Settler-colonial entanglements: Using Par/Des(i) to understand Black and Racialized international student experiences in Canada

Abstract

This scholarly paper discusses the complex positioning of Black and Racialized international students (BRIS) in Canada, both as marginalized bodies and complicit in perpetuating settler colonialism. It delves into the paradoxical role these students play within the framework of Canadian higher education, which is deeply entwined with the country's colonial history and contemporary policy shifts aimed at managing the influx of international students. The Par/Des(i) decolonial research framework offers a pathway for understanding how BRIS are entangled within settler colonial structures, free from the limitations of the western gaze. The framework guides scholars toward recognizing hybridized ways of being and knowing that reflect both formerly colonized and settler colonial contexts.