Friendship networks and encounters in student-migrants’ negotiations of translocal subjectivity

Abstract

This paper explores the complex intersections between place, friendship networks and encounters, and the development and negotiation of ‘translocal subjectivities’ for student-migrants living in Melbourne, Australia. Drawing on qualitative research with student-migrants of various nationalities, the paper explores how student-migrants narrate encounters with friends and the formation of different friendship networks in relation to place at two significant stages of their migration journey: during initial arrival and ‘settling in’ in Melbourne, and during return visits to their hometowns and cities. This analysis uses the concept of ‘translocal subjectivities’ (Conradson and Mckay (2007), Translocal subjectivities: Mobility, connection, emotion. Mobilities 2: 167-174 to highlight how encounters with friends shape senses of self that are both multiply located and transformed through transnational mobility; and how specific urban localities, materialities and social practices are involved in the negotiation of the ‘translocal’ self.

Analyzing Determining Factors of Young Graduates’ Decision to Stay in Lagged Regions

“…This implied that family or friend ties and affection toward home villages and student colleges were associated with deciding on jobs or residential areas not only for retirees and the middle-aged but also for young graduates. This result is consistent with earlier findings [7,12] that people were likely to stay in their current place of residence due to a strong preference for their hometown. In addition, the coefficient of the spatial consistency between university and job location (2.017) was higher than that between domicile and job location (0.462).…”

“…Few studies have analyzed the determining factors of young graduates staying in lagged regions. There have been a few studies on why people continue to stay in their communities [7,12]. Young workers are expected to be highly mobile because they can minimize their concerns regarding lifecycle and family [13].…”

“…In addition to economic incentives, non-economic benefits have been known to explain people staying. A feeling of belonging or being similar to those living in a neighborhood has been known to reduce the probability of people leaving current areas [7,12]. Similarly, the effect of place-based factors, such as the ability to meet people and make friends, explained people staying in their current place of residence [18].…”

A place for sharing: The emotional geographies of peer-sharing in UK University halls of residences

“…This paper responds to Bunnell et al's (2012) call for more critical investigations of the "formation, significance and spatiality" (500) that constitute young people's geographies of friendship. For example, in the context of student friendships, Robertson (2016) argues that friendship is a vital component in the production of 'translocal subjectivities' (Conradson and McKay, 2007) for those in mobility as they interact (with)in new social and living environments. Notwithstanding, friendships are intrinsically tied to relationships with place and processes of place-making and the ability to enact social identities among 'people like us' (Fincher and Shaw, 2009).…”

“…This is exemplified through the emotional place-making activities described by the participants above that draw flatmates together through shared experiences and emotional connections. This makes Robertson's (2016) caution against labelling students as "simply transient sojourner-consumers" (13) all the more prescient, particularly as many of the emotions connected to students' initial experiences of university (excitement/fear, assurance/trepidation, unease/calm etc.) can be spatially and temporally located in, and articulated through, their accommodation.…”