Challenges for an internationalization of higher education from and for the global south

Abstract

One of the recent developments in the field of internationalization of higher education (IHE) is a greater recognition that, alongside the opportunities offered by this process, there are several political and ethical issues that are complex, contradictory, and contestable (Stein, 2017; Leal, 2020). In this regard, Chiappa and Finardi (2021) claim that even though the process of IHE is usually portrayed as an intrinsically beneficial process, its “darker side” (e.g. Archanjo & Barbosa, 2019) – a reference to Walter Mignolo’s thought on coloniality – hides mechanisms that maintain and reinforce power asymmetries and hierarchies between knowledges and people (Vavrus & Pekol, 2015), accordingly with their positioning within the historical worldsystem (Wallerstein, 2006).