Third World Woman Student Un/Belonging in a First World University: A Collaborative Autoethnography

• In Event: Creating Inclusive Spaces: Belonging, Identity, and Community Across Diverse Student Populations

Abstract

In this study, three international Third World women students employ co-autoethnography to explore student un/belonging at a U.S. university. The authors aim to understand what student belonging means for Third World women students, how their Third World womanhood influences this sense, and where belonging might be cultivated in university spaces. Findings reveal that Third World women students face barriers to belonging, often related to the raced and gendered aspects of their subjecthoods in First World/Western settings. Findings also suggest that campus offices, such as the intercultural office, as well as warm and welcoming support staff and administrators, can help Third World students to find belonging, a step toward potentially rectifying the exclusionary forces that underpin U.S. higher education.

Authors

• Bhavika Sicka, Old Dominion University

• Nazmun Nahar, Old Dominion University

• Ikram Mokdadi, Old Dominion University