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Keywords

identity, internationalization, collaboration, transnational, participatory-emancipatory

Abstract

"It is hard to think in two languages when your feet are freezing." Words swim through her head, but she is unable to catch any of them (twelve-year-old Syrian migrant, Warga 2019).

In these ‘liquid’ times of hyper-diversity, students’ lives marked by their identity practices and social relations can tell us how future inclusive global citizenship will be crafted and negotiated. During 2023, students and professors from universities in Ecuador, Argentina, Dominican Republic, United Kingdom, Czech Republic and Ukraine participated in a series of virtual meetings to explore and present the multiple threads that connect the local expression and negotiation of student identity to broader social contexts and ontologies. Our values of intentional inclusion, reciprocity and relational accountability were demonstrated in the collaborative engagement among students and teachers from global south to global north and global east to global west. Our narrative does not follow the linear order of a partnership and engagement framework that consists of values, understanding, self-determination, shared interests, coordination, collaboration and collective action that acts as a guide to bridging relationships among its partners. Rather, in our participatory-emancipatory approach, we document our process as it organically unfolded to reflect the dynamic nature of student sharing their narratives concerning their voluntary or forced migration to study. Virtual breakouts became a transnational diasporic space for student discussion about the common and different challenges each of them had to overcome.  Qualitative data from interviews as well as student documented discussions were content analyzed and a six-step thematic analysis provided ‘a story’ concerning the impact of mobility on identity. Some patterns, connections and trends within the thematic construct of higher education’s role to contribute to the enhancement of sustainable inclusion by means of internationalization were identified. Quantitative survey data enabled us to evaluate changes in the students’ intercultural competencies and their views on the collaborative partnership they had experienced.

Abstract - Translated

“Es difícil pensar en dos idiomas cuando tienes los pies helados”. Las palabras atraviesan su cabeza, pero no logra captar ninguna de ellas (migrante siria de doce años, Warga, 2019).

En estos tiempos “líquidos” de hiperdiversidad, las vidas de los estudiantes, marcadas por sus prácticas identitarias y relaciones sociales, pueden decirnos cómo se creará y negociará la futura ciudadanía global inclusiva. Durante el año 2023, estudiantes y profesores de universidades de Ecuador, Argentina, República Dominicana, Reino Unido, República Checa y Ucrania participaron en una serie de encuentros virtuales que tenían como objetivo el explorar y presentar los múltiples hilos que conectan la expresión y negociación local de la identidad de los estudiantes con contextos sociales y ontologías más amplias. Nuestros valores de inclusión intencional, reciprocidad y responsabilidad relacional se demostraron en el compromiso colaborativo entre estudiantes y docentes del sur y norte global y del este y oeste global. Nuestra narrativa no sigue el orden lineal de un marco de asociación y compromiso que consiste en valores, comprensión, autodeterminación, intereses compartidos, coordinación, colaboración y acción colectiva que actúa como guía para tender puentes entre sus socios. Más bien, en nuestro enfoque participativo-emancipador, documentamos nuestro proceso, que se desarrolló de manera orgánica, para reflejar la naturaleza dinámica de los estudiantes que compartieron entrevistas narrativos sobre su procesos de migración, sea esta voluntaria o forzada. Los grupos virtuales se convirtieron en un espacio diaspórico transnacional que permitió un debate estudiantil sobre los desafíos, algunos comunes y otros diferentes, que cada uno de ellos tuvo que superar. Se analizaron los datos cualitativos de las entrevistas y discusiones documentadas por los estudiantes, y un análisis temático de seis pasos proporcionó "una historia" sobre el impacto de la movilidad en la identidad. Se identificaron algunos patrones, conexiones y tendencias dentro del constructo temático del papel de la educación superior en la mejora de la inclusión sostenible mediante la internacionalización. Los datos cuantitativos de la encuesta nos permitieron evaluar los cambios en las competencias interculturales de los estudiantes y sus opiniones sobre la asociación colaborativa que habían experimentado.

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