Transnational Education

My current work focuses on transnational education in the Nigerian diaspora. A Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship (2018-20), supported a research project in Lagos, London and New Jersey entitled: ‘Transnational Families and Educational Pathways Across the Nigerian Diaspora’. 

The research explores questions such as: Why might parents prefer to educate their children in Nigeria than the UK or USA? What motivates some to ‘send back’ their children for stints of ‘homeland’ schooling? What are young people’s own experiences of moving across borders and between social contexts during their education? What are the roles of Lagos private schools in facilitating movements across borders in multiple directions? What do transnational education practices tell us about how the politics of class and race interact with the politics of migration and transnationalism?  

Until It is Spoken Back is a short film that was made in connection with the research. In it, one young man recounts his educational journey from the USA to Nigeria and back again, sharing his reflections about racialised profiling, resilience, and ambition.

I’m currently writing from the project, but here’s the first piece to be published: 

Cheung Judge, R. (2021) ‘The best of both worlds’: Lagos private schools as engaged strategists of transnational child-raising, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2020.1857233

You can find open access copies of this and other publications on academia.edu and researchgate.  

The project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 750495.