International Student Mobilities and Voices in the Asia-Pacific: Letters to Coronavirus PDF
Preview International Student Mobilities and Voices in the Asia-Pacific: Letters to Coronavirus
International Student Mobilities and Voices in the Asia-Pacific Letters to Coronavirus Edited by Yi’En Cheng International Student Mobilities and Voices in the Asia-Pacific Yi’En Cheng Editor International Student Mobilities and Voices in the Asia-Pacific Letters to Coronavirus Editor Yi’En Cheng National University of Singapore Singapore, Singapore ISBN 978-981-19-3674-6 ISBN 978-981-19-3675-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3675-3 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such namesareexemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreefor general use. Thepublisher,theauthors,andtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinforma- tion in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeen made.Thepublisherremainsneutralwithregardtojurisdictionalclaimsinpublishedmaps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © Alex Linch shutterstock.com This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. Theregisteredcompanyaddressis:152BeachRoad,#21-01/04GatewayEast,Singapore 189721, Singapore To family, friends, colleagues, and all those who made this book possible; and in loving memory of dear friend Joy Tan—a prodigious reader who shared in my excitement when the idea of this book was first conceived. Foreword At some point in 2019, I took a sabbatical to delve into picture book illustration full-time for 18 months. While most may agree that this is not a well-trodden path in Singapore, it is not uncommon for people who have worked for more than a decade to ponder alternative pursuits. During my schooling years, doodles would crowd my textbooks and worksheets and art was one of the subjects I was better at. Over time, I developed a suspicion that creative work could be my calling and it culminated in my experimenting with illustrating for bedtime stories. To equipmyselfforthis,Itookuppart-timeclassesinNAFAandLASALLE. My choice of medium of ink and watercolor is inspired by the work of the masters Quentin Blake and Jean-Jacques Sempé. I find their work fascinating and delightful at many levels—to name a few, the way they pair images with words, the lively and economical strokes, the tenacious spontaneity, lyricism, and humanity. I love how watercolor breathes hues and textures into spirited strokes to achieve a “freshness” as described by Latiff Mohidin. When drawing with ink, there is a finality to every stroke and with watercolor, I find it is much about facilitating flow and serendipity. These parameters shape the creative process and character of my illustrations. After getting to know of my endeavors, Yi’En very generously invited me to create editorial illustrations for this project. Having had supported work in the social sciences and humanities at some points in my career, I’m excited to be able to contribute to this field again via illustrations vii viii FOREWORD and am grateful for Yi’En’s detailed planning, empathetic collaboration approach, and vision. Inthisbook,thestudent’sessaysareorganizedintoeightthemes,and at the end of each theme, there is an editorial illustration that serves as a companion to the essays. Each illustration aims to express emotional qualities related to the writings and is meant to be viewed after reading eachsetofessays.Asanillustrator,onehastothinkabouttheapproachto conveying emotional qualities. This is not so straightforward as emotions can be hard to pinpoint, layered, contradictory, variegated, and highly personal. The expression of the emotional qualities for a theme first requires a personal interpretation of the poignant emotional threads in each essay, followed by an identification of the common emotional threads that run across the essays in alignment with the theme. After the interpretation of common emotional threads, what follows is the selection and chore- ography of metaphors that express what I interpret as emotions. In this process, iterations of sketches are made, and each iteration is assessed for coherence, clarity, and poetic qualities. Finally, the illustrations are rendered with ink and watercolor. When using illustrations to convey the emotional threads, I realize the representation cannot be too immediate because the emotions in the themesareseldomsimplistic,fixed,orstatic.Instead,theillustrationshave tobringaboutsomecontemplationtoreachwhatIwishtoexpressofthe complex emotions. How does one illustrate emotions when they are layered, vague, or variegated? I attempted to compose metaphors that work with each other to convey the complexity of the emotions. Through the inter- play of metaphors, I seek to accommodate the reading of nuances in the emotions.Indoingso,inmychoicesofrepresentation,Istrivedtofinda balance between being plainly immediate and being obscure. Depending onareader’simaginationandexperiences,thearrangementofmetaphors could invite different shades of interpretations. As each illustration seeks to bring across softly how the pandemic has set upon the regimes, expe- riences, and aspirations of students across the globe, I tried to ensure at the core of the heavy metaphors one may find hope. FOREWORD ix IammuchgratefultoYi’Enforgivingmetheopportunitytoillustrate the ways the pandemic has affected international students based on their own words, with a coherence organized by his scholarly vision. Singapore, Singapore Feng Yikang Feng Yikang is an academic librarian. He graduated from the National Univer- sity of Singapore in 2009 with a Bachelor of Computing (Communications and Media)andBachelorofArts(Geography).Subsequently,heobtainedhisMaster of Science (Information Studies) from the Nanyang Technological University in 2017 and a Certificate in Chinese Ink Painting (Advanced) from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in 2022. Editor s Preface ’ The idea for this book began in May 2020. During that time in Singapore where I am based, the government has introduced its version of movement control and restriction measures called a “circuit breaker” to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak. The circuit breaker disrupted my usual writing routine at the university where I work. But it also afforded me some courage, in a serendipitous way, to venture beyond the kinds of academic and writing projects I was used to. Sometime in February 2020 when the circuit breaker started, all researchandteachingactivitieswentonline,andthecampuswasoff-limits to all staff and students. Working from home became the new norm. As I had no other way of conducting research in person, I decided to start compiling news articles and commentaries about international students. The COVIDISM website (https://www.covidism.wordpress.com) was thus created as a digital initiative that tracks the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on higher education and international student mobility. What started as a resource hub for international news, op-eds, and commen- tariesonthetopicsubsequentlysowedtheseedthatgrewintothispresent book. The original idea was to bring together a series of 19 short essays written by international students as letters addressed to coronavirus, accompanied by illustrations that depict scenes in the essay narratives, andacademiccommentariesthattiethesepersonalnarrativestothewider societal concerns about education and mobility. The title I had in mind xi xii EDITOR’SPREFACE was 19 Letters to Coronavirus which is a play on the COVID-19’s full name—Coronavirus Disease 2019. At the same time, the art of letter writinghasbeenauniversalmeansofcommunicationaswellasservingas astorehouseofinformation.Althoughthetitlehassincechanged,along- side the inclusion of 20 letters, the key structure and approach remain intact. I began collecting the student-written letters in December 2020. You are given a space, a pen, and paper to write a letter to coronavirus. What will you write? This was the central writing prompt that I have used to guide the international students who contributed the letters to this book.Theyareencouragedtoengagefreelywithanyconcernsandreflec- tions relating to their current worlds of mobility and education. This was followed by an invitation in March 2020 to my colleagues conducting research within the field of international education and student mobility, and whom I knew have thoughtful and unique insights to contribute to the book. Looking back, this was no easy task and so I am extremely thankful for their support. I also approached a friend of mine, Feng Yikang, whom I knew had a talent for the arts to assist me with the illus- trations. His Foreword explains succinctly the artistic inspirations behind those drawings. As seen from the long list of contributors, this book is a product of the labor of many enthusiastic international students (most of whom I havenevermet),supportivecolleagues,andgenerousfriends.Itdrawson multiple and diverse perspectives which span across subjective and inter- pretive lenses. It is also a collection of deeply personal stories, artistic images, and expert analyses. Yet,thisbookremainsinternationalstudent-andyouth-centric,inthat it is first and foremost curated in a way that places their voices at the center of this project. The goal of this book has always been to provide these young people—as students, as individuals, and as social beings—a therapeuticspacetoexpressthemselvesandtocommunicatetheirviewsin a safe manner. To retain the authenticity and integrity of these narratives, I made the decision to introduce minimal revision to their letters.
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