Identities and Ideologies in Study Abroad Contexts: Negotiating Nationality, Gender, and Sexuality

<p>This thesis examines the discursive negotiation of identities in study abroad (SA) settings, examining how university exchange students in New Zealand and France use language to enact, reflect on, and problematise social identities in interaction. I push beyond the more common focus on language learning as the end goal of identity scholarship in SA, focusing instead on an emergent approach to social identities for participants as they encounter ‘new’ Discourses and norms in their exchange settings. The post-structural perspective of identities as multiple, dynamic, and a site of struggle is enriched by attending closely to how identities are discursively co-constructed at ‘ground level’ in interactions with attention to wider sociocultural Discourses and ideologies. I approach this complexity by weaving a strong theoretical thread throughout the thesis, acknowledging (and problematising) the social categories, knowledge, Discourses and ideologies we (re)construct for ourselves, yet recognising the structural constraints that these constructions provide for identity negotiations at any point in time in the guise of social reality. Methodologically, I adopt a novel bidirectional approach to examine the whats and hows of identity co-construction for my participants in France and New Zealand. Data collection spanned a period of sixteen months and involved multiple sources, prioritising naturalistic interactional data and interviews. This was supplemented by an ethnographic data collection which included extensive field notes, time spent with participants, interviews with other key people (language buddies and tutors), and social media. Analytically, interactional sociolinguistics provides valuable tools for a rigorous discourse analysis which considers both micro and macro factors. The analytic focus on the processes of identity negotiation in interaction, underpinned by a social realist approach, provides a fertile platform from which to investigate identity construction in its intersubjective complexity, and to move beyond the reliance on student perspectives as the main source of accessing identity in SA. My findings show that particularly salient identities for participants hinge on constructs of nationality (which interacted with ethnicity), as well as gender and sexuality. These identities were often ‘triggered’ by the activation of ‘discursive faultlines’ in exchange settings and ideologies (associated with the above categories) were pervasive in all participants’ ensuing identity negotiations. The emphasis on the social embeddedness of participants and the researcher has rich implications for understandings of the relationship between structure and agency, and analysis shows that even ostensibly agentive acts are constrained by ideological structures, which act as vehicles of power. I conceptualise agency as being co-constructed, dynamic, and multifaceted, and as involving resistance, perpetuation, complicity, and strategic harnessing of Discourses - both conscious and unconscious. Within these broad parameters, my data provides evidence of greater transformative potential in forms of ‘oppositional’ agency, and at the same time, fledgling potential in what I term agency in a germination phase. I argue that ‘seeds of agency’ are planted for some participants in their new settings and that reflecting on the arbitrary nature of ideologies and accepted truths was a more common outcome for participants who had prior experience of marginalisation. In this sense, the study also speaks to notions of study abroad as social change. What study abroad contexts afford, by virtue of movement across geographical and discursive space, is unique access to how identities are negotiated in light of ideological constraints by young people living in an increasingly mobile and globalised world. Moving beyond singular portrayals of SA university students as language learners and adding depth to existing treatments of identity has crucial repercussions for the way we conceptualise study abroad participants. My study firmly positions them as ‘whole people’ who continue to experience real world issues on exchange, in contexts where the revered immersion experience has been replaced by mobility and connectedness through technological advances. The increasing internationalisation of education adds economic implications to the social, emphasising the need for deeper understanding of the connections between language, identity, and ideology as impacting the study abroad experience. These understandings have the potential to benefit many groups of people, including academics, educators, policy writers, and not least the students themselves.</p>

Identities and Ideologies in Study Abroad Contexts: Negotiating Nationality, Gender, and Sexuality

<p>This thesis examines the discursive negotiation of identities in study abroad (SA) settings, examining how university exchange students in New Zealand and France use language to enact, reflect on, and problematise social identities in interaction. I push beyond the more common focus on language learning as the end goal of identity scholarship in SA, focusing instead on an emergent approach to social identities for participants as they encounter ‘new’ Discourses and norms in their exchange settings. The post-structural perspective of identities as multiple, dynamic, and a site of struggle is enriched by attending closely to how identities are discursively co-constructed at ‘ground level’ in interactions with attention to wider sociocultural Discourses and ideologies. I approach this complexity by weaving a strong theoretical thread throughout the thesis, acknowledging (and problematising) the social categories, knowledge, Discourses and ideologies we (re)construct for ourselves, yet recognising the structural constraints that these constructions provide for identity negotiations at any point in time in the guise of social reality. Methodologically, I adopt a novel bidirectional approach to examine the whats and hows of identity co-construction for my participants in France and New Zealand. Data collection spanned a period of sixteen months and involved multiple sources, prioritising naturalistic interactional data and interviews. This was supplemented by an ethnographic data collection which included extensive field notes, time spent with participants, interviews with other key people (language buddies and tutors), and social media. Analytically, interactional sociolinguistics provides valuable tools for a rigorous discourse analysis which considers both micro and macro factors. The analytic focus on the processes of identity negotiation in interaction, underpinned by a social realist approach, provides a fertile platform from which to investigate identity construction in its intersubjective complexity, and to move beyond the reliance on student perspectives as the main source of accessing identity in SA. My findings show that particularly salient identities for participants hinge on constructs of nationality (which interacted with ethnicity), as well as gender and sexuality. These identities were often ‘triggered’ by the activation of ‘discursive faultlines’ in exchange settings and ideologies (associated with the above categories) were pervasive in all participants’ ensuing identity negotiations. The emphasis on the social embeddedness of participants and the researcher has rich implications for understandings of the relationship between structure and agency, and analysis shows that even ostensibly agentive acts are constrained by ideological structures, which act as vehicles of power. I conceptualise agency as being co-constructed, dynamic, and multifaceted, and as involving resistance, perpetuation, complicity, and strategic harnessing of Discourses - both conscious and unconscious. Within these broad parameters, my data provides evidence of greater transformative potential in forms of ‘oppositional’ agency, and at the same time, fledgling potential in what I term agency in a germination phase. I argue that ‘seeds of agency’ are planted for some participants in their new settings and that reflecting on the arbitrary nature of ideologies and accepted truths was a more common outcome for participants who had prior experience of marginalisation. In this sense, the study also speaks to notions of study abroad as social change. What study abroad contexts afford, by virtue of movement across geographical and discursive space, is unique access to how identities are negotiated in light of ideological constraints by young people living in an increasingly mobile and globalised world. Moving beyond singular portrayals of SA university students as language learners and adding depth to existing treatments of identity has crucial repercussions for the way we conceptualise study abroad participants. My study firmly positions them as ‘whole people’ who continue to experience real world issues on exchange, in contexts where the revered immersion experience has been replaced by mobility and connectedness through technological advances. The increasing internationalisation of education adds economic implications to the social, emphasising the need for deeper understanding of the connections between language, identity, and ideology as impacting the study abroad experience. These understandings have the potential to benefit many groups of people, including academics, educators, policy writers, and not least the students themselves.</p>

“I’m still here, but no one hears you”: a qualitative study of young women’s experiences of persistent distress post family-based treatment for adolescent anorexia nervosa

Background Family-based treatment (FBT) is the current treatment of choice for adolescent AN based on positive outcomes that include weight restoration in around two-thirds of adolescents. Nevertheless around a quarter drop-out from treatment, particularly in the earlier phases, and a notable proportion of treated adolescents are reported to experience ongoing psychological distress during and post-treatment. This study explores the under-researched experiences of these adolescents. Method Fourteen participants from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom were interviewed about their experiences of FBT. An inductive thematic analysis of interview transcript data generated key themes related to their experiences, identity negotiations and the discursive materials these used to construct these. Results The participants identified working as a family unit as key to their recovery, highlighting the importance of family therapy interventions for adolescent AN. However, they perceived an almost exclusive focus on weight restoration in the first phase of FBT was associated with experiences that included a relative neglect of their psychological distress and a loss of voice. Key within these experiences were processes whereby the adolescent engaged in identity negotiation and (re)claiming of their voice and implicit in their family standing with them in the treatment was that their life was worth saving. What was noted as most helpful was when therapists advocated and took into consideration their unique needs and preferences and tailored treatment interventions to these. Conclusions There is a need to develop and research treatments that address, from the outset of treatment, the adolescents’ psychological distress (including as experienced in the context of their weight restoration). This should be with priority accorded to the adolescent’s voice and identity negotiations, as they and their families take steps to address the physical crisis of AN and in doing so, support more holistic and durable recovery.

Kajian Dinamika Kesetaraan Gender Pada Film Ki dan Ka

Patriarchal culture has long been rooted in society, regulating all aspects of life for both men and women. One of them is married life. Men and women are equally required to fulfill traditional roles according to patriarchal standards. Men are required to provide breadwinners, while women only do domestic work. Women work only to support their husbands. Ki&Ka film tries to show a different role from what is usual in society. So this film aims to describe the visualization of the dynamics of gender equality in the Ki & Ka film. The theory used in this research is the Identity Negotiation Theory by Stella Ting-Toomey. This theory seeks to explore the ways in which identity is negotiated in interactions with other people, especially in different cultures. The method used is semiotic analysis, by trying to analyze the symbols that appear in this film. The results showed that Ki and Ka were able to show the dynamics of identity negotiations such as efforts to fit in with the environment, showing self-identity and the turmoil of people around when gender equality was trying to be applied in society.

Too Muslim or not Muslim enough? Exploring identity negotiations for women visual artists in Australia

The title of this article is deliberately provocative aiming to trouble the imposition of identity fixations and reductive assumptions on creative endeavours and outputs. This article is based on a research project which investigated the identity negotiations and representational responsibilities of women visual artists of Muslim faith and/or cultural background practising and exhibiting their artwork in Australia. This article shows how artists sometimes embrace certain identity markers in order to gain opportunities and promote forms of visibility and debate. At the same time, artists can feel the limitations of being pigeonholed and scrutinised because they have not met the normative and moral expectations of their cultural and religious communities as well as those of communities and organisations associated with the arts sector they have been associated with or with which they may wish to have a future association.

The silent inquisition: Islamophobic microaggressions and Spanish Moroccan identity negotiations in contemporary Madrid

This article explores Spanish Moroccan experiences with Islamophobic microaggressions in contemporary Madrid. It seeks to fill an important gap in the literature on religion and racial microaggressions by moving beyond the usual psychologistic explanations to show how these acts reflect Spanish historical-racialized structures, where Muslims were regarded as the Other. In utilizing in-depth qualitative interviews and participant observations, the author reveals how Spanish Moroccans are negotiating and responding to Islamophobic microaggressions at work, educational institutions, and the public sphere. Ultimately, this research shows how these microaggressions reinforced a Muslim-first identity framework, which allowed them to strategically link their experiences and identities to a collective, historical memory of Muslim Spain.

"I’m Still Here, But No One Hears You": A Qualitative Study of Young Women’s Experiences of Persistent Distress Post Maudsley and Family-Based Therapy for Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

Background: Maudsley and Family-Based Therapies (MFT/FBT) are the current treatment of choice for adolescent AN based on positive outcomes that include weight restoration in around two-thirds of adolescents. Nevertheless around a quarter drop-out from treatment, particularly in the earlier phases, and a notable proportion of treated adolescents are reported to experience ongoing psychological distress during and post-treatment. This study explores the under-researched experiences of these adolescents. Method: Fourteen participants from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom were interviewed about their experiences of MFT/FBT. An inductive thematic analysis of interview transcript data generated key themes related to their experiences, identity negotiations and the discursive materials these used to construct these. Results: The participants identified working as a family unit as key to their recovery, highlighting the importance of family therapy interventions for adolescent AN. However, they perceived an almost exclusive focus on weight restoration in the first phase of MFT/FBT was associated with experiences that included a relative neglect of their psychological distress and a loss of voice. Key within these experiences were processes whereby the adolescent engaged in identity negotiation and (re)claiming of their voice and implicit in their family standing with them in the treatment was that their life was worth saving. What was noted as most helpful was when therapists advocated and took into consideration their unique needs and preferences and tailored treatment interventions to these. Conclusions: There is a need to develop and research treatments that address, from the outset of treatment, the adolescents’ psychological distress (including as experienced in the context of their weight restoration). This should be with priority accorded to the adolescent’s voice and identity negotiations, as they and their families take steps to address the physical crisis of AN and in doing so, support more holistic and durable recovery.

Identidades Negociadas, Autenticidades Redefinidas: Políticas do Patrimônio e Turismo Cultural entre os Rabelados de Cabo Verde

Os Rabelados configuram comunidades rurais originárias da resistência ao poder colonial em Cabo Verde, as quais se desenvolveram parcialmente isoladas do Estado desde os anos 1940. Recentemente, no entanto, iniciativas empreendidas por mediadores culturais objetivam a inserção desses coletivos junto à sociedade envolvente, e nesses propósitos, as políticas de patrimonialização e o turismo cultural se apresentam como principais instrumentos. Partindo-se dessas realidades, o artigo aborda as complexidades que envolvem os agenciamentos referidos. Por um lado, busca-se caracterizar as formas pelas quais os agenciamentos em torno da cultura se tornaram centrais na contemporaneidade; por outra via, avalia-se os resultados mais aparentes desses empreendimentos para o caso dos Rabelados, com especial atenção em relação às problemáticas das negociações identitárias e da autenticidade.Negotiated Identities, Redefined Authenticities: Heritage Policies and Cultural Tourism Among the Rabelados of Cape Verde Abstract: The Rabelados consist of rural communities originating in the resistance to colonial power in Cape Verde, which have developed partially isolated from the state since the 1940s. Recently, however, initiatives undertaken by cultural mediators aim at the inclusion of these collectives into the surrounding society and, in these purposes, patrimonialization policies and cultural tourism are presented as main instruments. Coming from these realities, this article discusses the complexities surrounding these agencies. On the one hand, it seeks to characterize the ways in which the agencies around culture have become central in the contemporary world; on the other hand, it evaluates the most apparent results of these initiatives in the case of Rabelados, with special attention to the issues of identity negotiations and authenticity.Keywords: patrimonialization policies; cultural tourism; identities; authenticities.

Supporting Literacy and Positive Identity Negotiations with Multimodal Comic Composing

This study explores how an alternative writing unit with a focus on comics, choice, and publishing supported positive identity development in a fourth-grade classroom. Many traditional literacy practices with an emphasis on skills marginalize students from under-represented populations. This study reports literacy practices that countered the production of previously established unequal relationships and instead supported bilingual students’ negotiation of positive identities. We conducted an analysis of two bilingual case studies to examine the ways in which the shift from traditional literacy skills/practices to multimodal formats provided opportunities for students who were traditionally marginalized to renegotiate identities as experts and authors.