Twentieth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Internationalizing higher education is a fragmented process, as efforts to globalize the curriculum has not yet resulted in an integrative and comprehensive approach. I believe that the engagement of faculty members and administrators is pivotal to achieving a more successful outcome and especially in promoting anti-imperial approaches to local and global initiatives. I agree with Stohl (2007) that faculty members are the ‘enemy’ in this process as they do not fully commit and/or connect to the internationalization agenda. A critical analysis of the complexities of globalization and the challenges inherent in the discourse. Perhaps what impedes this knowledge is the lack of a theoretical framework as strategies, goals, plans, and implementation of international programs are not normally framed within foundations of theory and critical practice? I use an anti-colonial framework to anchor the overall strategies for internationalizing social work, and critical race and spatial theory to highlight some of the challenges inherent in this process. Analysis of whiteness and neo-colonialism within an anticolonial framework is warranted to grapple with historical and current realities and deeply embedded power inequalities. I share the initiatives developed during my tenure as Associate Dean to provide some insights into how we can shift the pendulum to positive frameworks for faculty engagement. I use an ‘engaged pedagogy of responsibility’ (Madge et al., 2008) to decolonize mobility and pedagogy. Such theory will heighten critical debates on the rationale and significance of recruitment, study abroad, international practica, collaborative partnerships, and other international programs within social work education.