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Indonesia Council Open Conference 2025
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"International Exposure is Good for the Children’s Future": Indonesian Parents Raising Children in Australia

Individual Paper

Individual Paper

One Conference streams

Diaspora and Migration

Submission Description

 Transnational migration has become vital to accessing valuable resources in today's globalised economy. Indonesian middle-class parents who temporarily migrate to Australia for educational purposes aim to provide their school-aged children with international exposure and multilingual skills, which are considered essential for their children's competitive futures. In this paper, I further explore the data I had for my doctoral study on the daily caregiving experiences of married Indonesian female PhD students and their families in Australia. This paper examines aspects of migration from the children's perspective. It also investigates parents' expectations and concerns about raising their children abroad. Relocation requires adjustments to new living conditions. Tensions and anxieties can arise due to cultural differences between parents who grew up in Indonesia and their children who grew up in Australia. I argue that the PhD students and their partners adopt pious cosmopolitan parenting to navigate expectations and concerns during their temporary migration. 

Presenters

Presenters

Individual Paper Presenters

Valentina Utari - The SMERU Research Institute