Diversity without Race
How University Internationalization Strategies Discuss International Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v11iS1.3842Keywords:
race, internationalization, diversity, higher educationAbstract
This article examines how a sample of 62 higher education institutions in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom discuss international students in their official institutionalization strategies, focusing on how ideas of race and diversity are addressed. We find that institutional strategies connect international students to an abstract notion of diversity, using visual images to portray campus environments as inclusive of racial, ethnic and religious diversity. Yet, strategy documents rarely discuss race, racialization, or racism explicitly, despite the fact that most international students in all three countries are non-white. Moreover, racial injustice is externalized as a global issue and racial diversity is instrumentalized as a source of improving institutional reputation or diversity metrics. We argue that a first step to creating more inclusive and anti-racist campuses is to acknowledge international students’ racial identities and experiences with racism in official discourses and strategies.
References
Ahmed, S. (2007). ‘You end up doing the document rather than doing the doing’: Diversity, race equality and the politics of documentation. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(4), 590–609.
Andrade, M. S. (2006). International students in English-speaking universities: Adjustment factors. Journal of Research in International Education, 5(2), 131–154. https://doi.org/10.1177/1475240906065589
Applebaum, B. (2019). Remediating campus climate: Implicit bias training is not enough. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 38(2), 129–141.
Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. A. M. (2019). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives. John Wiley & Sons.
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture (2nd Ed.). Routledge.
Brown, L., & Jones, I. (2013). Encounters with racism and the international student experience. Studies in Higher Education, 38(7), 1004–1019. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.614940
Buckner, E. (2019). The internationalization of higher education: National interpretations of a global model. Comparative Education Review, 63(3), 315–336. https://doi.org/10.1086/703794
Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. Sage.
Chen, Y. W. (2006). Intercultural friendship from the perspective of East Asian international students. China Media Research, 2(3), 43–58.
Childress, L. K. (2009). Planning for internationalization by investing in faculty. Journal of International & Global Studies, 1(1).
Croom, N. N. (2017). Promotion beyond tenure: Unpacking racism and sexism in the experiences of Black womyn professors. The Review of Higher Education, 40(4), 557–583.
Dixson, A. D., & Rousseau, C. K. (2005). And we are still not saved: Critical race theory in education ten years later. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 7–27.
Fish, S. (1997). Boutique multiculturalism, or why liberals are incapable of thinking about hate speech. Critical Inquiry, 23(2), 378–395.
Ford, K. S., & Patterson, A. N. (2019). “Cosmetic diversity”: University websites and the transformation of race categories. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 12(2), 99–114. http://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000092
Foste, Z., & Irwin, L. (2020). Applying Critical Whiteness Studies in College Student Development Theory and Research. Journal of College Student Development, 61(4), 439-455. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2020.0050
Gillborn, D. (2005). Education policy as an act of white supremacy: Whiteness, critical race theory and education reform. Journal of Education Policy, 20(4), 485–505.
Glasener, K. M., Martell, C. A., & Posselt, J. R. (2019). Framing diversity: Examining the place of race in institutional policy and practice post-affirmative action. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 12(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000086
Guo, Y., & Guo, S. (2017). Internationalization of Canadian higher education: Discrepancies between policies and international student experiences. Studies in Higher Education, 42(5), 851–868.
Hall, S. (2018). Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity and Diaspora. Duke University Press.
Hanassab, S. (2006). Diversity, international students, and perceived discrimination: Implications for educators and counselors. Journal of Studies in International Education, 10(2), 157–172.
Harper, S. R. (2012). Race without racism: How higher education researchers minimize racist institutional norms. The Review of Higher Education, 36(1), 9–29.
Haynes, C. (2017). Dismantling the white supremacy embedded in our classrooms: White faculty in pursuit of more equitable educational outcomes for racially minoritized students. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 29(1), 87–107.
Henry, F., Dua, E., Kobayashi, A., James, C., Li, P., Ramos, H., & Smith, M. S. (2017). Race, racialization and Indigeneity in Canadian universities. Race Ethnicity and Education, 20(3), 300–314.
Hiraldo, P. (2010). The role of critical race theory in higher education. The Vermont Connection, 31(7), 53-59.
Houshmand, S., Spanierman, L. B., & Tafarodi, R. W. (2014). Excluded and avoided: Racial microaggressions targeting Asian international students in Canada. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 20(3), 377.
Institute of International Education. (2019). Project Atlas 2019 Release. https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Project-Atlas/Explore-Data/Infographics/2019-Project-Atlas-Infographics
Iverson, S. V. (2007). Camouflaging power and privilege: A critical race analysis of university diversity policies. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43(5), 586–611.
Jones, E. (2013). Internationalization and employability: The role of intercultural experiences in the development of transferable skills. Public Money & Management, 33(2), 95–104.
Jones, E. (2017). Problematising and reimagining the notion of ‘international student experience.’ Studies in Higher Education, 42(5), 933–943. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1293880
Kenyon, K., Frohard-Dourlent, H., & Roth, W. D. (2012). Falling between the cracks: Ambiguities of international student status in Canada. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 42(1), 1–24.
Khoo, S. (2011). Ethical globalisation or privileged internationalisation? Exploring global citizenship and internationalisation in Irish and Canadian universities. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9(3–4), 337–353.
Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Sage publications.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Categories
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All published articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Unported License.