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Becoming a bona fide cosmopolitan: unpacking the narratives of Western-situated degree-seeking transnational students in China

ABSTRACT This qualitative study offers an exploration of the ways in which transnational, degree-seeking, undergraduate students from Anglophone and European countries make sense of their experiences of studying in China. Through an analysis of participants’ verbal, visual, and textual narratives recounted in interviews and participants’ social media postings, the paper examines how Western-situated transnational students attempt to differentiate themselves from various ‘Others’ – other types of international students, as well as immobile Others in both home and host countries. Findings point out that there is a dominant image of the bona fide cosmopolitan, which study participants aspired to be, and hence tried continuously to (re)produce through mobility. In critically reflecting on the transnational students’ performance of bona fide cosmopolitanism, this paper addresses issues related to how Western-situated international students create various Others and simultaneously consume difference.