Navigating Hypervisibility and Invisibility: A Self-Study of Two South Asian Women Scholars

• In Event: Navigating the Intersections of Asian/Asian American Identities and Differential Experiences

Abstract

In this critical self-study, we, Akshita and Subarna (pseudonyms), two South Asian women doctoral scholars in the U.S., examine the (hyper)invisibility of Global South women scholars and scholarships in U.S. higher education. We lean into their respective positionalities, backgrounds, and onto-epistemologies to illuminate the complexities that we faced to assert ourselves and our knowledges in higher education spaces. Our study reveals that we found ourselves to be paradoxically both hypervisibilized and invisibilized, pressured to exoticize ourselves and our scholarship to cater to a Western gaze/ear while also fighting erasure. Through these findings, we expand the discourse on critical internationalization, race, and gender, providing insights on how diversity, equity, and inclusion campus efforts often fall short of humanizing international students.

Authors

• Bhavika Sicka, Old Dominion University

• Semonti Dey, Pennsylvania State University