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Transnational Belonging and Relational Practices: Nepali Student Migration to Denmark

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International Student Connectedness and Identity

Part of the book series: Cultural Studies and Transdisciplinarity in Education ((CSTE,volume 6))

Abstract

International student mobility from the global South to the global North is often portrayed as an avenue for unskilled labour migration in the blurred zones between legality and illegality. Less attention has been paid to the multiple motivations that underlie this and the efforts that many young people from the South put into pursuing an education abroad, securing a livelihood, and establishing new social relations, while actively maintaining transnational links. Drawing on an analytical perspective that recognizes shared human experience as fundamental to social life and the everyday agency of migrants, the aim of this chapter is to address the subtle, everyday processes of ongoing emplacement in multiple locations that develop over time. This chapter explores the simultaneous processes of transnational engagement, diasporic identification, and integration into Danish society, based on ethnographic fieldwork among current and former Nepali students in Denmark.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    My translation, ‘Skole hverver fattige studerende fra Nepal’ (http://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/artikel/294393:Danmark--Skole-hverver-fattige-studerende-fra-Nepal)

  2. 2.

    My translation, ‘Tomme studiepladser fyldes med tvivlsomme nepalesere’ (http://www.information.dk/163654)

  3. 3.

    The project was part of a collaborative project, ‘Education, Mobility and Citizenship : An Anthropological Study of Educational Migration to Denmark ” (2010–2014), funded by The Danish Council for Independent Research, Humanities.

  4. 4.

    At the time the fieldwork was carried out, the Danish Agency for Labour Retention and International Recruitment (Styrelsen for Fastholdelse og Rekruttering), under the Ministry of Employment, was the body responsible for issuing student residence permits.

  5. 5.

    This was raised to 20 hours per week as of January 1, 2015.

  6. 6.

    The folk high school movement refers to a tradition of adult education that arose in the mid-nineteenth century in Denmark under strong influence of the theologist and philosopher N.F.S. Grundtvig, as a means of educating the uneducated peasantry. The folk high schools have persisted since then and offer nonformal education to both young people and adults, mostly through short-term courses.

  7. 7.

    According to Statistics Denmark, the total number of Nepali citizens in Denmark was 3,067 in fourth quarter of 2015 (http://www.statistikbanken.dk/FOLK1).

  8. 8.

    Nepali, Urdu, and Hindi are distinct languages with common roots in Sanskrit and therefore have overlapping vocabularies. Most Nepali understand and speak Hindi.

  9. 9.

    DKK 25 is equivalent to approximately USD 3.80 and about a quarter of the average minimum wage.

  10. 10.

    The official web portal for foreigners presents the regulations for entering and residing in Denmark . It is maintained jointly by the Danish Immigration Service and the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration .

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Karen Valentin

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  1. Karen Valentin
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Correspondence to Karen Valentin .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia

    Ly Thi Tran

  2. RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Catherine Gomes

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Valentin, K. (2017). Transnational Belonging and Relational Practices: Nepali Student Migration to Denmark. In: Tran, L., Gomes, C. (eds) International Student Connectedness and Identity. Cultural Studies and Transdisciplinarity in Education, vol 6. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2601-0_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2601-0_15

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-2599-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2601-0

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