Inclusions and Illusions: Transnational Matrix of Subordination & the (In)visible Hierarchies Among Racialized International Students in Ontario Universities

This study critically examines the (in)visible racial hierarchies experienced by racialized international students (IS) within Ontario’s (HE) education landscape amid populist, anti-immigration backlash and expanding internationalization. Guided by Critical Race Theory (CRT) and intersectionality, this research employed narrative inquiry with 14 self-identified racialized IS at 2 public universities. Core research questions include: How do racialized IS experience belonging, racism, and institutional EDID (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Decolonization) in present-day Ontario? How do EDID and internationalization policies obscure or reinforce racial hierarchies? Findings reveal a transnational matrix of subordination: White IS remain proxies for institutional belonging, while racialized and domestic students act as gatekeepers or replicate global and intra-community stratifications by nation, caste, and class. Institutional inclusion rhetoric often fails to address these layered exclusions. Only a relational, historically-contextualized approach to race can achieve educational equity, emphasizing the need for transformative policy and a reckoning with deeply entrenched institutional and transnational hierarchies.