Cosmopolitans and ‘cliques’: Everyday socialisation amongst Tamil student and young professional migrants to the UK

Jones, Demelza ORCID: 0000-0002-5985-1972 (2013) Cosmopolitans and ‘cliques’: Everyday socialisation amongst Tamil student and young professional migrants to the UK. Ethnicities, 13 (4). pp. 420-437. doi:10.1177/1468796813483729

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Abstract

Among student and young professional migrants to the UK the opportunity for a global or cosmopolitan experience emerges as a motivating factor for migration. This article takes the example of student and young professional migrants to the UK from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and explores how this cosmopolitan ambition plays out in the formation of UK social networks. Two ‘types’ of research participant are identified; ‘self-conscious cosmopolitans’ whose social networks are cross-ethnic, and others whose networks are largely co-ethnic and who are often derided by their self-consciously cosmopolitan counterparts as ‘clannish’ or ‘cliquey’. The article asks how ethnicity emerges as salient (or not) in these migrants’ talk and practice around UK social network formations. It then considers whether a co-ethnic social network necessarily limits the cosmopolitan experience, or whether this interpretation reflects a narrow understanding of cosmopolitanism which excludes the multiple inter-cultural encounters these migrants experience in their everyday lives.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Research Priority Areas:	Place, Environment and Community
Depositing User:	Demelza Jones
Date Deposited:	20 Sep 2018 12:45
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 08:25
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/5966

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