Language and Identity among Elite Students

Lu focuses on conversations among top-performing students from Raffles Institution in Singapore, exploring how they articulate their aspirations, attitudes towards state scholarships, their sense of identity in relation to their peers, and their use of language, including Singlish.

Drawing on linguistic ethnography as a method and Bourdieu’s concepts of capitals and social fields as an analytical framework, the book critically engages with contemporary theories on cosmopolitan elite individuals. It provides a window into the sociolinguistic processes through which these students legitimize and construct elite identities, while offering a nuanced portrayal of their lived experiences. The research focuses on a group of Singaporeans and immigrants from, Raffles Institution, one of Singapore’s top-ranked secondary schools. Their conversations reveal how they navigate local social fields and establish a distinct status as academically elite students within the Singaporean context. These discussions touch on issues such as xenophobia, their friendships, and the ways they negotiate definitions of success within an elite school environment. Despite their academic achievements, these students remain deeply connected to Singapore’s sociocultural and political landscape, embodying a unique blend of global aspirations and local rootedness. The book captures their stories, offering insights into Singapore as a nation while shedding light on the sociolinguistic dynamics of elite schooling and migration.

A valuable resource for scholars in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, as well as those interested in understanding these individuals and Singapore through the lenses of sociolinguistics, elite education, and migration studies.