On April 22, 2016, we held our first HERG seminar in Ponderosa Commons at UBC. Two speakers shared their recent conference presentations, Gang Li and Sharon Stein. Abstracts and citations of the presentations are listed below.

Gang Li, PhD Candidate in Educational Studies
Abstract
Since the late 1990s citizens from the People’s Republic of China have become the largest single group of international students in all major English-speaking countries. However, relatively little has been done to understand the political dimension of Chinese students’ experience in their host societies. Taking Canada as a case country with democracy as a point of reference, this paper explores Chinese international students’ political interactions with Canadian society. Delving into six social-science graduate students’ lived experience with democracy in Metro Vancouver, this paper highlights the fact that some Chinese students tend to become highly sensitive to the political significance and implications of their overseas experience in and through their engagement with democratic discourses and practices in Canada. Furthermore, those students who have obtained Canadian permanent residency or citizenship are even inclined to become fairly active in political life in Canada.

Gang’s paper will be published soon:
Li, G. (2016, forthcoming). Politically sensitive Chinese students’ engagement with democracy in Canada: A case study. Journal of Chinese Overseas, 12(1), 96-121.

Sharon Stein, PhD Candidate in Educational Studies
Abstract: Although efforts to emphasize higher education’s role in global development have grown in recent years, important questions remain about the resulting initiatives. In this study, drawing on theories of social imaginaries and the insights of decolonial and
postcolonial scholars, we employ our concept of the ‘modern/colonial global imaginary’ in order to consider the impact of enduring colonial power relations and modes of knowledge production on the Association of Commonwealth Universities’ “Beyond 2015” campaign.

Sharon’s co-authored paper was presented at the 2016 AERA meeting:
Stein, S., Andreotti, V.D.O., & Susa, R. (2016, April 12). “Beyond 2015,” within the modern/colonial global imaginary? Global development and higher education. Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC.