Examining the Epistemic Injustice in Visiting Scholar Exchange Experiences in the US: A Literature Review

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Education, Democracy, and Epistemic Justice in a Changing Global Order

Proposal

Abstract
Visiting scholar programs are important in enhancing academic exchange and research collaboration internationally. In the US, there are over 100,000 visiting scholars worldwide as of 2023 (IIE, 2023). However, research shows that these programs are ineffective in contributing to the reciprocal exchange of knowledge and perspectives. International visiting scholars tend to be excluded or not well integrated into the host university, which prevents meaningful intercultural exchange (Shimmi, 2014; Zhao & Liu, 2023). This scholarly paper adopts the theory of epistemic injustice to critically examine existing studies on international visiting scholar and academic exchange to discuss the structural inequality in knowledge production and dissemination in international higher education. As studies have shown, many institutional factors can help explain the underutilization of visiting scholar programs, including a lack of program structure and institutional support (Ammigan & Caro, 2022; Guo & Wei, 2012). More importantly, however, this paper argues that these arrangements are fundamentally built upon the epistemic injustice that holds US higher education as the center that is superior to other nations (Altbach, 1981; Marginson, 2006), and epistemically negates other ways of knowing. As evidenced by existing studies, visiting scholars’ experiences are fraught with prejudices and challenges associated with their identities and academic background (Fu, 2018; Lee & Rice, 2007). For instance, Fulbright scholars from global South countries have had conflictual and negative cultural encounters as the intellectual and physical diversity that they represent are not well appreciated and understood in the United States (You, 2025).
The findings of this review article have practical implications for US higher education institutions to design and implement visiting scholar programs, which have been problematized and politicized in recent years due to geopolitical tensions and volatile education policy changes. The successful implementation of visiting programs, as argued in this study, should not only create more opportunities for visiting scholars to engage in course lecturing and research collaborations in different forms but also critically challenge the power dynamics and inequality underlying international higher education. Through revealing the epistemic injustice in global academic exchange, this study also contributes to the decolonialization of international higher education.

Author

• Wenjuan Xu, Ohio State University