TY - JOUR

T1 - Multiple, relational and emotional mobilities

T2 - understanding student mobilities in Higher Education as more than 'staying local' and 'going away'

AU - Finn, Kirsty

N1 - This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Finn, K. (2017), Multiple, relational and emotional mobilities: Understanding student mobilities in higher education as more than ‘staying local’ and ‘going away’. Br Educ Res J, 43: 743–758. doi:10.1002/berj.3287 which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3287/abstract This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.

PY - 2017/8

Y1 - 2017/8

N2 - This paper advances theorising around student geographies in higher education (HE). It extends recent work, which has problematised the primacy of social class and binary thinking about student mobilities, and presents local/non-local experiences and im/mobility as a defining dualism. Drawing on a qualitative longitudinal study of women’s experiences during and on completion of HE, the following explores the ways in which a more diverse and constantly negotiated set of mobility practices emerge relationally, in the stratified field of HE, and through shifting personal and emotional attachments. Theoretically, the paper develops a new approach to student mobilities, synthesising Bourdieu’s dominant notions of field with relational theories pertaining to mobilities (e.g. Adey, 2009), emotion (e.g. Holmes, 2010) and personal life (e.g. Mason, 2004; Smart, 2007). Such an approach makes it possible to move beyond the binary thinking that has become entrenched in policy and academic debates about student mobilities, and recognise a broader range of movements, flows, stops and starts that emerge relationally, emotionally and temporally as students and graduates move into and through HE. It is argued here that, given the policy emphasis on accelerated and flexible HE provision (BIS, 2016), a gradational view of student mobilities is more important than ever.

AB - This paper advances theorising around student geographies in higher education (HE). It extends recent work, which has problematised the primacy of social class and binary thinking about student mobilities, and presents local/non-local experiences and im/mobility as a defining dualism. Drawing on a qualitative longitudinal study of women’s experiences during and on completion of HE, the following explores the ways in which a more diverse and constantly negotiated set of mobility practices emerge relationally, in the stratified field of HE, and through shifting personal and emotional attachments. Theoretically, the paper develops a new approach to student mobilities, synthesising Bourdieu’s dominant notions of field with relational theories pertaining to mobilities (e.g. Adey, 2009), emotion (e.g. Holmes, 2010) and personal life (e.g. Mason, 2004; Smart, 2007). Such an approach makes it possible to move beyond the binary thinking that has become entrenched in policy and academic debates about student mobilities, and recognise a broader range of movements, flows, stops and starts that emerge relationally, emotionally and temporally as students and graduates move into and through HE. It is argued here that, given the policy emphasis on accelerated and flexible HE provision (BIS, 2016), a gradational view of student mobilities is more important than ever.

U2 - 10.1002/berj.3287

DO - 10.1002/berj.3287

M3 - Journal article

VL - 43

SP - 743

EP - 758

JO - British Educational Research Journal

JF - British Educational Research Journal

SN - 0141-1926

IS - 4

ER -