in terms of learning and knowledge transfer. Rarely has research attended to how learning and knowledge transfer transpire in practice. This paper addresses this gap with a case study of a partnership between two hospitals in Canada and China. Conceptually, drawing on Actor Network Theory, it posits learning and knowledge tr…
Fostering diversity work as a process of lifelong learning
Knowledge ‘transfer’ as sociocultural and sociomaterial practice
Research on migration and knowledge transfer predominantly focuses on expatriate and return migrants, who are acclaimed for transferring knowledge from the west to the rest of the world. Not only does the literature reinforce the west as the epistemic centre, but it conjures a realist image of knowledge as an objective thing. To interrupt these images, this paper examines the knowledge transfer experiences of 22 immigrant engineers in Canada. The…
Entry to hospitality careers for women and beyond
Employment training services are provided for immigrants to integrate them into the Canadian labour market. Evaluated on short-term labour market outcomes, these programs typically focus on enhancing individuals’ employability, while risking naturalizing and reproducing the dominant social and cultural order. Entry to Hospitality Careers for Women is a government-funded program based on a partnership between a community organization and a communi…
Towards a postcolonial politics of appearance
In the context of flexible capitalism, lifelong learning has been posed as a pathway for individuals to accumulate skills and actualise potentials. What is overlooked, however, is that the process of accumulation and actualisation is embedded within the culture of recognition. People who are historically constructed as the anthropos, a legacy of the colonial history struggle to appear as equals vis-à-vis the gaze of the humantias. With this criti…
Transnational mobility through education
This article argues for a more nuanced view of mobility through education within an era of increased globalisation. We explore questions of transnational mobility through the lens of underexplored Bourdieusian concepts, specifically transnational habitus and habitus clivé. Our analysis shows how one's perception of a ‘better life’ and one's ideology of ‘entrepreneur self’ are produced despite one's encounter with disparity between their fields of…
Migration, adult education and learning
People have always been on the move, but the scale and speed of transnational migration is unprecedented in today’s world. It is estimated that in 2015, there were around 244 million international
The making of transnational social space
China–Canada people flows are increasingly characterized by two-way movement, engendering possibilities and problems, particularly for women juggling careers and lives. Within this context, a qualitative study was conducted to trace the migratory and career trajectories of 15 Chinese migrant women between China and Canada. The study finds that to maximize their career and life spaces, the women endeavored to build and mobilize various forms of ca…
Building social capital as a pathway to success
In the last three decades, various concepts and strategies have been developed to address social determinants of health. This paper brings together the different focuses of health promotion, and demonstrates that effective health intervention programs need to be conducted at multiple levels and fronts. Specifically, based on the evaluation of KidsFirst, an early childhood intervention program in Saskatchewan, Canada, this paper presents the progr…
Complicating the entrepreneurial self
A core mode of governance in the era of neoliberalism is through the production of ‘entrepreneurial self’. This paper explores how the ‘entrepreneurial self’ is produced for 21 Chinese immigrant women in Canada. The women displayed extraordinary entrepreneurialism by investing in Canadian education. Becoming entrepreneurial, however, is more than an individualised ‘choice’. It is imbricated with the ideology of meritocracy cultivated in China, th…
Learning as sociocultural practice
The last few decades have witnessed both an expansion and a transformation of immigration flows, which pose significant challenges with respect to how people work with differences across culture and space. Against this background, this paper explores how some Chinese immigrant engineers respond to differences in the Canadian labour market. It not only examines some of the learning practices engaged by the immigrants as they negotiate professional…
The politics of recognition
The unprecedented transnational mobility that skilled immigrants have experienced in the global war for international talents has made foreign credential recognition a policy challenge for many countries. Under the pressure of critics, Canadian governments recently launched new initiatives to facilitate foreign qualification recognition through policy interventions. Using critical discourse analysis, this article analyses the policy orientation o…
Skill as a relational construct
Under-employment and unemployment of immigrants has often been attributed to immigrants' lack of human capital skills and/or cultural and social capital endowments. Few studies have addressed the fact that despite these possible 'capital' disadvantages, immigrant niches are occasionally made in professional fields. Based on an institutional ethnographic study, this article sheds light on this phenomenon. Specifically, it traces some of the hiring…
An Ethnodrama on Work-Related Learning in Precarious Jobs
This article is based on a research project on the lived experiences of precarious workers in Toronto, Canada. Using interviews with women in part-time, contract, and temporary jobs in three sectors (telemarketing, retail, and garment), the project explores the ways in which racial hierarchies structure jobs as well as forms of resistance that women exercise at work. The authors find that racialized processes stereotype workers and their skill se…
Lifelong learning as ideological practice
Critiques of lifelong learning have focused on the neo‐liberal underpinning of state policy, where individuals are expected to take responsibility for meeting the needs of changing labour market conditions in the post‐Fordist economy. We treat lifelong learning as an 'ideological frame' that (re)shapes how people see and understand social reality, and organise their job seeking activities accordingly. Our argument is supported with data from two …
Shaping the re‐training and re‐education experiences of immigrant women
Research has extensively documented the employment barriers facing immigrants in Canada. Less attention is paid to the employment strategies that immigrants deploy in the host labour market. To address this gap in the literature, two projects 1 1. The first project is entitled ‘Learning to be good citizens: Informal learning and the labour market experiences of professional Chinese immigrant women’, funded by CERIS—The Ontario Metropolis Centre, …
Skill as a relational construct
Under-employment and unemployment of immigrants has often been attributed to immigrants' lack of human capital skills and/or cultural and social capital endowments. Few studies have addressed the fact that despite these possible 'capital' disadvantages, immigrant niches are occasionally made in professional fields. Based on an institutional ethnographic study, this article sheds light on this phenomenon. Specifically, it traces some of the hiring…
Shaping the re‐training and re‐education experiences of immigrant women
Research has extensively documented the employment barriers facing immigrants in Canada. Less attention is paid to the employment strategies that immigrants deploy in the host labour market. To address this gap in the literature, two projects 1 1. The first project is entitled ‘Learning to be good citizens: Informal learning and the labour market experiences of professional Chinese immigrant women’, funded by CERIS—The Ontario Metropolis Centre, …
The politics of recognition
The unprecedented transnational mobility that skilled immigrants have experienced in the global war for international talents has made foreign credential recognition a policy challenge for many countries. Under the pressure of critics, Canadian governments recently launched new initiatives to facilitate foreign qualification recognition through policy interventions. Using critical discourse analysis, this article analyses the policy orientation o…
Transnational mobility through education
This article argues for a more nuanced view of mobility through education within an era of increased globalisation. We explore questions of transnational mobility through the lens of underexplored Bourdieusian concepts, specifically transnational habitus and habitus clivé. Our analysis shows how one's perception of a ‘better life’ and one's ideology of ‘entrepreneur self’ are produced despite one's encounter with disparity between their fields of…
Complicating the entrepreneurial self
A core mode of governance in the era of neoliberalism is through the production of ‘entrepreneurial self’. This paper explores how the ‘entrepreneurial self’ is produced for 21 Chinese immigrant women in Canada. The women displayed extraordinary entrepreneurialism by investing in Canadian education. Becoming entrepreneurial, however, is more than an individualised ‘choice’. It is imbricated with the ideology of meritocracy cultivated in China, th…
Lifelong learning as ideological practice
Critiques of lifelong learning have focused on the neo‐liberal underpinning of state policy, where individuals are expected to take responsibility for meeting the needs of changing labour market conditions in the post‐Fordist economy. We treat lifelong learning as an 'ideological frame' that (re)shapes how people see and understand social reality, and organise their job seeking activities accordingly. Our argument is supported with data from two …
An Ethnodrama on Work-Related Learning in Precarious Jobs
This article is based on a research project on the lived experiences of precarious workers in Toronto, Canada. Using interviews with women in part-time, contract, and temporary jobs in three sectors (telemarketing, retail, and garment), the project explores the ways in which racial hierarchies structure jobs as well as forms of resistance that women exercise at work. The authors find that racialized processes stereotype workers and their skill se…
Migration, adult education and learning
People have always been on the move, but the scale and speed of transnational migration is unprecedented in today’s world. It is estimated that in 2015, there were around 244 million international
Entry to hospitality careers for women and beyond
Employment training services are provided for immigrants to integrate them into the Canadian labour market. Evaluated on short-term labour market outcomes, these programs typically focus on enhancing individuals’ employability, while risking naturalizing and reproducing the dominant social and cultural order. Entry to Hospitality Careers for Women is a government-funded program based on a partnership between a community organization and a communi…
Learning as sociocultural practice
The last few decades have witnessed both an expansion and a transformation of immigration flows, which pose significant challenges with respect to how people work with differences across culture and space. Against this background, this paper explores how some Chinese immigrant engineers respond to differences in the Canadian labour market. It not only examines some of the learning practices engaged by the immigrants as they negotiate professional…
The making of transnational social space
China–Canada people flows are increasingly characterized by two-way movement, engendering possibilities and problems, particularly for women juggling careers and lives. Within this context, a qualitative study was conducted to trace the migratory and career trajectories of 15 Chinese migrant women between China and Canada. The study finds that to maximize their career and life spaces, the women endeavored to build and mobilize various forms of ca…
Fostering diversity work as a process of lifelong learning
Towards a postcolonial politics of appearance
In the context of flexible capitalism, lifelong learning has been posed as a pathway for individuals to accumulate skills and actualise potentials. What is overlooked, however, is that the process of accumulation and actualisation is embedded within the culture of recognition. People who are historically constructed as the anthropos, a legacy of the colonial history struggle to appear as equals vis-à-vis the gaze of the humantias. With this criti…
Shaping the re‐training and re‐education experiences of immigrant women
Research has extensively documented the employment barriers facing immigrants in Canada. Less attention is paid to the employment strategies that immigrants deploy in the host labour market. To address this gap in the literature, two projects 1 1. The first project is entitled ‘Learning to be good citizens: Informal learning and the labour market experiences of professional Chinese immigrant women’, funded by CERIS—The Ontario Metropolis Centre, …
Lifelong learning as ideological practice
Critiques of lifelong learning have focused on the neo‐liberal underpinning of state policy, where individuals are expected to take responsibility for meeting the needs of changing labour market conditions in the post‐Fordist economy. We treat lifelong learning as an 'ideological frame' that (re)shapes how people see and understand social reality, and organise their job seeking activities accordingly. Our argument is supported with data from two …
An Ethnodrama on Work-Related Learning in Precarious Jobs
This article is based on a research project on the lived experiences of precarious workers in Toronto, Canada. Using interviews with women in part-time, contract, and temporary jobs in three sectors (telemarketing, retail, and garment), the project explores the ways in which racial hierarchies structure jobs as well as forms of resistance that women exercise at work. The authors find that racialized processes stereotype workers and their skill se…
Learning as sociocultural practice
The last few decades have witnessed both an expansion and a transformation of immigration flows, which pose significant challenges with respect to how people work with differences across culture and space. Against this background, this paper explores how some Chinese immigrant engineers respond to differences in the Canadian labour market. It not only examines some of the learning practices engaged by the immigrants as they negotiate professional…
The politics of recognition
The unprecedented transnational mobility that skilled immigrants have experienced in the global war for international talents has made foreign credential recognition a policy challenge for many countries. Under the pressure of critics, Canadian governments recently launched new initiatives to facilitate foreign qualification recognition through policy interventions. Using critical discourse analysis, this article analyses the policy orientation o…
Skill as a relational construct
Under-employment and unemployment of immigrants has often been attributed to immigrants' lack of human capital skills and/or cultural and social capital endowments. Few studies have addressed the fact that despite these possible 'capital' disadvantages, immigrant niches are occasionally made in professional fields. Based on an institutional ethnographic study, this article sheds light on this phenomenon. Specifically, it traces some of the hiring…
Building social capital as a pathway to success
In the last three decades, various concepts and strategies have been developed to address social determinants of health. This paper brings together the different focuses of health promotion, and demonstrates that effective health intervention programs need to be conducted at multiple levels and fronts. Specifically, based on the evaluation of KidsFirst, an early childhood intervention program in Saskatchewan, Canada, this paper presents the progr…
Complicating the entrepreneurial self
A core mode of governance in the era of neoliberalism is through the production of ‘entrepreneurial self’. This paper explores how the ‘entrepreneurial self’ is produced for 21 Chinese immigrant women in Canada. The women displayed extraordinary entrepreneurialism by investing in Canadian education. Becoming entrepreneurial, however, is more than an individualised ‘choice’. It is imbricated with the ideology of meritocracy cultivated in China, th…
The making of transnational social space
China–Canada people flows are increasingly characterized by two-way movement, engendering possibilities and problems, particularly for women juggling careers and lives. Within this context, a qualitative study was conducted to trace the migratory and career trajectories of 15 Chinese migrant women between China and Canada. The study finds that to maximize their career and life spaces, the women endeavored to build and mobilize various forms of ca…
Transnational mobility through education
This article argues for a more nuanced view of mobility through education within an era of increased globalisation. We explore questions of transnational mobility through the lens of underexplored Bourdieusian concepts, specifically transnational habitus and habitus clivé. Our analysis shows how one's perception of a ‘better life’ and one's ideology of ‘entrepreneur self’ are produced despite one's encounter with disparity between their fields of…
Migration, adult education and learning
People have always been on the move, but the scale and speed of transnational migration is unprecedented in today’s world. It is estimated that in 2015, there were around 244 million international
Towards a postcolonial politics of appearance
In the context of flexible capitalism, lifelong learning has been posed as a pathway for individuals to accumulate skills and actualise potentials. What is overlooked, however, is that the process of accumulation and actualisation is embedded within the culture of recognition. People who are historically constructed as the anthropos, a legacy of the colonial history struggle to appear as equals vis-à-vis the gaze of the humantias. With this criti…
Knowledge ‘transfer’ as sociocultural and sociomaterial practice
Research on migration and knowledge transfer predominantly focuses on expatriate and return migrants, who are acclaimed for transferring knowledge from the west to the rest of the world. Not only does the literature reinforce the west as the epistemic centre, but it conjures a realist image of knowledge as an objective thing. To interrupt these images, this paper examines the knowledge transfer experiences of 22 immigrant engineers in Canada. The…
Entry to hospitality careers for women and beyond
Employment training services are provided for immigrants to integrate them into the Canadian labour market. Evaluated on short-term labour market outcomes, these programs typically focus on enhancing individuals’ employability, while risking naturalizing and reproducing the dominant social and cultural order. Entry to Hospitality Careers for Women is a government-funded program based on a partnership between a community organization and a communi…
Learning and knowledge ‘transfer’ as translation
Existing literature on international health partnerships is largely normative, with an evaluative interest in their impacts in terms of learning and knowledge transfer. Rarely has research attended to how learning and knowledge transfer transpire in practice. This paper addresses this gap with a case study of a partnership between two hospitals in Canada and China. Conceptually, drawing on Actor Network Theory, it posits learning and knowledge tr…
Fostering diversity work as a process of lifelong learning
Academic association through overseas visits
Studies of Chinese (visiting) international doctoral students typically focus on how students are socialized into the Western academy. Not only does the literature reinforce Western institutions as ‘the academic centre’, but it also conjures a unidirectional image of academic learning and knowledge transfer from the West to the rest of the world. This paper complexifies these images by proposing academic association as an alternative image to und…
Expanding engineering practices
Research shows a positive association between skilled migration and innovation. Related literature however is largely limited to the use of proxies such as patents, and publications. There is also a lack of attention to how innovation is accomplished in practices. This paper addresses these gaps with an examination of the innovative contributions made by immigrant engineers in Canada. Conceptually, informed by practice-based theories, it conceive…
Professional learning and knowledge ‘transfer’ in practice
The social reproductive labour of university students with hostile Jobs
This paper focuses on the social reproductive labour of one group of young people - university students who hold hostile jobs. Engaging in paid work while studying full-time has become common for university students. Despite the desire for high-quality work-integrated learning opportunities, many working undergraduate students face precarious working conditions in service sector jobs. Full-time undergraduate students at two Canadian universities …
The learning triad
Shadow language policy in digital and GenAI-supported language learning for adult immigrant English language learners
Political science (19 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Immigration (12 works) · Gender Studies (10 works) · Gender Studies (10 works) · Law (8 works) · Law (8 works) · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy (8 works) · Higher Education Learning Practices (7 works) · Migration and Labor Dynamics (7 works)