Transnational education and the remaking of social identity: Nepalese student migration to Denmark

Abstract

There is no significant history of migration from Nepal to Denmark, but the post-conflict situation in Nepal and the expansion of an international, commercialised education market have resulted in a significant number of Nepalese students in Denmark. This article argues, first, that the current forms of student migration from Nepal must be examined within the context of broader class-based mobility practices and the consolidation of a relatively new middle-class in Nepal. Second, it examines the significance of education and educated status for people’s claims to belong to the middle-class in a transnational context where social status is at stake.

Keywords:

• mobility
• middle-class
• student migration
• Nepal
• education

Notes

1. The project is part of a collaborative project, ‘Education, Mobility and Citizenship. An Anthropological Study of Educational Migration to Denmark’ supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research, Humanities, under grant 10-080278.

2. As per fourth quarter of 2013. Information retrieved from Danmarks Statistik http://www.statistikbanken.dk/FOLK1, 3 June 2013.

3. In order to secure anonymity all names of informants are pseudonyms.

4. Interviews have been conducted in a mix of English, Nepali and Danish. For the readability interview quotations have been slightly edited grammatically.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen Valentin

KAREN VALENTIN is Associate Professor in the Department of Education at Aarhus University