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A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details GENDERING INTERNATIONAL STUDENT MOBILITY: AN INDIAN CASE STUDY GUNJAN SONDHI PhD THESIS IN MIGRATION STUDIES SCHOOL OF GLOBAL STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX JUNE 2013 iii UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX GUNJAN SONDHI – PhD IN MIGRATION STUDIES GENDERING INTERNATIONAL STUDENT MOBILITY: AN INDIAN CASE STUDY SUMMARY This thesis explores the dialectical relationship between gender and international student mobility (ISM). The focus is on the experiences of Indian students across three space-time locations: before the students left India; while abroad in Toronto; and their return to New Delhi. The value of this research is two-fold. Firstly, my research helps to fill the lacuna in ISM research that examines the phenomenon through a gender optic. Secondly, there is increasing interest in Canada and other countries – evident in the media and government policy – in international students from India. The study is located at the nexus of gender and mobility scholarship; it adopts Gendered Geographies of Power as a foundational framework. The research employed a multi-sited, mixed-methods approach to data collection. The data collection in the field sites of Toronto, Canada and New Delhi, India consisted of in-depth semi-structured interviews and participant observations. An online survey was mounted for the duration of the fieldwork to gather data on the broader population of Indian students abroad. The results of this survey provide context for the discussion in three empirical chapters. The first of the three empirical chapters explores the impact of gender relations in shaping motivations to study abroad. The second chapter examines how relations of power in and across multiple spaces (re)shape the students‟ performances of gender identities in everyday life in Toronto. The final empirical chapter examines the students‟ experience of return mobility as they attempt to adapt to a different (but familiar) gender context again. My research contributes to the growing body of scholarship on ISM as well as that on gender and migration. By employing a gendered perspective, the in- depth interviews as well as ethnographic research reveals the shifting subjectivities of the migrants as they simultaneously negotiate multiple ethnic and kinship interactions in their everyday lived experiences. Secondly, the online survey presents the gendered class configurations of the socio-economic background of the Indian international students. Lastly, the „return‟ experiences of the students are differentiated by gender: more women than men found it harder to (re)negotiate their gender-expected performances in New Delhi. Furthermore, the „return mobility‟ of men appears to be more permanent than the return mobility of women. iv Acknowledgements I take this opportunity to say thank you to all those who have kept me company before, during and hopefully will continue to accompany me in my future adventures. First and foremost, I would like to thank my family. As I have moved through the experience of this PhD, they have moved along with me. I am only sad that my grandfather was not able to keep me company on this journey. Sadly, he passed away shortly before I undertook this learning adventure. So first and foremost, a thank you to my grandfather, who instilled in me the love of learning and that I should never hesitate to ask questions. Secondly, I would like to thank my mom and dad for their support, emotional and financial, and for opening the doors for my sense of exploration. And lastly, but most definitely not least, my sister. Her straightforward „get on with it‟ attitude has always inspired me. Our bouts of inane chats over BBM, despite our distance, provided the end-of-day mental release. Also a special thanks to my aunts, uncles and cousins in India: the Chawla family and the Nanda family. Without their unquestionable support, the research in Delhi may not have taken shape as it did. With regard to my research, first and foremost I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the participants who gave their time and most importantly shared their stories. The biggest thank you to my supervisors, Russell King and Katie Walsh, for their support, discussions and encouragement. I would like to thank Sutama Ghosh for giving me my earliest contacts in Toronto and Priya Deshingkar for playing the same role for my research in Delhi. Thanks also to CERIS, Ontario Metropolis Centre at York University in Toronto, for providing me with a work space and access to University resources during my fieldwork in Autumn/Winter 2010/2011. Thanks also to Fran for keeping me company in Toronto at the start of my fieldwork. My gratitude to my self-proclaimed research assistant in Delhi – Mrs Brah, without her I may not have had any interviews. I would also like to thank all members of the Sussex Centre for Migration Research and in particular Adriana Castaldo, Ann Whitehead, Ron Skeldon and v Anne-Meike Fechter who supported this project in its infancy. Also a thank you to Parvati Raghuram for her feedback on my ideas and writing. Finally I would like to thank my friends for the pleasure of their company, their support, for being the soundboards, proofreaders, editors and my therapists. My heartfelt gratitude to you for your time, generosity, kindness and most importantly your friendship. The Canadians Kourtney, Shaila, Eric and Nikki: thank you so much for sharing my love of travel with me, without which I would not have reached here. To the in-betweener Sugandha: thank you for all your positive vibes and words of wisdom!!! And now I come to the Brighton „crew‟: Daniela, Kate, Miguel, Mirella, Paul, Verena, Vanessa and Yuliya, thank you on so many levels and for so many things, I really don‟t have the words; a special thanks to Kate and Lorenzo whose visits forced me to take a break and helped to keep me sane; my flatmates over the years: Thea, Fran, David, Kate and especially Giuseppe who had the pleasure(!) of being my flatmate during the final months of this thesis; and many others with whom I shared offices and many nights at the pubs, clubs and restaurants: Adrian, Ana, Adriana, Andre, Barbara, Carlos, Cemre, Christina, Ester, Jill, Nalu, Julia, Julie, Jon, Sharon, Zana. Thank you for all the fun and not-so-fun times. In the words of an incredible friend, Dr Paul, “It‟s been grand!” vi Table of contents Declaration ii Acknowledgements iv Table of contents vi List of tables and figures ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Opening: specifying the research question(s) 1 1.2 Rationale of the project 3 1.3 Key concepts 5 1.3.1 Gender 5 1.3.2 Mobility 6 1.3.3 Gendered Geographies of Power 6 1.4 Summary of research methods 6 1.5 Contributions 7 1.6 Outline 8 1.7 Problematising the student 11 Chapter 2 Theory and Literature Review 13 2.1 Introduction: migration vs. mobility 13 2.2 Gender and mobility: the theoretical framework 15 2.2.1 Gender and place 15 2.2.2 Mobility 20 2.3 Gender Geographies of Power: the analytical framework 22 2.3.1 Background: feminist migration scholarship „comes of age‟ 22 2.3.2 The „GGP‟ model 26 2.4 International student migration/mobility 31 2.4.1 Motivations and aspirations 31 2.4.2 Experience 35 2.4.3 Identities 40 2.4.4 Return/stay 42 2.4.5 Class 44 2.4.6 Globalisation 48 2.5 Conclusion 53 Chapter 3 Methodology 55 3.1 Introduction 55 3.2 Feminist approach 55 3.3 Research design: multi-sited and mixed methods 59 3.3.1 Rationale for a multi-sited strategy 59 3.3.2 Rationale for the mixed-method approach 60 3.4 Research method: quantitative part 62 3.5 Research method: qualitative part 66 3.5.1 Toronto 66 3.5.2 Delhi 72 3.6 Analysis of data 76 3.6.1 Transcriptions 76 3.6.2 Approach to analysis 77 3.6.3 Choosing respondents 78 3.7 Challenges 80 vii Chapter 4 Context 83 4.1 Introduction 83 4.2 Cities of migrants 83 4.2.1 Toronto 83 4.2.2 Delhi 85 4.3 Gendered cities 86 4.3.1 Public/private dichotomy 87 4.3.2 Built environment 87 4.3.3 Public transportation 89 4.3.4 Performing masculinity 90 4.3.5 Performing femininity 91 4.4 Patrifocality 92 4.5 Higher education institutions 95 4.6 Indian international student survey 97 4.6.1 Respondent demographics 100 4.6.2 Factors shaping potential to move 105 4.7 Conclusion 110 Chapter 5 Motivations and Gendered Negotiations 113 5.1 Introduction 113 5.2 Students’ motivations 114 5.2.1 World-class university 115 5.2.2 Career 117 5.3 Parents 120 5.3.1 Parents of sons 122 5.3.2 Parents of daughters 126 5.4 Negotiating (im)mobility 132 5.4.1 Daughters 133 5.4.2 Sons 143 5.5 Conclusion 151 Chapter 6: Negotiating Everyday Experiences: becoming (un)intelligible in and across scales and spaces 154 6.1 Introduction 154 6.2 Getting education 156 6.3 Close encounters in the city 161 6.3.1 Encountering the Other: the White Canadian 162 6.3.2 Encounter at the disjuncture: the Indian community in Toronto 174 6.4 Close encounters in the Transnational 182 6.4.1 Parents 182 6.5 Conclusion 191 Chapter