Learning race and racism while learning: Experiences of international students pursuing higher education in the Midwestern United States

“When conducting qualitative research, constructivists do not attempt to bracket their emotions, feelings, and thoughts during the study, acknowledging that they coconstruct the findings with the research participants as the research instrument (Charmaz, 2006).”

“Given this constructivist approach and our open acknowledgment of our roles in the study, it is important for us to share our positionalities—how our lived experiences, assumptions, beliefs, and biases influenced and shaped the study (see Appendix A; England, 1994; Tamale, 1996).”

“…also have explored how discrimination affects international students in the United States (Glass & Westmont, 2014; Hecht, Jung, & Wadsworth, 2008; Lee & Rice, 2007; Sato & Hodge, 2009), often bringing attention to their ethnic identities in U.S. contexts and describing how those identities…”

“Scholars also have explored how discrimination affects international students in the United States (Glass & Westmont, 2014; Hecht, Jung, & Wadsworth, 2008; Lee & Rice, 2007; Sato & Hodge, 2009), often bringing attention to their ethnic identities in U.S. contexts and describing how those identities…”

“Trice (2004) found that international students from the Middle East and Africa had the least amount of social interactions with U.S. students.”

“Scholars have suggested that cultural, social, and institutional knowledge influences how international students become accustomed to their new environment (Chapdelaine & Alexitch, 2004; Glass, 2012; Hailu & Ku, 2014; Mamiseishvili, 2012; Mukminin & McMahon, 2013; Xue, 2013; Yan & Berliner, 2009).”

“This is not a surprising finding, because previous studies found that international students of color are more likely to experience discrimination when compared with their White international student counterparts (see Constantine et al., 2005; Lee & Rice, 2007).”

“…& Rice, 2007; Sato & Hodge, 2009), often bringing attention to their ethnic identities in U.S. contexts and describing how those identities affect their experiences, opportunities, and struggles (Fries-Britt, George Mwangi, & Peralta, 2014; Glass, 2012; Lee & Rice, 2007; Williams & Johnson, 2011).”

“In addition, using a constructivist approach has proven beneficial in the exploration of college students (see Edwards & Jones, 2009; Greyerbiehl & Mitchell, 2014; McClure, 2006; Mitchell, 2015).”

“Scholars have suggested that cultural, social, and institutional knowledge influences how international students become accustomed to their new environment (Chapdelaine & Alexitch, 2004; Glass, 2012; Hailu & Ku, 2014; Mamiseishvili, 2012; Mukminin & McMahon, 2013; Xue, 2013; Yan & Berliner, 2009).”

“Nevertheless, studies often focus on the ways that international students face or deal with discrimination (see Baba & Hosoda, 2014; Hecht et al., 2008) or deal with or form their own (racial) stereotypes (see Ritter, 2013; Ritter & Roth, 2015).”

“…how discrimination affects international students in the United States (Glass & Westmont, 2014; Hecht, Jung, & Wadsworth, 2008; Lee & Rice, 2007; Sato & Hodge, 2009), often bringing attention to their ethnic identities in U.S. contexts and describing how those identities affect their…”

“International students often face barriers when establishing social networks with those from the dominant culture (Pritchard & Skinner, 2002).”

“While researchers have begun to explore how international students of color(1) navigate conventions of race in the context of higher education in the United States (e.g., see Constantine, Anderson, Berkel, Caldwell, & Utsey, 2005; Fries-Britt et al., 2014; Malcolm & Mendoza, 2014; Ritter, 2013), there is room for furt…”

“Scholars have suggested that cultural, social, and institutional knowledge influences how international students become accustomed to their new environment (Chapdelaine & Alexitch, 2004; Glass, 2012; Hailu & Ku, 2014; Mamiseishvili, 2012; Mukminin & McMahon, 2013; Xue, 2013; Yan & Berliner, 2009).”

“In addition, using a constructivist approach has proven beneficial in the exploration of college students (see Edwards & Jones, 2009; Greyerbiehl & Mitchell, 2014; McClure, 2006; Mitchell, 2015).”

“The United States is a leading destination for international students seeking to study in another country (Shen & Herr, 2004).”

“…in the context of higher education in the United States (e.g., see Constantine, Anderson, Berkel, Caldwell, & Utsey, 2005; Fries-Britt et al., 2014; Malcolm & Mendoza, 2014; Ritter, 2013), there is room for further documentation of the racial experiences of international students studying in the…”

“Given this constructivist approach and our open acknowledgment of our roles in the study, it is important for us to share our positionalities—how our lived experiences, assumptions, beliefs, and biases influenced and shaped the study (see Appendix A; England, 1994; Tamale, 1996).”

“Mitchell et al. (2017) articulate various venues through which international students learn about racial concepts: media, relationships, formal education and lived experiences.”

“Likewise, a Chinese student in Mitchell et al. (2017)’s study shared how she approached race: ‘I majored in English when I was in China, so we’ve talked about race and when I think of race, I don’t know, Black people come into my mind’ (5).”

“Other scholars have reflected on the ways that international study, for many students, is shaped by learning about race and racism in a new context (Mitchell et al., 2017).”

“Similarly, in other research that examined the views of a diverse sample of 17 international students, “many participants were surprised to witness the extent to which race and racism are emphasized” in the US (Mitchell et al. 2017, p. 8).”

“Mitchell et al. (2017) conducted a qualitative study to explore how international students in the United States learned about and were impacted by race and racism.”

“Students from non-Western societies report higher levels of discrimination and negative treatment compared to those from Western countries (Diangelo, 2006; Hanassab, 2006; Lee & Rice, 2007; Mitchell et al., 2017; Poyrazli & Lopez, 2007).”

“…in the United States (e.g., Caxaj et al., 2021; Chapdelaine & Alexitch, 2004; Fries-Britt et al., 2014; Lewis, 2013; Malcolm & Mendoza, 2014; Mitchell et al., 2017; Yao, 2018; Yao et al., 2021), there is room for further documentation of the racial experiences of international students…”

“…or perceived as international students of color, considering research indicating a higher likelihood of experiencing racism (Lee & Rice, 2007; Mitchell et al., 2017), (3) completion of at least one semester, and (4) have experienced developing critical agency (e.g. critical consciousness,…”

“, 2021; Sullivan & Kashubeck-West, 2015), and psychological distress (Koo, Kim, et al., 2021; Li, 2016; Lin, 2021; Mitchell et al., 2017).”

“HIP = “high-impact practice ”; LRCM = “liberatory race-conscious mentorship ”. educators, teachers, and teacher candidates can build racial literacy to continually develop their knowledge around the history and social structures that support ecosystemic racism (Mitchell et al., 2017).”

“…empathetic concerns about Black Americans’ struggle for racial and social justice, Chinese students hold relatively negative stereotypes against Black Americans owing to media bias and prejudicial attitudes towards dark skin in their homeland society (Lien 2022; Mitchell et al. 2017; Yu 2022b).”

“Similarly, Mitchell et al. (2017) found that international students hold limited knowledge about U.S. concepts of race; therefore, some students don’t know why Americans “force race to be an issue” (p. 7).”

“…hostilities (e.g., anti-Asian hate related to COVID-19), campus racial incidents, lived experiences with racism, and exposure to curricular spaces, all contribute to their understanding of race and racism in the U.S (Mitchell et al., 2017; Yao et al., 2021; Yao, Gause, et al., 2023; Yu, 2022).”

“As these students navigate their academic lives in a new country, they are immediately racialized, minoritized, and politicized, frequently labeled as “Asian” and “Black” (Fries-Britt et al. 2014; Mitchell et al., 2017) or “cash cows” and “spies” (Yao & George Mwangi, 2022).”

“However, relatively fewer studies have explored the topic of race and racism from the perspectives of international students (for exceptions, see Mitchell et al., 2017; Yao et al., 2021), despite the reality that international students are not immune to being the target of racially motivated…”

“Regarding REs in the personal sphere, while racist encounters remained significant themes, Mitchell et al. (2017) detailed how participants learned about race in the U.S. context through media, personal relationships, and formal education.”

“They reported that “after traveling to the United States, many participants were surprised to witness the extent to which race and racism are emphasized” (Mitchell et al. 2017, p. 8).”

“…struggle with certain types of discrimination based on, for example, accents (Dovchin, 2022) and national stereotypes (Heng, 2018), they are still shielded from racism and benefit from white privilege (Dengg, 2022) in comparison with their international peers of color (Mitchell et al., 2017).”

“…student population, both in terms of monetary purposes, with some going as far as calling them “cash cows” (Cantwell, 2015, p. 512), as well as a source of internationalization, cosmopolitanism, and diversity for American higher education institutions (e.g., Mitchell et al., 2017; Stein, 2015).”