Cosmopolitanism in international education
Insights from digital identity performances of Chinese international students
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11229430 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jun Fu (0000-0002-4843-9202, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-15 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-19 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Discourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0159-6306 • E-ISSN: 1469-3739 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01596306.2026.2632017 |
| OpenAlex | W7130568028 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 36 |
Transnational education mobility is often assumed to be an effective way to build global competence and foster cosmopolitan identity. This paper examines this assumption by analysing digital identity performances of 15 Chinese international students during their studies in Melbourne. Analysis of their social media posts and their accounts of these posts in semi-structured interviews reveals two intersecting cosmopolitan identities performed across different social media platforms. One showcases a set of consumption behaviours typically associated with a cosmopolitan lifestyle as portrayed in the popular media. The other is characterised by the performance of values and attitudes of openness, universality, and equality in negotiating cultural differences. This paper questions the often taken-for-granted assumption of the benefits of international education for young people’s global competence and cosmopolitan identity, and calls for a more critical understanding of the complex relationship between transnational education mobility and the formation of cosmopolitan identities
Cosmopolitanism · Cultural identity · Discourse analysis · Globalization · Social identity theory · Global Education and Multiculturalism · International Student and Expatriate Challenges · Second Language Learning and Teaching
Social Media in the Lives of Young Connected Migrants
Creative Explorations
Student Self-Formation in International Education
An alternative framing for the ‘issue’ of Chinese international students in Western nations
Reimagining recovery for a more robust internationalization
‘Ways of doing’ and ‘ways of being’
International students’ mobility and lives in transnational spaces
Youth Moves
(Im)mobility and performance of emotions
Desperately seeking the global subject
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Using creative methods to research across difference. An introduction to the special issue
Coping with the ‘double bind’ through vlogging
Making Melbourne
Cultural distance, mindfulness and passive xenophobia
International students and social exclusion in the age of social media
Dreams of Flight
The art of internationalisation
Towards cosmopolitan learning
Global Britain and cosmopolitan nationalism
Of Mimicry and Membership
Angry youth or realistic idealist? The formation of subjectivity in online political participation of young adults in urban China
Cosmopolitans and Locals in World Culture
Aspiring, Consuming, Becoming
On Being Cosmopolitan
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |