False Anticipation and Misfits in a Cross-Cultural Setting: International Scholars Working in Chinese Universities

Abstract

As the rapid development of internationalization in Chinese higher education, the number and scale of international scholars working in China has significantly increased. However, few studies have focused on international scholars’ cross-cultural encounters in the Chinese academic context. Based on 21 in-depth interviews, this article investigates international scholars’ subjective experiences in a cross-cultural setting through Bourdieu’s conceptual lens. After presenting an overview of participants’ major motivations for working in China, we find their vague and idealistic expectations engendered “false anticipation” of their possible career future in China, which left some of them unprepared to experience a sense of misfit when entering the new field of Chinese academia. Moreover, we identify the dual habitus–field disjunctures emerging from participants’ perceptions of misfit in the cross-cultural scenario, namely explicit disjuncture and implicit disjuncture, which reveal the underlying reasons for mismatch between international scholars’ previously generated habitus and the new field of Chinese universities.

Mismatched expectations of internationalisation: Lived experiences of Chinese returnee academics in an international joint university

“…Shams and Huisman (2012) have considered this from a managerial perspective, arguing this impact may in turn lead to decline of local staff’s teaching quality and institutional efficiency. The managerial focus echoes Chen and Zhu (2020)’s argument that studies surrounding academic staff of branch campuses centre on their role as teachers, aiming to improve teaching quality, students’ satisfaction, and thus brand image, rather than exploring staff’s lived experience, without which could be ineffective in improving the former.…”

“…Internationalisation, from a staff perspective, is often explored through the concepts of academic mobility (e.g., Morley et al, 2019) or cross-cultural experiences (e.g., Bailey et al, 2021) of overseas staff. In the context of internationalisation in Chinese HE, previous research has highlighted challenges experienced by overseas (i.e., non-Chinese) staff, including their self-reflected unpreparedness or difficulties resulting from the mismatch between their expectations and lived experiences (Chen & Zhu, 2020). Others have highlighted staff feeling that their diversity and contributions are undervalued (Bailey et al, 2021).…”

“…When an individual does not possess “feel for the game” (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 66), i.e., their habitus is not aligned with the field, there is likely to be dissonance. There is various literature on explaining habitus-field mismatch and the resulting disjuncture when a habitus enters an unfamiliar field (e.g., Chen & Zhu, 2020; Dai et al, 2020). This is likely to lead to what Bourdieu called “false anticipation”, which occurs when “the sense of a probable future is belied and, when dispositions ill-adjusted to the objective chances” (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 62).…”

“…This is likely to lead to what Bourdieu called “false anticipation”, which occurs when “the sense of a probable future is belied and, when dispositions ill-adjusted to the objective chances” (Bourdieu, 1990, p. 62). Chen and Zhu (2020) employs “false anticipation” to describe when academic staff’s previous, often vague, ideas were unable to adequately prepare them for the new workplace (field)’s future prospects.…”

“…Dai et al, (2020) argue that when changes in the field happen, habitus tends to change accordingly, in an incremental instead of radical way. Therefore, building on Chen and Zhu (2020)’s interpretation of false anticipation and Dai et al (2020)’s incrementally adaptive habitus, this article aims to provide insights on circumstances when imagined and actual fields diverge, as in the case of Chinese academic staff return from education or work overseas to take up their first post in a JV in China.…”