From imagined community to imagined social space: The case of three international students

Abstract

Drawing on the concepts of imagined community and production of space, this article introduces the concept of imagined social space to understand hopes, dreams, worries, fears, sadness and happiness of three international students who have left their homelands to study in an unfamiliar academic social space. Data from qualitative in-depth interviews with three focal participants from an ethnographic study in a tertiary institution are presented to show that students’ desires, goals and future aspirations are determined by the interplay between social relationships and social conditions governing the social space. The findings of the study give insights into the development of an academic social space framework to capture the dynamic interactions of students’ investments, positionings and negotiations in their imagined space that can shape and reshape their identities.