Embracing cultures, balancing autonomy, and finding solutions in international student-led campus community gardens: A participatory action research approach

Despite the growing recognition of community gardens as spaces that foster social connections and intercultural understanding, campus community gardens (CCGs) are most often framed solely within university sustainability initiatives. As a result, their potential role in supporting cross-cultural interaction and acculturation among international students remains largely underexplored. This study addresses this gap through a longitudinal qualitative investigation conducted between 2023 and 2024 at a Southeastern U.S. university, examining how international students engage with and experience participation in an autonomous, student-led CCG. Using Berry’s Acculturation Theory and Participatory Action Research, we explore international students’ motivations for involvement, as well as the physical, social, and psychological barriers they encounter in garden management and maintenance. Our findings reveal a cyclical acculturation process. On one hand, the autonomous nature of the CCG fostered a sense of belonging by enabling students to grow culturally relevant produce, share agricultural knowledge, and engage in meaningful intercultural exchanges. On the other hand, limited institutional support generated uncertainty, mistrust, and misaligned expectations, creating communication barriers that prompted students to oscillate between feelings of integration and separation, within the host context. We further examine how these tensions catalyzed processes of self-advocacy and collective action, leading to the emergence of a shared group identity and co-leadership structures that helped sustain participation and reaffirm students’ commitment to integration and cross-cultural understanding. This study highlights the critical role of autonomous CCGs as sites of acculturation for international students, while underscoring the need for intentional and structured institutional support to enhance their transformative potential. • A significant gap arises in understanding campus community gardens as spaces of acculturation for international students. • The autonomous nature of these gardens creates functional and structural challenges that hinder the intended cultural integration of international students into the host country. • International students recognize their collective identity and resort to self-advocacy • The study underscores the need for culture-sensitive educational policies and interventions to support international students’ sustained participation.