Rethinking internationalization in STEM
Decolonial perspectives from U.S. broadening participation initiatives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32674/gr5ede63Keywords:
Whiteness as Futurity, STEM Broadening Participation, decolonial internationalization, strengths-based leadership, STEM educationAbstract
Internationalization in higher education is often framed as universally beneficial, yet scholars increasingly highlight its entanglement with colonial legacies and structural inequities. This study examines how equity-driven internationalization is enacted within U.S. STEM broadening participation programs led by two foreign-born women serving as principal investigators of National Science Foundation–funded initiatives. Guided by Critical Narrative Inquiry, the study draws on in-depth interviews to explore how their leadership practices challenge deficit-oriented perspectives and promote inclusive pathways for historically underrepresented students in STEM. Findings reveal that relational leadership, community accountability, and epistemic pluralism shape mentoring and program design, aligning with decolonial perspectives on internationalization.
References
Baca Zinn, M., & Zambrana, R. E. (2019). Chicanas/Latinas Advance Intersectional Thought and Practice. Gender & Society, 33(5), 677–701. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243219853753
Barkaskas, P., & Gladwin, D. (2021). Pedagogical Talking Circles: Decolonizing Education through Relational Indigenous Frameworks. Journal of Teaching and Learning, 15(1), 20–38. https://doi.org/10.22329/jtl.v15i1.6519
Clandinin, D. J. (2022). Engaging in Narrative Inquiry (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003240143
Clandinin, D. J., & Caine, V. (2013). Narrative inquiry. In Reviewing qualitative research in the social sciences (pp. 166–179). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203813324-17/narrative-inquiry-jean-clandinin-vera-caine
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (Fifth edition). SAGE.
Dabiri, M. (2025a). Participatory theatre and the retention of underrepresented minoritized women in STEM. American Journal of STEM Education, 14, 23–38. https://ojed.org/STEM/article/view/8104
Dabiri, M. (2025b). Tempered critical leadership in STEM broadening participation programs [Thesis, University of Missouri--Columbia]. https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/handle/10355/109451
Davis, N., Morton, T., Outlaw, S., Gracia, M., DePass, A., Dabiri, M., Ebreo, A., & Downer, N. (2024). Critical, Strengths-Based Approaches to Broadening Participation in STEM. In Transformations in Higher Education: The Scholarship of Engagement. (Transformations in Higher Education: The Scholarship of Engagement). MSU Press.
De Wit, H. (2019). Internationalization in higher education, a critical review. SFU Educational Review, 12(3), 9–17. https://journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/sfuer/article/view/1036
DeAro, J., Bird, S., & Ryan, S. M. (2019). NSF ADVANCE and gender equity. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.
Edwards, K. T., & Shahjahan, R. A. (2024). Antiblackness as Global Aspiration? Centering Black Studies in Global Higher Education Research. Educational Researcher, 0013189X241281051. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X241281051
Elliott-Groves, E., Hardison-Stevens, D., & Ullrich, J. (2020). Indigenous Relationality is the Heartbeat of Indigenous Existence during COVID-19. Journal of Indigenous Social Development, 9(3), 158–169. https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/jisd/article/view/70761
Etting, S. F. (2025, August 6). NSF Update: Changes to broader impacts priorities. https://proposaldev.ucdavis.edu/news/funding-agency-update-nsf
Gavidia, L. A., & Adu, J. (2022). Critical Narrative Inquiry: An Examination of a Methodological Approach. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, 16094069221081594. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221081594
George Mwangi, C. A., Latafat, S., Hammond, S., Kommers, S., S. Thoma, H., Berger, J., & Blanco-Ramirez, G. (2018). Criticality in international higher education research: A critical discourse analysis of higher education journals. Higher Education, 76, 1091–1107.
George Mwangi, C. A., & Yao, C. W. (2021). US higher education internationalization through an equity-driven Lens: An analysis of concepts, history, and research. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research: Volume 36, 549–609.
Grosfoguel, R. (2008). Transmodernity, border thinking, and global coloniality. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais, 80(3), 18. https://www.decolonialtranslation.com/english/grosfoguel-transmodernity-border-thinking-and-global-economy.pdf
Gross, J. P. (2015). Education and hegemony: The influence of Antonio Gramsci. In Beyond Critique (pp. 51–79). Routledge.
Kezar, A. (2010). Faculty and staff grassroots leaders’ beliefs about power: Do their beliefs affect their strategies and effectiveness. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 6(1), 84–112.
Kovach, M. (2021). Indigenous methodologies: Characteristics, conversations, and contexts. University of Toronto press.
Mbah, M. F., Clifton, N., & Kushnir, I. (2024). Internationalising higher education curricula for sustainable development: Considerations for indigeneity and (inter)culturality. Discover Sustainability, 5(1), 307. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-024-00520-y
Meghji, A. (2023). Dwelling in epistemic disobedience: A reply to Go. The British Journal of Sociology, 74(3), 294–301. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12987
Mendoza, P., Bianco, G., Dabiri, M., Suarez-Gomez, J., & Boateng, F. K. (2025). Reimagining International and Comparative Research in Higher Education: An Anticolonial Critical Review. In Handbook of Education Policy Research (2nd ed., pp. 1657–1679). American Educational Research Association.
Meyerson, D. E. (2008). Rocking the boat: How to effect change without making trouble (new ed.). Harvard Business Pr.
Mignolo, W. (2011). The darker side of western modernity: Global futures, decolonial options. Duke University Press.
Mignolo, W. (2018). Decoloniality and phenomenology: The geopolitics of knowing and epistemic/ontological colonial differences. JSP: Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 32(3), 360–387. https://doi.org/10.5325/jspecphil.32.3.0360
Nasheeda, A., Abdullah, H. B., Krauss, S. E., & Ahmed, N. B. (2019). Transforming Transcripts Into Stories: A Multimethod Approach to Narrative Analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1609406919856797. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919856797
Saldaña, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed). SAGE.
Shahjahan, R. A. (2025). Decolonial Chronopolitics: Resisting colonial temporalities in transformative learning. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2025.2528854
Shahjahan, R. A., & Edwards, K. T. (2022). Whiteness as futurity and globalization of higher education. Higher Education, 83(4), 747–764.
Shahjahan, R. A., & Kezar, A. J. (2013). Beyond the “national container” addressing methodological nationalism in higher education research. Educational Researcher, 42(1), 20–29. https://doi.org/10/gc8thv
Solórzano, D. G., & Yosso, T. J. (2002). Critical Race Methodology: Counter-Storytelling as an Analytical Framework for Education Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 8(1), 23–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/107780040200800103
Stein, S. (2017). Internationalization for an uncertain future: Tensions, paradoxes, and possibilities. The Review of Higher Education, 41(1), 3–32. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2017.0031
Tuhiwai Smith, L. (2012). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. https://bibliographies.bib.umontreal.ca/BaDHACAM/bibliography/VJH4BDRZ
Updates on NSF Priorities. (2025, April 18). https://www.nsf.gov/updates-on-priorities
Yosso, T. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91.
Zambrana, R. E., Harvey Wingfield, A., Lapeyrouse, L. M., Davila, B. A., Hoagland, T. L., & Valdez, R. B. (2017). Blatant, subtle, and insidious: URM faculty perceptions of discriminatory practices in predominantly White institutions. Sociological Inquiry, 87(2), 207–232.
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) [year] [author]
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Call for Special Issue Proposals 
