Europe – a default or a dream? European identity formation among Bulgarian and English children

Slavtcheva-Petkova, Vera; Mihelj, Sabina

doi:10.1177/1468796812465722

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…At last, adapting to the nation’s political system and linking to the parents’ nationality is regarded as the political aspect of national identity (Kearney, 1997). Such political attachment to the shared values of the national system represents a critical contribution to the development of national identity (Slavtcheva-Petkova and Mihelj, 2012). For example, Chinese university students who are members of the Chinese Communist Party show a strong attachment to the national political system (Sinkkonen, 2013).…”

Section: National Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing Hong Kong university students’ national identity through studying abroad

Cheng¹,

Szeto²

2019

AEDS

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether there are any effects on Hong Kong university students’ national identity after short-term study abroad. If so, what sources of influence from the short-term study abroad programme contribute to the students’ change in national identity? Design/methodology/approach Using the case study approach, 85 students completed a questionnaire, and a small group of 12 students were invited to individual interviews for further investigation. Findings Results show that the students’ perceptions of national identity are multiple and complicated through the lens of four components of national identity. The responses of students’ perceptions of change in identity were pointed to three statements: “feeling prouder of being Chinese”, “Hongkongers are very different from mainland Chinese” and “no change in my views of national identity”. The influences of study abroad experiences on national identity varied, dependent on the students’ interaction with the local and non-local people, and reflection on their own identity, whether on the cultural or political differences or on national achievements. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study can inform educators and administrators to enhance profound short-term study abroad experience for the students. The limitation of this case study is that it is concerned with understanding how small numbers of students construct meaning from their individual experience. It is recommended that studies with larger sampling sizes be conducted to investigate students’ perceptions of their national identity before and after studying abroad. Originality/value Considering the increasing number of Hong Kong youths who have participated in these short-term study-abroad programmes in higher education, the findings of this study are significant in terms of awakening the students’ taken-for-granted national identity, if any. The programme serves as a means of triggering the students’ feelings and emotions regarding their identity in different national, social and cultural contexts. This can inform policy makers, educational administrators and teachers to formulate an appropriate national education curriculum for the youth.

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Section: National Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing Hong Kong university students’ national identity through studying abroad

Cheng¹,

Szeto²

2019

AEDS

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“…In contrast, other participants presented learned descriptions about the world of war, poverty, livelihood, and religious and cultural differences, merging attitudes and information delivered by the school, the media, and their family (also Kallio 2015). These maps provide a window to the outcomes of institutional spatial socialization, another process by which people learn to locate themselves and others in the world (Paasi 1999;Slavtcheva-Petkova and Mihelj 2012;Silova et al 2014). Yet still other children spotted the large-scale maps with places they had visited, where their relatives and friends had been to or lived, and places they hoped to visitoften making no difference between Finnish and 'foreign' locations.…”

Section: Youthful Experiences Of Spatial Belongingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lived citizenship as the locus of political agency in participatory policy

Kallio

Häkli

Bäcklund

2014

Citizenship Studies

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Participatory policies seeking to foster active citizenship continue to be dominated by a territorial imagination. Yet the world where people identify and perform as citizens is spatially multifarious. This article engages with the tension between territorially grounded perceptions and relational modes of practicing political agency. Studying empirically the Finnish child and youth policies we address jointly the participatory obligations that municipalities strive to fulfill, and the spatial attachments that children and young people establish in their lived worlds. To this end we introduce the concept of lived citizenship as an interface where the territorially-bound public administration and the plurality of spatial attachments characteristic to transnational living may meet. We conclude by proposing a regrounding of lived citizenship in both topological and topographical terms as an improvement in theoretical understanding of mundane political agency and as a step towards more proficient participatory policies.

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“…After all, people can mean very different things when talking about and/or referring to Europe while using the same terms (Diez Medrano, 2010;Jenkins, 2008a). However, only a limited number of studies investigated the meanings individuals attribute to Europe (Diez Medrano, 2010;Schlenker, 2013;Schroedter et al, 2015;Slavtcheva-Petkova and Mihelj, 2013). Therefore, the first aim of this paper is to investigate which meanings higher education students attribute to the word 'Europe'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra-European student mobility and the different meanings of ‘Europe’

Mol

2019

Acta Sociologica

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One of the main aims of the Erasmus programme is to promote a sense of European identity. Whereas several empirical studies have already investigated this relationship, few studies investigate what students actually mean when they refer to 'Europe'. Therefore, in this paper I investigate the different latent dimensions of the concept Europe, as well as which of these dimensions are particularly associated with an exchange period abroad. The analyses are based on an online survey conducted with higher education students in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Poland and Sweden in 2011 (n ¼ 4278). The presented models reveal four latent dimensions, namely a 'cultural', 'political', 'rights' and 'experiential' dimension. Furthermore, the analyses suggest that exchange students are largely a self-selected group, being a priori more likely to identify with Europe and score higher on the four dimensions.

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Europe – a default or a dream? European identity formation among Bulgarian and English children

Cited by 10 publications

References 42 publications

Changing Hong Kong university students’ national identity through studying abroad

Changing Hong Kong university students’ national identity through studying abroad

Lived citizenship as the locus of political agency in participatory policy

Intra-European student mobility and the different meanings of ‘Europe’

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