College of Humanities and Social Studies

On 7 July 2005, a global call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) was declared to people around the world to enact boycott initiatives and pressure their respective governments to sanction Israel until it complies with international law and respects universal principles of human rights. The call was endorsed by over 170 Palestinian associations, trade unions, non-governmental organizations, charities, and other Palestinian groups. The call mentioned how broad BDS campaigns were utilized in the South African struggle against apartheid, and how these efforts served as an inspiration to those seeking justice for Palestinians. The call stated that boycott measures should be carried out until three demands are met – that Israel end the occupation of Arab lands, end discrimination against Palestinian citizens in Israel, and respect the Palestinian right of return. This study explores the causes for the BDS movement, its organizational dynamics, and the potential outcomes the move...

This paper investigates the emergence of ‘internationalised’ schools as a form of middle-class aspiration in Kochi, India. It complements recent literature on the growth of international schools catering for host country elites, and shows how private schools are actively engaged in extending the aspiration for internationalised education among the city’s middle classes. The article shows how internationalised schooling has penetrated beyond Indian metropoles into secondary cities. It provides a detailed ethnographic account of how a private school has rebranded itself as an ‘internationalised’ school, involving the introduction of new practices and the repackaging of the school’s old nationalist project.

Research on Indian overseas students in Australia has shown that there is an intricate connection between class and migration processes. Yet most of this work has focused on the experiences of students already abroad. Research on the formulation of migration-decisions and class dynamics from the sending side has been slow to emerge. This paper fills this gap and locates the analysis of migration desires within the literature on the Indian middle classes. I demonstrate how a middle-class culture of education that articulates hegemonic experiences, aspirations, and trajectories drives many aspiring middle-class young men to consider migrating as an alternative path to social mobility. Migration emerges as a temporary strategy geared towards accruing economic and cultural capital necessary for the fulfilment of class-based personal ambitions and wider social responsibilities at home. Migration is shown to stretch the boundaries of processes of class formation that now straddles multiple sites, resources, and aspirations.

The purpose of this study was to examine the aspirations and future plans of study and work among non-national higher secondary students in Dubai. In addition, this research also aimed to develop and understanding of the role played by schools in shaping aspirations and future plans. The study involved primarily an online survey and three in-depth focus group interviews completed respectively by 128 and 18 students from two Dubai schools: A British Curriculum school and an IB curriculum school. There were students of 17 different nationalities involved, of which South Asians comprised a large group of respondents.

This special issue showcases ethnographies with young people in the
Global South which draw on the common conceptual umbrella of the
‘identity of the educated person’ to unpack novel intersections between
mobility, migration and education in the context of globalisation.
Overarching themes include how definitions of the educated person are
shaped by diverse identity constructions and axes of difference, notions
of discipline and hardship, and global discourses and concepts which
travel across international space. Definitions of the educated person are
contested through migration processes, and young people’s agency
within and beyond schools, through consumption practices and
appropriation of popular culture.

This paper explores the life experiences, identities and trajectories of young Dubai-born Indians living in the Arab Gulf. It seeks to contribute to an emergent body of research on the formation of diasporic identities and forms of belonging among South Asians in the Gulf, which underscores the ways in which migrants articulate forms of cultural belonging in a context where they are denied the right to citizenship. Building on the notion of the‘educated person’, the paper argues that education constitutes an important, yet overlooked, basis for forms of cultural belonging in Dubai.

Research on Indian overseas students in Australia has shown that there is an intricate connection between class and migration processes. Yet most of this work has focused on the experiences of students already abroad. Research on the formulation of migration-decisions and class dynamics from the sending side has been slow to emerge. This paper fills this gap and locates the analysis of migration desires within the literature on the Indian middle classes. I demonstrate how a middle-class culture of education that articulates hegemonic experiences, aspirations, and trajectories drives many aspiring middle-class young men to consider migrating as an alternative path to social mobility. Migration emerges as a temporary strategy geared towards accruing economic and cultural capital necessary for the fulfilment of class-based personal ambitions and wider social responsibilities at home. Migration is shown to stretch the boundaries of processes of class formation that now straddles multipl...