Başak Bilecen

Introduction: international academic mobility and inequalities

ABSTRACT Higher education is one of the social fields where inequalities are produced and reproduced. Nevertheless, we still know very little about the ways in which heterogeneities and inequalities have been experienced and interpreted by those involved in international academic mobility. In this introductory editorial, we consider some of the crucial conceptual issues involved in the study of the nexus between inequalities and international academic mobility. First, we argue that it is important to take manifold inequalities into account when examining this nexus. After all, inequalities can be detected at different levels, and the mobility process is structured around multiple heterogeneities rather than by a single one. Second, we discuss how international academic mobility and inequalities attached to it go beyond nation-state borders. Third, we argue it is beneficial to extend the scope of to the mobility process as a whole, as inequalities in opportunities and outcomes are intrinsically connected.

Negotiating differences: cosmopolitan experiences of international doctoral students

Drawing on the literature on international student experiences and identities, this study discusses theories of identity from a social constructionist perspective. ‘Identification’ is the preferred term to describe a dynamic process through which students negotiate the meaning of their identities in different societies and communities. Based on interviews with 35 international doctoral students from two graduate schools in Germany, the article illustrates the significance of international mobility for education when external ‘differences’ are appreciated and contribute to cosmopolitan imaginations and when internal differences are created in relation to ‘Others’ in the host society. The article contributes to the literature on international student mobility by providing a fine-grained analysis of student identification, showing how the discourse of difference is used as a double strategy.

The missing link: Social network analysis in migration and transnationalism

Abstract The focus on social networks in migration studies marked a significant departure of understanding. Social networks are not only a mechanism through which the migration process is patterned, but they also have broader implications for migrants and non-migrants alike. Despite the fact that the network character of migration processes has long been recognized in migration studies, for a long time, Social Network Analysis has not been applied. Taking this scholarly omission as a starting point, we seek in this special issue to discuss recent research into social networks and migration that use SNA approaches.

How Social Support Works Among the Best and the Brightest: Evidence from International PhD Students in Germany

Abstract More and more students have been enrolling into doctorate programs in other countries and this trend seems likely to continue. Nevertheless, while a great array of research focuses on international students in general, we are much less well informed about the international doctoral students who contribute to an ever more internationalized higher education. Longer periods of education abroad may lead to a weakening of prior networks together and the creation of new ones, but not much is known about the social support networks of international PhD students. This article uses a mixed method approach (qualitative interviews and ego-centered network analysis) to fill this gap, making a contribution towards understanding the support obtained by these students from different types of friendships.

A Personal Network Approach in Mixed-Methods Design to Investigate Transnational Social Protection

Abstract Research on the cross-border practices that underpin the spatial dimension of personal relationships involves also the study of protective resources (e.g. care, information exchange and financial assistance). However, studies that examine such transnational practices within migrants’ personal networks face methodological challenges at both the data collection level and the data analysis level. For a comprehensive analysis of migrants’ life worlds, new methodological approaches to transnational practices and resource flows within personal networks are essential. Thus, this article aims to illustrate ways to study social protection by empirically capturing such practices. In addition to demonstrating that the combined use of personal network analysis and qualitative interviews is a fruitful approach, this study used a mixed-methods design contributing to capture the interrelationship between transnational social protection patterns and migrants’ strategies, as well as their meanings.

Do transnational brokers always win? A multilevel analysis of social support

Abstract Migrants often maintain relationships with significant others located in their countries of origin, which results in having transnational interpersonal ties in addition to local ones. The majority of previous studies indicate that financial and social remittances flow from countries of immigration to the countries of emigration through migrants and their networks. However, less is known about who is involved in those exchanges, what kind of supportive resources flow within and across nation-state borders, and what level of individual cross-border engagement of migrants is related to those flows. We ask whether and how transnationality as an individual attribute, together with other personal, dyadic, and supradyadic characteristics, explain received social support. Drawing on data from 100 ego-centric networks collected from Turkish migrants in Germany, the results indicate that not only the dyadic level but also network structure, the position occupied by individuals in the network and their level of transnationality explain supportive resource flows within and across borders.

International Students and Cosmopolitanisms: Educational Mobility in a Global Age

International students in Europe are usually depicted as highly skilled, young, cosmopolitan and easier to integrate into host societies, which makes them perfect migrants to join the ageing Western populations. However, research on cosmopolitanism is frequently characterised by a high level of abstraction, without distinguishing the meaning of theoretical formulations in specific empirical settings. After presenting a brief review of the main literature on cosmopolitanism, the chapter describes the empirical results of the qualitative study on which it is based to focus on how international doctoral students in Germany develop cosmopolitan identifications during their study abroad. First, the chapter outlines how these students value and enjoy the ‘difference’, which is one of the major principles of cosmopolitanism. The interviewees frequently cited difference as being an important aspect of their lives in a culture other than that of their native country. Second, the chapter highlights the fact that these students meld a mix of various perspectives with their own views, which allows them to navigate within various cultures, a phenomenon which is explained as multifocality. Third, the chapter points to flexibility as a major competence of international PhD students and a strategy for their cosmopolitan belonging. The prospects for employment opportunities are perceived as more significant than the location of the job. Their exposure to the global market and the fluid environment require and produce this sort of flexibility.

Coming Out within Transnational Families: Intimate Confessions under Western Eyes

ABSTRACT This article is about ‘coming out’ and the process of disclosure of queer migrants within their transnational families. Despite debates about the decreasing relevance of coming out in contemporary western societies, we argue that the process of coming out continues to be a central mode of belonging and identity construction for queers in the context of transnational migration. Interviews with migrants from Poland, Russia and Turkey in Germany on their coming out experiences show that people rely on a variety of boundaries, i.e. gender, class and ethnicity, to construct a desired way of life. Theoretically, these insights indicate the need to reframe post-structuralist theories on power, most prominently advanced by Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault, from an intersectional perspective. The findings in this paper pinpoint to the challenges of transnational social life queer migrants are confronted with through empirical illustrations of perceptions of differences and ambiguities between immigration and emigration contexts. Furthermore, we advocate that sexuality is a crucial dimension of migration processes determining self-definition in relation to people and places, which makes their stories of coming out always also stories of ‘coming home’.

Egozentrierte Netzwerkanalyse in der Biographieforschung: Methodologische Potenziale und empirische Veranschaulichung

Dieser Beitrag schlagt die Erweiterung der Biographieforschung um die soziale Netzwerkanalyse (SNA) vor. Wir pladieren dafur, biographische Narrationen nicht isoliert von interpersonellen Beziehungen zu betrachten. Die egozentrierte Netzwerkanalyse, eine Spielart der sozialen Netzwerkanalyse, gibt uns das methodische Instrumentarium an die Hand, interpersonelle Beziehungen der Biograph*innen mit zu berucksichtigen und fur die Kontextualisierung biographischer Narrative zu nutzen. Eine kombinierte Anwendung der egozentrierten Netzwerkanalyse und biographischer Verfahren wird am Beispiel einer empirischen Studie zur transnationalen Migration zwischen der Turkei und Deutschland illustriert.

Transnational Friendships and Supportive Practices: An Introduction

When the interviews with 35 international doctoral students from 20 different nationalities in Germany were conducted to hear about their experiences studying abroad, their activities and practices, all of them were as blunt as Teresa about the fact that friendship is not just about the other person’s nationality or ethnicity, but that there must be something else, something common on which to build the relationship. But what is this ‘something else’? What causes individuals to make friends in this increasingly mobile world if it is no longer just about nationality? How do individuals ‘do’ friendships across borders?