"Who am I?" The Identity Construction and Preference of Chinese Students in England: A Case Study of the Chinese Students in Durham University

Xianqi YANG, Wenhui YANG

Abstract


This study aims to explore how Chinese students from Durham University engaged in two-way with Chinese society and England local society from the sociocultural perspective, and how they located and constructed their own cultural identities therein. 10 semi-structured interviews were applied to analyze how Chinese students participated in and maintained interaction with the host England society. With a combination of literature on the ‘production of identity’ (Hall, 2007), cultural adaptation (Brown & Holloway, 2008), and ‘cleft habitus’ (Bourdieu & Nice, 2008), the authors conducted an analysis to interpret ‘who am I?’ and the trend of identity construction and preference of Chinese students who studied in the UK concerning social engagements, perceptions of host culture adaptation and social interactive network. The result showed that the interviewees continuously extended and conferred new signs and experiences to enrich their cultural identities through their own understanding and interpretations of cultural attributes, interpretations of the local living environment and the forms of social interactions, which displayed a sensitive, and complex construction and preference of cultural identity they possessed.


Keywords


Identity construction; Social engagement; Identity preference; Chinese students; Durham University

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/13280

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