Academic Capitalism and Chinese International Students in the Modern Political Era

• In Event: Internationalization in Higher Education

Abstract

This study explores public discourses about Chinese international students (CIS) attending American universities during the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, within larger discussions of international students as non-American “others” who impact the United States’ postsecondary economy. Our findings suggest that discourse (a) marginalizes people from other countries who have been exploited in globalization efforts and (b) label them as “inferior,” while still (c) benefitting from the capital they bring to American universities by paying higher tuition prices. This study advances scholarly conversation by (a) highlighting the invisibility of CIS through “othering” amid rising rhetoric of multiculturalism in American colleges, and (b) exploring embedded western-centric Americentrism within colleges that fuels (a).

Authors

• Wu Xie, The Ohio State University - Columbus

• e alexander, The Ohio State University