NAVIGATING UNIVERSITY SPACES: STUDENTS’ ASPIRATIONS, BOUNDARIES, AND TRANSFORMATIONS IN INDIA AND THE PHILIPPINES

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The aim of this project is to explore the increasing heterogeneity of students and the disparity of their chances in (student) life. How are inequalities and exclusions experienced, tackled and overcome within the social spaces of the university? Research will be conducted at universities in two Asian countries – India and the Philippines – both of which are currently experiencing striking heterogenization of student bodies in terms of class, gender, race, ethnicity, and other differentiating markers. Theoretically, the project draws on new conceptualizations of ‘belonging,’ enriched by inequality research, the concepts of boundary-making and that of (de)differentiation. Methodologically, it engages in micro-perspectives through ethnographic means, observing student trajectories and narratives of the making and un-making of socio-spatial constellations on university premises. The contrasting approach will help to better grasp the importance of social contexts, similar and conflicting patterns, and in generalizing the findings.