An Intersectional Understanding of African International Graduate Students' Experiences in U.S. Higher Education

• In Event: 41.051 - Protecting Our Future, Creating Opportunities for Children to Learn

Abstract

The adjustment of African international students in the United States may be different from the experiences of international students from other regions as African students are considered racial/ethnic minorities in the U.S. who can be exposed to racism, nativism, and other discrimination. Our paper focuses on the structural systems impacting African international graduate students in the U.S. and the intercentricity of various forms of opportunities and oppressions impacting their experiences. Findings revealed four themes: 1) Assumptions made by American Peers and Faculty; 2) Adjustment Challenges Situated within Campus Systems; 3) Campus Internationalization Rhetoric; 4) Conflicting Worldviews. While these themes illustrate how students’ experience negative social positioning and other challenges on their campuses, they also demonstrate students resisting marginalizing experiences.

Authors

• Chrystal George Mwangi, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

• Nyaradzai Changamire, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

• Jacqueline Mosselson, University of Massachusetts - Amherst