•  
  •  
 

Keywords

transnational racialization; Asian international students; U.S. higher education institutions; International Student Critical Race Theory

Special Issue

Examining Race, Racism, and Racialization in the Internationalization of Higher Education from Global Perspectives

Abstract

This exploratory case study examines the transnational racialization experiences of 14 ethnically diverse Asian International Students (AIS) studying abroad in the U.S. Using International Student Critical Race Theory to foreground the contexts of participants’ home countries, we ask: What are AIS’s experiences with transnational racialization? Findings suggest that AIS are socialized to the racial dynamics of the U.S. through: (1) the different contexts of their home countries, (2) their specific social positioning within these contexts, (3) the influence of Western narratives across the globe, and (4) their academic communities in the U.S. Our findings advance theoretical perspectives on racialization in a transnational context; specifically, by suggesting a need for researchers to complicate our conceptions of “transnational racialization.” We conclude with recommendations for higher education institutions to support AIS on their campuses while disrupting the maintenance of racial hierarchies in the U.S. and globally.

References

Aldana, A., Rowley, S. J., Checkoway, B., & Richards-Schuster, K. (2012). Raising ethnic-racial consciousness: The relationship between intergroup dialogues and adolescents’ ethnic-racial identity and racism awareness. Equity & Excellence in Education, 45(1), 120–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2012.641863

Annamma, S. A., Jackson, D. D., & Morrison, D. (2017). Conceptualizing color-evasiveness: Using dis/ability critical race theory to expand a color-blind racial ideology in education and society. Race Ethnicity and Education, 20(2), 147–162. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1248837

Bardhan, N., & Zhang, B. (2017). A post/decolonial view of race and identity through the narratives of U.S. international students from the Global South. Communication Quarterly, 65(3), 285–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2016.1237981

Bhattacharya, K. (2009). Othering research, researching the other: De/colonizing approaches to qualitative inquiry. In J. C., Smart (Ed.). Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 105–150). Springer Dordrecht.

Blanco, G., Altbach, P. G., & de Wit, H. (2020). Anti-blackness and racism in international higher education. International Higher Education, 104, 3–4. https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ihe/article/view/14331

Bonazzo, C., & Wong, Y. J. (2007). Japanese international female students’ experience of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes. College Student Journal, 47(3), 631–640.

Bonilla-Silva, E., & Peoples, C. E. (2022). Historically white colleges and universities: The unbearable whiteness of (most) colleges and universities in America. American Behavioral Scientist, 66(11), 1490–1504. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764221106604

Cénat, J. M., Broussard, C., Jacob, G., Kogan, C., Corace, K., Ukwu, G., Onesi, O., Furyk, S. E., Bekarkhanechi, F. M., Williams, M., Chomienne, M.-H., Grenier, J. & Labelle, P. R. (2024). Antiracist training programs for mental health professionals: A scoping review. Clinical Psychology Review, 108, 102–373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102373

Chen, C. (2021). Navigating racial discrimination as transnational actors: Racial experiences of

Asian international students in the U.S. under the COVID-19 pandemic (Publication No. 28492827) [Master’s thesis, State University of New York at Albany].

Christian, M. (2019). A global critical race and racism framework: Racial entanglements and deep and malleable whiteness. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 5(2), 169–185. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649218783220

Crenshaw, K. (1990). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1300.

Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Delgado, R., Stefancic, J., & Harris, A. (2017). Critical race theory: An introduction (3rd ed.). NYU Press.

Dumas, M. J., & ross, K. M. (2016). “Be real black for me” imagining BlackCrit in education. Urban Education, 57(4), 415–442. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085916628611

Dutta, D. & Dutta, M. J. (2024). Discursive construction of race and racism in India. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.1279

Fei, M. (2024). Re-examining Fries-Britt’s Learning Race in a US Context emergent

framework drawing on the micro-level narratives of international students in the US. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, 16(5), 158–169. https://doi.org/10.32674/etcvg369

Frankenberg, R. (1993). White women, race matters. University of Minnesota Press.

Freire, P. (2021). Education for critical consciousness. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Fries-Britt, S., George Mwangi, C. A., & Peralta, A. M. (2014). Learning race in a U.S. Context: An emergent framework on the perceptions of race among foreign-born students of color. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 7(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035636

George Mwangi, C. A., & Yao, C. W. (2021). US higher education internationalization through

an equity-driven lens: An analysis of concepts, history, and research. In L. W. Perna (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 549-609). Springer.

Gurin, P., Nagda, B. R. A., & Zuniga, X. (2013). Dialogue across difference: Practice, theory,

and research on intergroup dialogue. Russell Sage Foundation.

Harro, B. (2000). The cycle of liberation. In M. Adams (Ed.), Readings for diversity and social justice (pp. 52–58). Psychology Press.

Hsu, M. Y. (2015). The good immigrants: How the yellow peril became the model minority. Princeton University Press.

Iftikar, J. S., & Museus, S. D. (2018). On the utility of Asian critical (AsianCrit) theory in the field of education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 31(10), 935–949. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2018.1522008

Institute of International Education. (2024). Open Doors Report. https://opendoorsdata.org/data/international-students/enrollment-trends/Institute of International Education. (2025). Leading places of origin of international students, 2024/25. Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange. https://opendoorsdata.org/data/international-students/leading-places-of-origin/

Jackson, M. (2009). Neo-colonialism, same old racism: A critical analysis of the United States’ shift toward colorblindness as a tool for the protection of the American colonial empire and white supremacy. Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy, 11, 156–192. https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38K338

Jayawardene, S. M. (2016). Racialized casteism: Exposing the relationship between race, caste, and colorism through the experiences of Africana people in India and Sri Lanka. Journal of African American Studies, 20(3), 323–345. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-016-9333-5

Jiang, S. (2021). Diversity without integration? Racialization and spaces of exclusion in international higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 42(1), 32–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.202Q.1847635

Jones, S. R., Torres, V., & Arminio, J. (2013). Negotiating the complexities of qualitative research in higher education: Fundamental elements and issues (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Kim, S. (2024). A critical oversight: International students’ racial consciousness and agency in

U.S. higher education. About Campus, 28(6), 55–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086482223119584

Kim, S. (2025). “What I had experienced was, in fact, a microaggression”: A phenomenological inquiry into international students of color developing critical racial consciousness. The Journal of Higher Education, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2025.2522037

Kim-Goh, M., Choi, H., & Yoon, M. S. (2015). Culturally responsive counseling for Asian Americans: Clinician perspectives. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 37(1), 63–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-014-9226-z

Ladson-Billings, G. (1998). Just what is critical race theory and what's it doing in a nice field like education?. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 77(1), 7–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/095183998236863

Lee, J., & Zhou, M. (2015). The Asian American achievement paradox. Russell Sage Foundation.

Lien, P. T. (2021). Tracing roots of attitudes toward race and affirmative action among immigrant Chinese Americans: Learning from undergraduate international students. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 15(6), 731–743. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000319

Mertens, D. M. (2019). Research and evaluation in education and psychology: Integrating

diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Miller, R. A., Garcia, C. E., & Duran, A. (2025). “Copy and paste” practices: A multi-site critical discourse analysis of arguments about anti-DEI legislation. The Journal of Higher Education, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2025.2524303

Mitchell, D., Steele, T., Marie, J., & Timm, K. (2017). Learning race and racism while learning: Experiences of international students pursuing higher education in the Midwestern United States. AERA Open, 3(3), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858417720402

Nye Jr, J. S. (2008). Public diplomacy and soft power. The annals of the American academy of political and social science, 616(1), 94–109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716207311699

Okura, K. (2021). There are no Asians in China: the racialization of Chinese international students in the United States. Identities, 28(2), 147–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2019.1663053

Omi, M., & Winant, H. (2014). Racial formation in the United States. Routledge.

Park, S. C. (2020). Korean international students and the making of racialized transnational elites. Lexington Books.

Rios, F. (2018). The legacy and trajectories of multicultural education: Recognition, refusal, and movement building in troubling times. Multicultural Education Review, 10(3), 165–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/2005615X.2018.1497876

Ritter, Z. S. (2015). Taboo or tabula rasa: Cross-racial/cultural dating preferences amongst Chinese, Japanese, and Korean international students in an American university. Journal of International Students, 5(4), 405–419. https://doi.org/10.32674/iis.v5i4.4Q4

Ritter, Z. S. (2016). International students’ perceptions of race and socio-economic status in an American higher education landscape. Journal of International Students, 6(2), 367–393. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v6i2.362

Saldaña, J. (2016). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. SAGE Publications.

Solorzano, D. G. (1997). Images and words that wound: Critical race theory, racial stereotyping, and teacher education. Teacher Education Quarterly, 24(3), 5–19. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23478088

Solorzano, D. G., & Yosso, T. J. (2002). Critical race methodology: Counter-storytelling as an analytical framework for education research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 23–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/107780040200800103Tatum, B. D. (1992). Talking about race, learning about racism: The application of racial identity development theory in the classroom. Harvard Educational Review, 62(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.62.1.146k5v980r703023

Thomas, S. (2013). In pursuit of the American degree: Internationalization, national security, and the making of South Asian foreign students (Publication No. 3594865) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania]. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

Venkatraman, S. (2024). Indians become biggest international student group in U.S., surpassing Chinese for first time since 2009. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/indian-students-surpass-chinese-largest-international-group-rcna180783

Wang, Y. (2010). How are they racialized? Racial experiences of Chinese graduate students. Ethnic Studies Review, 33(2), 109–122. https://doi.org/10.1525/esr.2010.33.2.109

de Wit, H., Altbach, P. G., & Glass, C. R. (2025). Global higher education transformation: The 2025 international crisis. International Higher Education, 1(123). https://doi.org/10.6017/895b9e0d.789fabbc

Yao, C. W. (2015). Sense of belonging in international students: Making the case against integration to US institutions of higher education. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, 7(1), 6–10. https://doi.org/10.64899/2151-0407.1214

Yao, C. W., George Mwangi, C. A., & Malaney Brown, V. K. (2019). Exploring the intersection of transnationalism and critical race theory: a critical race analysis of international student experiences in the United States. Race Ethnicity and Education, 22(1), 38–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2018.1497968

Yeo, H. T. (2020). An explanatory sequential mixed methods study of engaging racism in the U.S.: Demystifying racialization of domestic and international students of color [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Yeo, H. T. (2023). Not a citizen but a student: An international student critical race theory (IntlCrit) framework. In J. Huisman & M, Tight. (Eds.), Theory and method in higher education research (pp.23–42). Emerald Publishing Limited.

Yu, J. (2021). A critical study of Chinese international students’ experiences pursuing American higher education in the age of Trump and COVID-19. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, 13(n5S), 103–107. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v13i5.4215

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.