Citizenship Practices of Chinese Students on an Australian Campus: a Case Study

Abstract

This paper explores the citizenship practices of a group of Chinese international students through their engagement with a language club at a university located in Melbourne, Australia. By considering the practices associated with their mutual engagement in this club, the paper scrutinises how these students creatively carve out space to practise citizenships in ways that are meaningful in their lives. The results show that the club was constructed by its members as an intermediary space for Chinese international students to maintain connection with their own ethnic community and to engage with students from different language and cultural backgrounds. Through their engagement with this club, they practise a form of citizenship which is a hybrid of neoliberal citizenship, Chinese citizenship, and global citizenship. These citizenship practices are illustrative of the efforts made by international students to create conditions for citizenship practice, and they show the students’ capacity to mobilise cultural capital for practising meaningful citizenship and experiencing belonging in the host society. These citizenship practices have implications for higher education institutions and host societies to construct favourable conditions for international students’ citizenship practices and belonging.