Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Department of Social Sciences - Berlin Graduate School of Social Science

Gordana Angelichin-Zhura

Name
Gordana Angelichin-Zhura
CohortBGSS Gordana Zhura.jpg

BGSS Generation 2016

 

Title

Becoming cosmopolitan. Symbolic capital and new imaginaries of belonging among international students in Germany

 

Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Magdalena Nowicka

 

Abstract

With the aim to advance the understanding of how sophisticated ways of distinction play a role in the reproduction of social inequalities transnationally, this project examines the strategies international students in Berlin use to build cosmopolitan capital. Informed by the theory of practice in the tradition of Pierre Bourdieu, the qualitative study design involving narrative interviews and photo-elicitation seeks to illuminate the practices of this migrant group within the fields of internationalized higher education and the metropolitan setting. Elaborating on time, place, and space utilization practices, the research brings new insights into the ways cosmopolitan capital indicates distinction. The study contributes to gaining deeper insights into the symbolic power relations that determine the validation of capitals, and how transnational social (im)mobility is being experienced and negotiated. Moreover, through the role symbolic (cosmopolitan) capital plays in the formation of migrants’ identity, the interplay between culture, class, and power on a transnational level is investigated.