Indian mothers' perceptions of their roles in their daughters' university course choices

This paper presents new findings on the experiences of Indian mothers in the roles they play in their daughters’ higher education (HE) subject choices. Whilst there are existing studies on White British mothers and parents more generally in terms of parental involvement in education, and a growing number of papers presenting results on Bangladeshi and Pakistani parents, evidence on Indian parents (and students) is relatively sparse. In particular, there is a lack of research where Indian parents are given space to voice their own narratives in their own words. In the main, existing studies focus on parents from the viewpoint of their children as students. This qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with nine Indian mothers from different areas in England.Commonalities and disparities between the experiences of Indian mothers presented here and accounts of White mothers of similar class and educational backgrounds presented in existing literature are analysed using an intersectional lens. Results show that working class Indian mothers could be making up some of their disadvantage in terms of social and cultural capital through family and community networks. Furthermore, mothers regard younger relatives as potential sources of important knowledge and resources that could help them and their daughters navigate the HE landscape. This has not been found in studies on White mothers where the emphasis instead has been on the exchange of knowledge from adults to the younger generation. This article arises out of an ESRC funded doctoral study of choice at university for British South Asian women