Travel, according to the anthropologist James Clifford (1998). is a fundamental characteristic of human behaviour. Grand tours and temporary residencies in European cities are no longer the preserve of the elite but today have become a global commonplace and one of the discourses of postmodernity. Broadened access to travel has not, however, altered the notion of being well-travelled which has continued to accrue both economic, symbolic and cultural capital. Study or work abroad has become a commonplace and at the 'same time it has undergone a degree of change, becoming a simple accessory or another commodity to add to one's curriculum vitae. In recent years interculturalists, and modem linguists in particular such as Byram (2001), Cormeraie (2002) and Kramsch (1998), have turned their attention to studies of the experience of the Year Abroad for students of foreign languages. Much of the focus in these studies has been on the accumulation of intercultural competence and on linguistic and cultural fluency drawing conceptual frames from the discipli'ne of education. The problem with this research is that it has become bound into the concerns of education and has not looked beyond the structures of pedagogy to wider cultural issues and manifestations of travel and dwelling abroad. This thesis examines the experiences of graduates working and living abroad, with an emphasis on the relationship which exists between their working contexts and cultural difference. This research makes two main contributions to the field. One' is to approach the graduates as cultural voices throughout their narratives of residency and working life abroad which can be perceived as the writing of their own identities. The other is the application of psychoanalytical theory to the graduates' readings of cultural difference and intercultural. encounter as performed throughout their narratives.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:519189 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Pourhashemi, Philippe |
| Publisher | University of Glasgow |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2067/ |
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