Cosmopolitan Identity: Expatriate Children in Vietnam

Abstract

This article explores the identity of expatriate children in the development of cosmopolitan individuals. Multinational corporations are creating a growing population of culturally savvy individuals who are able to operate within widely different cultural and linguistic contexts. These individuals are more inclined to develop cosmopolitan skills as contradictory cultural demands challenge their daily expectations. From corporate relocations to political exile, and from historical migrations to local globalization, these individuals confront diverging perspectives and possess the know-how to mediate them. Ethnographic interviews with Vietnamese and French expatriate high-school students in Vietnam illustrate the tension between the traditional French education system and the many diverse cultures native and expatriate students need to negotiate in this globalized world. Using a multi-disciplinary framework, this article broadens the notions of self-identity, cosmopolitanism, corporate expatriations, cultural hybridity and paradox by taking them outside of their respective fields of study.