Transnational Education Crossing 'Asia' and 'the West': Adjusted desire, transformative mediocrity and neo-colonial disguise PDF
Preview Transnational Education Crossing 'Asia' and 'the West': Adjusted desire, transformative mediocrity and neo-colonial disguise
Transnational Education Crossing ‘Asia’ and ‘the West’ “In a context where many Asian parents and students aspire to a ‘Western’ educa- tion, and American universities and schools are caught up in a terminal case of ‘Asia-envy’, this is a timely and important work. Phan Le-Ha makes it impossible for any of us to take the official marketing and spin about the value of East/West, Asia/America educational exchange at face value”. Allan Luke, Queensland University of Technology, Australia “If the academic understanding of the East-West dichotomy is complicated, Phan’s work is a theoretical and philosophical relationship counselor for the issue. This book is part of a larger body of work by Phan that serves to complicate oversimplified dichotomies and clarify what seems to be overly complex layers of difference. You may not agree with all of the positions and arguments, but you will benefit from considering their merit”. Christopher S. Collins, PhD, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Azusa Pacific University, USA In this book, Phan Le-Ha identifies and discusses four growing self-sustained/ sustaining fundamental phenomena in transnational education (TNE) – namely (1) the planned, evolving and transformative mediocrity behind the endorsement of English-medium education legitimised by the interactive Asia-West relation- ship; (2) the strategic employment of the terms ‘Asia/Asian’ and ‘West/Western’ by all stakeholders in their perceptions and construction of choice, quality, rigour, reliability, and attractiveness of programs, courses, and locations; (3) the adjusted desire for an imagined (and often misinformed) ‘West’ among various stakehold- ers of transnational education; and (4) the assigned and self-realised ownership of English by otherwise normally on-the-margin groups of speakers. A focus on how these phenomena impact questions of identity and desire in TNE is a run- ning theme. The aforementioned phenomena are discussed against the backdrop of ‘the rise of Asia’ sentiment and how this sentiment has played out in interactions and relationships between ‘the West’ and ‘Asia’ and among Asian institutions and various entities. Phan Le-Ha’s examination of the identified phenomena in TNE has been informed by her multi-layered engagement with the dialectic of the Asia-West relationship, her critical take on certain pro-Asia and decolonisation scholarship, and her interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach to theorise the field and the specific topic under scrutiny. Phan Le-Ha shows that the current Asia chooses (not necessarily by force, but largely by will and often with an informed and well-articulated agency) to go with the idea of the West and often desires an affiliation with the West either directly or indirectly – something that is getting more intense in the context of globalisa- tion, regionalisation, and commercialisation of education. The rise of Asia has made the idea of the West even more looked for in Asia. TNE in Asia, in many ways, is the transforming and dynamic transit point – a layover that facilitates entry into a wanted destination: the West and/or the idea of the West. The West and Asia need one another more than ever in the context of the internationalisa- tion and commercialisation of higher education. What’s more, the West and Asia have hardly ever been mutually exclusive but have rather been in an eventful love- and-obsession relationship with each other. This is the very dialectic proposition that Phan Le-Ha takes throughout this book while paying specific attention to transnational higher education in the greater Asian region, including the Middle East, following her several research projects conducted in the region since 2005 to date. Transnational Education Crossing ‘the West’ and ‘Asia’ explores: • English, Internationalisation of Higher Education, and Identity: Increasing Academic Monolingualism and English-Only Package • Social Class, Marginal Groups, and Forms of Discrimination in Transna- tional Education • Transnational Education and Dream Realisation: From the Philippines to Vietnam, From Afghanistan to Dubai, From Everywhere in Asia to Thailand • Desiring International/Transnational Education: Theorisation of Key Con- cepts and Next Steps from Here The book will be of interest to researchers in the field of higher education, inter- national and comparative education, policy studies, sociology, Asian studies, applied linguistics, and cultural studies, Asia education, and education policy. Phan Le-Ha is with the College of Education at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. She also holds an adjunct appointment in the Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia. Routledge Research in Higher Education For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com English Studies Beyond the ‘Center’ Teaching Literature and the Future of Global English Myles Chilton The Working Classes and Higher Education Inequality of Access, Opportunity and Outcome Edited by Amy E. Stich and Carrie Freie Revolutionizing Global Higher Education Policy Innovation and the Bologna Process Joseph M. Piro Working with Underachieving Students in Higher Education Fostering inclusion through narration and reflexivity Edited by Maria Francesca Freda, José González Monteagudo and Giovanna Esposito Graduate Education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) A Student Perspective Edited by Robert T. Palmer, Larry J. Walker, Ramon B. Goings, Charmaine Troy, Chaz T. Gipson, and Felecia Commodore Transnational Education Crossing ‘Asia’ and ‘the West’ Adjusted desire, transformative mediocrity, neo-colonial disguise Phan Le-Ha Experiencing Master’s Supervision Perspectives of international students and their supervisors Nigel Harwood and Bojana Petrić The Design of the University German, American, and “World Class” Heinz-Dieter Meyer Transnational Education Crossing ‘Asia’ and ‘the West’ Adjusted desire, transformative mediocrity, neo-colonial disguise Phan Le-Ha (also written Phan Le Ha) First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Phan Le-Ha The right of Phan Le-Ha to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-79465-8 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-75909-8 (ebk) Typeset in Galliard by Apex CoVantage, LLC This book is dedicated to Liam, Le, and Chi – my three soulmates. Contents List of figures xi Acknowledgements xiii Foreword by YANG Rui xvii 1 Defining a stance 1 2 Foregrounding the debates 11 3 The West, Asia, and ‘the rise of Asia’ 32 4 Engaging with the ‘convenient’ Western-Asian paradox 56 5 English, internationalisation of higher education, and identity: Increasing academic monolingualism and English-only package 84 6 Appropriating and abusing transnational education in Saudi Arabia: Commercialisation, neoliberalism, desire, and English (with Osman Barnawi) 114 7 Student identities in transnational space: Vietnam in focus 131 8 Intercultural interactions in English-medium programmes as imagined interactions with a ‘Western’ entity 155 9 International teaching staff and international students raising concerns over questions of integration and belonging in TNE 172 10 Transnational education and dream realisation: From the Philippines to Vietnam, from Afghanistan to Dubai, from everywhere in Asia to Thailand 189
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