Mundane matters: entangling moments of student wellbeing across cultures, time, space, and virtual worlds

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article, we draw on phenomenon from an experiential learning project that invited university students in Australia and Hong Kong to share their conceptions of wellbeing. Inspired by feminist and new materialist perspectives, our analysis highlights a string of mundane moments of ecological entanglements, nutritionally-nourishing forces and spacetimemattering generated when students shared digital stories about their daily wellbeing practices. Through the ‘Day in the Life’ methodology, students in Australia and Hong Kong compiled video vignettes of key moments in their daily lives that they felt supported their wellbeing. Drawing on the notion of ‘mundane data’, we suggest that students’ mundane moments offer in-depth explorations of the student experience, improvisation, habits, and accomplishments across cultures, time, space, and virtual worlds for (re)turning to the basics when conceptualising wellbeing. Our analysis, therefore, notes the importance of attending to matters of mundanity to study and cultivate wellbeing for students across cultures, including how university campuses (both physical and digital) may incorporate these mundane moments via curriculum, pedagogy, and program design.