Racialized Internationalization and College Sport: Amplifying Black NCAA Division I International College Athlete Voices through Critical Podcasting

College sports in the United States have become a key site for internationalization in higher education, with international college athletes (ICAs) comprising 13% of Division I athletes (NCAA, 2023). While ICAs pursue degrees, compete at elite levels, and navigate F-1 visa requirements, their experiences remain underexamined in international education scholarship. This omission is especially stark for Black ICAs, whose stories are often collapsed into either generalized international student scholarship or studies of Black U.S. athletes. This dissertation addresses this gap by examining the experiences of Black NCAA Division I ICAs through the lens of Migration Infrastructure Theory and Black Diasporic Illumination (BDI) Framework. Together, these lenses illuminate how institutional actors, policies, and networks shape mobility and how Black diasporic students navigate intersecting systems of race, identity, and opportunity within U.S. higher education Using narrative inquiry and Critical Podcasting Methodology (CPM), the study deliberately centers their lived stories, revealing how race and migration intersect to influence belonging, opportunity, and career readiness. Findings will yield critical scholarship on internationalization and college sport, offering insights for more equitable institutional policies, practices, and programming.