Colonial logics as public secrets of international student mobility

This paper contributes to international student mobility’s ethical reimagining by stressing what continues to be foreclosed by that imagining – that is, the depth of the task’s complexities. To do so, it outlines international student mobility’s colonial roots (as a phenomenon) and applied roots (as a field) and discusses how both shape, and are shaped by, its field-imaginary. It then uses the concept of “public secrets” to name the obvious, yet often forgotten, colonial logics underpinning the field of international education, and international student mobility in particular. It suggests these public secrets are one reason why the field’s critical interventions have failed to have more concrete impacts. It then specifically discusses the problematic binaries which underpin the field, especially the term “international student,” as examples of such public secrets. Finally, it discusses three common responses critical internationalization scholars and practitioners might use to respond to this provocation: (1) further/different critique; (2) proposed solutions (e.g., new vocabulary), and disinvestment (e.g., new grammar).