Reimagining the Agency of International Students of Color during Global Pandemic and (Neo)Racism

Journal of International Students. 4005 Spurgeon Drive #6, Monroe, LA 71203. Tel: 318-600-5743; Fax: 318-342-3131; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://www.ojed.org/index.php/jis/index

Y

19

Personal Autonomy; Foreign Students; Minority Group Students; COVID-19; Pandemics; Racism; Student Mobility; Resistance (Psychology); Foreign Countries; Graduate Students; Doctoral Students; Student Attitudes

United States; Sri Lanka; Mongolia; China; India; Iran; Saudi Arabia

2162-3104
2166-3750

The global imaginary contributes to the perpetuation of neo-colonial and neoliberal mentalities, which reinforce the political, cultural, and social dominance over international students. Through an exploration guided by interrelated theories of agency and transnational social fields, this study employs a narrative inquiry methodology with a constructivist research approach to comprehend and investigate the agency of international graduate students of Color amidst transnational mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic within a four-year public research institution in the United States. The research findings demonstrate that specific contexts and spaces shape the agency of international graduate students and (trans)form their present and future. This article reveals four distinct forms of agency: agency as negotiation in uncertainties, agency as resistance to forms of (neo)racism, agency for personal growth and (trans)formation, and agency within transnational futures.

As Provided

2024

EJ1416659