An Afropessimism of Student Mobility: Is International Higher Education Extreme Investment in Whiteness?

Authors

Zoe A. Case, University of OxfordFollow

Author Biography

Zoe Case is a recent graduate of the MSc in Education (Higher Education) at the University of Oxford. Previously, she studied a Certificate in International Relations at the Harvard Extension School, an MA in English Literature at Tufts University, and a BA (Hons) in English Literature at Kenyon College. She has held multiple roles across the international Higher Education sector, including research assistant to the President of MIT and graduate admissions intern at Christ Church College, Oxford. She currently works as an Educational Consultant in London, England.

Abstract

This paper strives to consider whether, as Riyad Shahjahan and Kirsten Edwards suggest, international higher education systematically invests in Whiteness. In doing so, I explore first whether the international university system invests in Whiteness through its expansion of satellite campuses and systemic fetishisation of global university rankings. Turning towards the micro-level, I consider the individual international student as investor and, via an Afropessimist lens inspired by Frank B. Wilderson III and Sara Ahmed, I find that the question of Whiteness as investment situates Whiteness as a good in which everyone can invest. I show that although international higher education is indeed systemically invested in Whiteness, the question at the individual level is not whether international students can maximize their investment, but which international students—by nature of their subjectivity—can invest in the first place.

Copyright held by

Zoe Case