Mundane Resistance: Agency of Critical Internationalization Scholars in Canadian Universities

• In Event: Critical Perspectives of Internationalization in Higher Education

Proposal

As Knight (2012) contends, internationalization reflects universities' economic, social/cultural, political, and academic rationales, driving intentional strategies to incorporate global and intercultural perspectives into core functions and campus life. Building on this foundational work, de Wit et al. (2015) describe internationalization as "the intentional process of integrating an international, intercultural, or global dimension into the purpose, functions, and delivery of post-secondary education, in order to enhance the quality of education and research for all students and staff and to make a meaningful contribution to society" (p. 29). This definition expands earlier perspectives by emphasizing both institutional and societal impacts, recognizing internationalization's influence inside and outside the academy, and providing a broad starting point for further theoretical development.
While internationalization is often framed as inherently positive, critics have challenged this assumption, highlighting how mainstream practice may reinforce inequities or reproduce colonial logics and market-driven priorities (de Oliveria Andreotti, Stein, Pashby & Nicholson, 2016; Stein, 2021). In these critical conversations, the concept of "critical internationalization" emerges—foregrounding justice, ethics, and systemic transformation in educational practice.

Castiello-Gutiérrez et al. (2023) define critical internationalization as "an approach that seeks to identify, challenge, and ultimately interrupt how mainstream approaches to the study and practice of internationalization have contributed to the reproduction of systemic harm in higher education and beyond." However, recent literature notes that critical internationalization faces pressing existential questions: scholars increasingly debate its future direction, ability to foster enduring change, and continued relevance as the field grapples with complex global and institutional dynamics (see Stein, 2021; Suša & de Oliveira Andreotti, 2020).

Statement of Issue
As Canadian universities pursue internationalization amid neoliberal and bureaucratic pressures, faculty occupy complex, agentic roles within these structures. Faculty occupy a critical and active position in internationalization, with their roles, agency, and power shaping both the perpetuation and disruption of systems in meaningful ways. Among them, self-identified critical internationalization scholars of education (CIS) actively work to identify and disrupt systemic harms in higher education. Their efforts often manifest as everyday acts of resistance, challenging dominant internationalization discourses and practices. Understanding these scholars' perspectives and experiences is crucial for revealing both the sources of their agency and the obstacles they confront—insights that can illuminate pathways toward justice in internationalized education.

Focus of Inquiry
Exploring the identity and lived experience of critical internationalization scholars within Canadian universities forms the heart of this inquiry. Attention is given to how these faculty members articulate their roles, assert agency, and navigate tensions that arise from bureaucratic and neoliberal pressures. Examining both the significance and everyday realities of engagement with critical internationalization reveals how commitments to justice are shaped and enacted in institutional settings.

Conceptual Framework and Approach
For the analysis of faculty agency and experience, an integrated approach is adopted that combines social cartography and critical realism. Social cartography (Suša, Stein, de Oliveira Andreotti, 2019; Stein, 2021) offers tools to map faculty understandings and activities across diverse theories of change and intervention, illuminating how critical efforts often emerge in institutional "cracks." In tandem, Archer's critical realist perspective underscores faculty members' reflexive agency—demonstrating how deeply held commitments and values inform responses to structural limitations, rather than leaving individuals solely determined by those structures (Archer & Tritter, 2000; Archer & Morgan, 2020). Together, these frameworks support a nuanced exploration of how CIS faculty pursue justice within complex university environments.

Methodology
Perspectives from seven tenured, self-identified critical internationalization scholars across Canadian universities serve as the basis for this qualitative study. Their professional activities encompass teaching, research, service, and learning support. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews and participant-selected digital or physical artifacts, each reflecting individual interpretations of critical internationalization. This multi-method strategy enabled a close examination of faculty agency, resistance, and justice-oriented commitments as they develop in daily university life.

Implications and Contributions
Mundane resistance is significant in the expression of critical internationalization scholars’ agency and commitments to justice. Insights from lived experience, analyzed via social cartography and critical realism, demonstrate that acts of resistance and change are often rooted in individual actions and values. This disrupts the notion of internationalization as merely technocratic, which prioritizes administrative efficiency, quantifiable outcomes, and managerial logic at the expense of ethics, equity, and justice. Ultimately, these findings provide new perspectives for comparative and international education by broadening the discourse on justice-oriented practice across educational boundaries. They highlight actionable ways that institutional leaders, educators, and policymakers can foster equitable internationalization and promote transformative change within global academic collaborations.

Author

• Cynthia Eden, OISE - University of Toronto