SEEKING ‘THE FOREIGN STAMP’: INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION AND THE (RE)PRODUCTION OF CLASS STATUS IN MUMBAI, INDIA Nonie Tuxen December 2018 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University © Copyright by Nonie Tuxen 2018 All Rights Reserved DECLARATION This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. To the best of the author’s knowledge, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text. Nonie Tuxen December 2018 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank all of the students who took part in the study, for their generosity, time and openness. Without their willingness to reveal their hopes, dreams and experiences this study would not have been possible. Further, I would like to thank all of the parents, agents, counsellors, industry representatives and Australian government staff who took time out of their busy schedules to provide invaluable insights that shaped this study. In Australia, I extend my heartfelt thanks to my supervisors, Dr Margaret Kiley (Australian National University), Dr Shanthi Robertson (Western Sydney University) and Dr Amanda Gilbertson (University of Melbourne). I have been incredibly fortunate to work with a supportive, dedicated and astute group of women who have been tirelessly enthusiastic for the past few years. This thesis has truly been a multilateral enterprise. I am especially grateful to my external supervisors, Shanthi and Amanda, who undertook the heavy-lifting of my supervision and have continuously encouraged (and challenged!) my intellectual curiosity. In Mumbai, I would like to thank the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Professor Padma Velaskar for hosting me during fieldwork, which was generously funded by an Endeavour Postgraduate Scholarship from the Australian Government. I would also like to thank Professor Debjani Ganguly who oversaw this research project for 18 months before she relocated to the USA, and Associate Professor Ernest Koh at Monash University for his friendship and mentorship. At various times, I was also fortunate to be supported by means of desk space and access to resources at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore and the Australia India Institute at the University of Melbourne. This research is also supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. At ANU I would also like to extend my gratitude to Emeritus Fellow Dr Linda Hort for her friendship and tough love, as well as Diane Humphrey and Candida Spence at the ANU Library for their help with accessing resources and formatting my thesis. This project would not have been possible without the love and support of my family and friends, particularly my parents, Loris and Jeremy, and my brother, Vaughan. I am especially grateful for my partner Monaal’s unending patience and for his encouragement while we spent many months apart during the writing-up phase. I am also particularly indebted to Stephanie Jacobs and James Pollalis who provided me with accommodation and delicious food in Canberra, and to Amanda Michael and Diego Ayala who often put me up in Melbourne. I dedicate this thesis to my grandparents, Grammie and Grannan, who still ask what my thesis is about but are proud nonetheless. v ABSTRACT International education is an increasingly popular life choice for young, urban Indians. Academic scholarship has shown growing interest in where, how and why Indians study overseas. However, many of these studies overlook the role that class status plays in shaping how students from India imagine and experience international education and its outcomes as they transition into adulthood. Studies of India’s middle classes, on the other hand, have tended to omit the importance of transnational mobility in producing class status. This thesis therefore explores the complex relationships between how international education is imagined and experienced, and how class status is (re)produced in Mumbai, India. Using data gathered from 80 in-depth interviews in Mumbai in which participants discussed their perceptions of international education, its value and its outcomes, I argue that there are significant nuances in how the value of international education is perceived, embodied and made distinct within the granular class hierarchies that constitute the urban upper-middle class and elite. I focus on prospective and returned students situated at ‘home’, which provides a unique perspective given international student mobility literature’s tendency to focus on the experiences of existing students. Using Bourdieu’s (1984, 1986) theory of class reproduction as a starting point, I discuss how various forms of capital – especially cosmopolitan cultural capital (Igarashi & Saito, 2014) – are accumulated both prior to and during international education, and how capital informs experiences of return to India. Specifically, I argue that there are two distinct imaginaries and experiences of international education in the Mumbai context which correspond to the localised class identity of the individual seeking international education. On one hand, the South Bombay or ‘SoBo’ elite seek to maintain their existing privilege by engaging with international education in order to acquire ‘the stamp’ of having spent time overseas, which ‘finishes’ them as young adults and poises them as ‘ready’ to engage in adult life in the same elite context in India in which they were raised. On the other hand, ‘suburban strivers’ engage with international education with a desire to seek upward mobility but they do not seek to mimic the lifestyles or behaviours of the SoBo elite. Rather, suburban strivers pursue a transformative experience that promises to change the trajectories of their lives, especially in relation to career options but also in terms of their lived experiences. These divergent approaches to engaging with international education permeate the way that individuals imagine and experience international education, impacting their mobility trajectories, career aspirations and decisions about when and who to marry. Ultimately, this thesis highlights the importance of examining class in relation to international student mobilities, and transnational mobility in relation to the study of class in India, especially in relation to the urban upper-middle class and elite. vii PUBLICATIONS ARISING FROM THIS THESIS Tuxen, N., & Robertson, S. (2018). Brokering International Education and (re)producing Class in Mumbai. International Migration. http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12516 CONFERENCE PAPERS 2018 Tuxen, N. ‘The Complete Package’: International student mobility, marriage(ability) and class status in Mumbai, India. - First presented at IMISCOE Barcelona, International student mobility and migration: trajectories, transitions, and social transformations, July 2018. - Revised paper presented at IMISCOE Follow-up Workshop, German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies GmbH (DZHW), Hannover, October 2018. 2017 Tuxen, N. ‘It’s About Exposure’: Elite Indian International Students and the Desire to Accumulate Cosmopolitan Cultural Capital. Presented at TASA Perth, December 2017. Tuxen, N. ‘The foreign stamp’: International education and the (re)production of class status in Mumbai, India. Seminar presented at the Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne, December 2017. 2016 Tuxen, N. ‘Setting myself apart’: International education and social mobility among Mumbai’s youth. - First presented at Mobilities & Temporalities: Rethinking Migrant Trajectories and Transnational Lifestyles in the Asian Context, National University of Singapore, February 2016. - Revised paper presented at ASAA Canberra, Australian National University, July 2016. MEDIA Tuxen, N. ‘Go Niche: Why Indian Students Should Consider Niche Qualifications’, The Times of India: Education Times, 16 Oct 2017, http://educationtimes.com/article/26/2017101620171016124024337b484f142/Go-niche.html ix TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ vii PUBLICATIONS ARISING FROM THIS THESIS ............................................................................. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................ xi LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ xv LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... xvii CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1 SITUATING CLASS ..................................................................................................................... 6 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL MOBILITY AND CLASS ......................................................... 10 THESIS OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................