Based on multi-sited ethnographic research conducted in South Korea and the United States from May 2014 to August 2016, this dissertation examines elite reproduction of Korean families who sent their children to the United States for their education. Despite recent debates and active discussion on transnationalism and immigration populations, international student communities in American universities, especially those from the upper class of Asian countries, have not gained much attention. By focusing on a specific subgroup of Korean elite educational migrants, or yuhaksaeng, in the United States, my study attempts to begin filling this void and to add further value to anthropological studies. To explore how elite reproduction occurs, I examined the narratives of Korean elite families—250 yuhaksaeng who received higher education from top-ranked American universities and forty of their parents. In addition, I engaged in participant observation of various social gatherings in the Gangnam area of Seoul, Korea; New York City; and other major US cities in the Northeast. Drawing on the ethnographic data, my dissertation demonstrates that elite reproduction is an on-going venture fraught with numerous obstacles requiring continuous and deliberate effort and practice to overcome. It explores how yuhaksaeng and their parents attempt to navigate the arduous process of maintaining and reproducing the privileges across generations. Furthermore, it examines each step and educative practice that the participants collectively figure out within their exclusive transnational elite networks.

In the United States, there are increasing numbers of East Asian international students who are enrolled in higher education institutions. These students often face academic and social environment challenges. In addition to these challenges, they face problems and needs derived from the different food environment. A few studies have explored food consumption patterns, health status, and barriers to eating healthfully among international students. However, none of the studies has examined how their current consumption and consumption change are related to their perceptions and attitudes toward the U.S. food environment, as well as considerations of the sustainability and safety of the food system and environmental concerns in their food choices. Therefore, this study describes East Asian international students’ degrees of acculturation, cooking, and eating out; current processed food and whole food consumption; change in processed food and whole food consumption since coming to the U.S. (eat less, eat similar amount as home country or eat more); reasons for the change in each food category and as a whole; attitudes toward U.S. food system (when they make food choices in the U.S., how important it is for them to choose based on food system factors among other factors); and perceptions of the U.S. food environment (what they think of the U.S. food environment). The study was a cross-sectional study, using a survey developed from literature reviews and several in-depth semi structured interviews. After assessments of the validation and reliability of the instrument, the survey was transferred into an online survey format. The online-survey was given at four selected campuses including two universities in New York City (private and public) and two universities in New York State (private and public) through email invitations and recruitment using flyers posted around campus. The survey was conducted from April to October of 2016. The study’s participants were East Asian international students, both female and male, who had come to the U.S. to study; their ages ranged from 18 to 35, and included undergraduate and graduate students. The participants were from the following countries or regions: Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan. However, students who were participating in mandatory meal plans and students who had attended high-school in the U.S. or other Western countries before enrolling in university were excluded. The results show that in terms of acculturation, participants’ (n=511) interpersonal and dietary factors were closer to Asian than American. They cooked and ate out more frequently in the U.S. compared to when they were in their home countries. They spent more money on eating out than grocery shopping on a weekly basis. After coming to the U.S., they ate/drank more processed food, water, raw vegetables, meat, dairy, and other Asian foods, and eat less foods from their home countries and cooked vegetables. The main reasons for the change in these food consumption were due to their concerns about health, weight, availability, convenience, taste, and price. The least used reasons for the change in food consumption by participants were concerns about food system sustainability factors (pollution, energy or water use, environment, worker conditions). These reasons were consistent with their attitudes toward the U.S. food system in that they tended to have favorable attitudes toward using nutrition, convenience, and price in their food choices and to have less favorable attitudes towards basing on their food choices on food system sustainability, food safety, and environmental concern factors. However, when they did have favorable attitudes toward environmental concerns and food safety, they tended to eat more whole foods. When participants perceived that there was better food quality and more availability in the U.S., they tended to eat more whole foods upon coming to the U.S. Factors that surprised them about with U.S. food environment were mainly because of the differences in food culture and the food system. This study is the first to examine the food intake of Asian international students in terms of processed and whole food categories, and the first to examine students’ food choice motivations, attitudes, and perceptions in terms of food system sustainability and environmental considerations. A strength of the study is its large sample size. A limitation is that there was no control group of U.S. students entering college for the first time. Based on the results of the study, future research should focus on conducting qualitative studies to better understand nuances in international students’ food choice concerns and motivations that were not captured in a survey as well as employing a comparison group in the research design. In terms of practice, nutrition education is clearly needed for this population in order to assist students in adjusting to the new U.S. food environment and to help them understand how the US food system works. Nutrition education can also provide information on the globalization of the U.S. food system that will assist students to understand how and why the food system is changing in their home countries. Effort may also be made to help them bring back environment friendly practices (e.g. eating local food, farmers markets) to their home countries, so that they may educate their fellow citizens, and contribute, where appropriate, to food policy discussions within their home countries.

This dissertation addresses the discursive representation of international undergraduate students from the areas of South East Asia and Africa. The central question is: how are international students discursively represented in an Australian university setting? The study considers the university's teaching and learning practices and cultures as well as wider matters of policy. The study draws on postcolonial theory particularly on selected aspects of the work of Edward Said, Homi Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak and in so doing demonstrates the usefulness of postcolonial theory for exploring issues associated with international students in universities. / thesis (PhDEducation)--University of South Australia, 2004.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-207).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

The purpose of the study was to profile perceptions and beliefs of Oregon State University international student parents who have children in area public elementary schools. The research methods included a survey to 26 self-selected participants, and seven tape-recorded interviews with volunteers from the survey sample. These study subjects displayed a large range of origin, cultural backgrounds, seniority in the area, family size and views towards their children's education. Data collected were categorized and interpreted with reference to the current theories in education. The study findings included the international parents' domains of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their children's education in the area schools, the parents' goals for their children's elementary education and the parents' opinions and suggestions regarding parent involvement and elementary education reform as related to improving elementary education for international children enrolled in American schools. The domains of parents' satisfaction with their children's education were analyzed in three major groups: educational outcomes, skills and subjects offered by schools. It also described the domains of the international parents' dissatisfaction and their criticism about school activities and their organization. The international parents' goals for their children's elementary education were analyzed into five groups: Intellectual knowledge, personality development, acquisition of life skills, preservation of parents' cultural values and education for a multicultural life. The parents' involvement in their children's education at home and at school was analyzed concerning parents' comprehension of its necessity, initiatives, helpers and barriers for involvement, and suggestions to improve their children's learning. Recommendations for further research into international children's education were presented. They were oriented towards replication of the study to an extended population nationwide in different schools and at different levels. They also suggested widening the research methods and categories of parents, and matching parents' views with that of school agents to coherently reform education in its complexity involving the whole community of educators. / Graduation date: 1998

Graduation date: 1994

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Baylor University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-100).

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

The purpose of this study was to investigate Peer Collaborative Mentoring (PCM) as a professional development model for international graduate teaching assistants at an American university. Data were gathered from interviews and observations of three American peer mentors (Intracultural Peer Mentors/IAPMs), five Chinese Graduate Teaching Assistants (Intercultural Peer Mentors/IEPMs), and 130 undergraduate students who were enrolled in an introductory course in chemistry from the IEPMs. Six categories were identified through an analysis of the data: (1) IAPM socialization; (2) dynamics of PCM; (3) gender; (4) language; (5) phases; and (6) benefits of the PCM process. Data in the categories were analyzed using two forms of triangulation: (1) investigative and (2) data source. The results of the study indicate that PCM is a developmental process in which participants (IEPMs and IAPMs) move through four phases (Induction, Empowerment through Collaboration, Reduction, and Termination) employing the concepts of reciprocity, mutuality, parity and cultural sensitivity. Providing this type of support system gave the IEPMs and IAPMs an opportunity to develop a learning community through the PCM process. During the study, the two groups of participants acted as cultural mediators for one another and for the students. The purpose of the mediation was to assist all participants in developing their cross-cultural skills and resolve issues that were germane to the quality of the teaching environment and the professional development of the IEPMs and IAPMs. The study provides a new mentoring model for teaching faculty that is responsive to professional development and cross-cultural communication skills. The model supports an environment where isolation and dissonance are minimized and collaboration and cultural sensitivity are encouraged. / Graduation date: 1992