Cultural Identity in the Superdiversity Environment

Abstract

The cultural identity of sojourners undergoing cultural transition, especially student sojourners (also known as international students), has recently become a burgeoning research interest. This chapter presents a longitudinal qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews (N=13), which explores how the students viewed their cultural identities and how study abroad in British higher education might influence their perceptions. The study monitored the experience of the students throughout the sojourn and the re-entry period when they returned home for less than three months. Findings show that after study abroad, most students experienced changes in cultural identities and developed “mixed” cultural identities. Based on the findings, suggestions for researchers and educators in the cross-cultural transition and intercultural communication fields, such as the modification of the definition of cultural identity, are proposed.