Living in-between: A Narrative Inquiry into the Identity Work of a Chinese Student in Australia

As a Chinese international student and a researcher, in this autoethnographic narrative I examine my gradual but intense identity work in Australia in the period between 2010 and 2013. Drawing on relevant theories of everyday life, identity and space, I explore small stories from my diaries as narrations of the changing nature of selfhood, as reflected in my academic learning, part-time work, homesickness and my emotional attachment to Australia. In narrating these stories, I seek to unravel the effects of the complex forces that have been re-shaping my identity. My interpretation of my lived experiences in the framework of the complicated identity work of Chinese international students and migrants during their overseas life contributes to the body of cross-cultural autoethnography.