‘Everybody needs friends’: Emotions, social networks and digital media in the friendships of international students

Abstract

The importance of kin relations and neighbourhoods has received considerable attention in research on transnational migration. Further, research in transnational families and digital media highlights the strategies for maintaining family relationships By contrast, research on friendship is currently limited and, more so, the centrality of the emotional aspects of friendships as intimacy as well as networks of support has received less attention, particularly from a culturally comparative perspective. Drawing on qualitative research in Melbourne ( n = 59) and Singapore ( n = 61), this article examines the ways in which international students invest in developing friendships with other international students based on shared circumstances in the cities in which they are living and studying. The article contributes to fields of literature in transnational migration and cross-cultural perspectives towards friendship and argues that the kinds of friendship forged by the experiences of international students are significant for capturing an aspect of the diversity of migrant relationships.