A new book co-edited by York University Associate Professor Ann Kim, investigating the connections between students and institutions, will celebrate an official launch on Sept 27. Outward and Upward Mobilities: International Students in Canada, Their Families, and Structuring Institutions (University of Toronto Press, 2019) will be featured at the event, along with a panel discussion on international education in Canada with three of the book’s contributors and a business expert in the field. The event begins at 10 a.m. in 280N York Lanes. All are welcome.
Kim, of the Department of Sociology and the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR), co-edited the book with Min-Jung Kwak (Saint Mary’s University), who will Chair the panel.
Outward and Upward Mobilities is the culmination of Kim’s research project that was funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Academy of Korean Studies, and Population Change and Life Course Cluster. The project was supported by YCAR and the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.
York University book contributors include: Elena Chou (sociology), Stella Dentakos (psychology), Amira El Masri (education), Ann Kim (sociology), Sangyoo Lee (social work), Guida Man (sociology), Jean Michel Montsion (multidisciplinary studies), Roopa Trilokekar (education), Maxine Gallander Wintre (psychology) and Lorna Wright (Schulich).
“Like other migrant groups, student mobility is a form of social mobility, and one that requires access from a host state,” said Kim. “But there are multiple institutions with which students interact and that influence the processes of social mobility. The collection features works by key scholars in the field that explores how international students and their families fare in local ethnic communities, educational and professional institutions, and the labour market.”
The panellists for the Sept. 27 launch include Trilokekar and El Masri, Vinitha Gengatharan (York International) and Margaret Walton-Roberts (Wilfrid Laurier University).
“I’m excited about the book’s release,” said Kim. “It presents an important aspect of international student life, of students’ interactions with that meso layer of groups and institutions, which often shape whether they have positive experiences and want to live in Canada or leave.”
Some collaborators on this book project are also involved in a new SSHRC-funded project that will shed light on the experiences of international students, titled “Asian International Students to Canadian Universities: Examining the Racialization of Chinese, Indian and Korean Students in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg.” Researchers are considering these students as migrants to specific communities, beyond their academic affiliation, by using the ways in which racialization affects them on and off campus, and has repercussions on their migratory experiences and trajectories as a whole.
To learn more about the Racialization of Asian International Students project, visit ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/rais.