“Outsiders” Hurting From Within: Racialization, Discrimination, and Microaggression Experiences of International Students

Introduction

International student enrollments, also known as internationalization abroad, have long been used as a symbol of higher education’s commitment toward diversity and global learning (Hudzik, 2011). Many colleges and universities, both in the United States and globally, pride themselves in the number of international students attending their campuses and colorful pictures of international flags mark many institutional websites and offices. However, the adverse experiences of these students often remain isolated within campus boundaries and far from the public eye, especially with respect to unwelcoming and hostile behaviors that international students encounter based on their complex identities. This chapter unveils racialization, discrimination, and microaggression experiences of international students on US campuses and proposes recommendations for creating more equitable and inclusive environments conducive to promoting global learning and citizenship.

The findings presented in this chapter are derived from the empirical research conducted on international students in the United States over the past decade. Specifically, this chapter reviews the contemporary scholarship that inquired into racialization, discrimination, and microaggression experiences of international students on U.S. campuses. The adjustment of international students to new cultural environments has long been a topic of great interest of researchers from varied fields, as illustrated by the prolific scholarship published in this domain (Krsmanovic, 2021). However, most of this research has focused on students’ academic, socio-cultural, and socio-linguistic transition, producing implications for student affairs tasked with promoting the academic success and retention of this student group. On the other hand, much less is known about the lived experiences of international students while on their host campuses, especially with respect to racism, discrimination, and oppression – distressing experiences that remain unvoiced by many underrepresented student groups, not just international students. In the attempt to shed more light to these experiences, this chapter systematically reviews the empirical research in this domain and aims to raise awareness of the most prevalent issues and propose recommendations for reducing them.