Racial Microaggressions Targeting International Students on a U.S. Campus

• In Event: 53.043 - Comparative Higher Education: Critical and Global Approaches

Abstract

With dramatically growing influx of international students, this study examines how American students perceive international students and explores whether they are being targeted for discriminatory treatment based on their race on a U.S. campus. The research questions are: Are international students being targeted for discriminatory treatment based on their race? What forms of micro-aggressions do domestic students explicitly express against international students? How are the racial microaggressions that expressed toward international students similar to or different from the racial microaggressions experienced by students of color? The study result indicates the multi-layered nature of racism, microaggressions, and xenophobia against international students delivered from domestic students’ voice. I apply Cooley’s concept of the looking glass self and Sue’s categories of racial microaggressions.

Author

• HyeJin Tina Yeo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign