Abstract:
Research on international students often does not take into consideration how their socio-historical situatedness affects their experience. While there are exceptions to this (e.g., the literature on Chinese international students) more work is needed to be done both with other groups of international students, but also with understanding student lived experience in general.
In this presentation I will introduce my theoretical framework aimed at understanding the experiences of a specific group of international students, Malay speaking Southeast Asians, by using a Malay term relevant to the region – Jati Diri (roughly translated as self-identity). Jati Diri is a concept that recognises someone’s socio-historical situatedness and the set of identities (i.e., language, religion) and values (i.e., attitude and behaviour, education) that they internalise, protect, and maintain even when they are in a foreign country.
I applied this framework in a research project that aims to understand international students’ lived experiences and student agency in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. I interviewed sixteen participants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei on the topic of living experience both during and after the pandemic (10 and nine participants respectively, with three in both groups).
I used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to construct two experiential themes: the centrality of identity-based community and financial security on student lived experience. These themes were further unpacked through the lens of Jati Diri drawing the connection between identities, attitudes and behaviours to the first theme and the value of education to the second theme. Jati Diri as a concept can be useful in informing our understanding of what constitute a student as a person as coloured by their experience and environment prior to coming to a host country. Each of the components of Jati Diri provides a venue for future work, however it would need to be used with care as it is not a universal principle even amongst the particular groups of students I am interested in.
In this presentation I will introduce my theoretical framework aimed at understanding the experiences of a specific group of international students, Malay speaking Southeast Asians, by using a Malay term relevant to the region – Jati Diri (roughly translated as self-identity). Jati Diri is a concept that recognises someone’s socio-historical situatedness and the set of identities (i.e., language, religion) and values (i.e., attitude and behaviour, education) that they internalise, protect, and maintain even when they are in a foreign country.
I applied this framework in a research project that aims to understand international students’ lived experiences and student agency in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. I interviewed sixteen participants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei on the topic of living experience both during and after the pandemic (10 and nine participants respectively, with three in both groups).
I used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to construct two experiential themes: the centrality of identity-based community and financial security on student lived experience. These themes were further unpacked through the lens of Jati Diri drawing the connection between identities, attitudes and behaviours to the first theme and the value of education to the second theme. Jati Diri as a concept can be useful in informing our understanding of what constitute a student as a person as coloured by their experience and environment prior to coming to a host country. Each of the components of Jati Diri provides a venue for future work, however it would need to be used with care as it is not a universal principle even amongst the particular groups of students I am interested in.