Transnational intellectual engagement via Cocoon Communities : inter-university videoconferencing for local and international students

Our purpose in this chapter is to contribute to the debate over the problematic concept of Cocoon Communities through an exploration of inter-university video-conferencing among local and international students that favours the emergence of transnational intellectual engagement. To do so, we employ the inductive research process that Weber (2002) used to develop the concept of ‘spirit of capitalism’ to explain the affitinites between the mentality of the Protestant Reformation and the rise of industrial capitalism. Working inductively we piece together various components of the idea of Cocoon Communities over the course of this chapter. Empirically, our exploration of the notion of Cocoon Communities arose in response to the demands for educational change by international and local students at our three universities. Their critiques were directed at overcoming intellectual isolation so that they might benefit from the potential theoretical richness and multilingual vibrancy of a transnational research community.