Encountering ‘the West’ Through Academic Mobility: Shifting Representations and Reinforced Stereotypes

Abstract

The number of students from the East who are participating in some form of education abroad has increased sharply in recent decades, with the majority studying in the West. Drawing on a large-scale study of international exchange students from a Hong Kong university, this chapter focuses on the perceptions and experiences of a Mainland Chinese participant who sojourned in the United States. Discussion largely centres on ‘Gao Lin’s’ attitudes towards ‘Others’ (e.g. ‘Westerners’) and his positioning in the host country. While some participants in the main study developed meaningful intercultural relationships, a sense of belonging in the new environment, and a more ‘global self’, Gao Lin returned home with reinforced stereotypes of host nationals (‘Westerners’), a strengthened national identity and little desire for further intercultural interactions. Internal dimensions (e.g. limited intercultural awareness and understanding, negative perceptions of the ‘Other’, stereotyping), and a complex mix of external factors (e.g. weak host receptivity, a power imbalance between first and second language speakers) impacted the way his sojourn unfolded. His case study underscores the negative consequences of Otherisation, prejudice and unrealistic expectations (e.g. idealised representations) and points to the need for research-based interventions (e.g. intercultural communication courses) to help optimise education abroad learning.