Abstract

For many East and South East Asian youth, global citizenship is an increasing reality. This raises new research questions of the process of acculturation and ethnic identity. East and South East Asian immigrants and student sojourners in Australia and New Zealand may embody multiple ethnic backgrounds, speak several regional languages and sometimes live for extended periods of time in two or more Asian states or country. This paper challenges the concept of ethnic essentialism or a single cultural adaptation and explores the notion of a regional Pan-Asian identity that extends beyond the barriers of the Asian continent to a globalizing world.