Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

DOI

10.32674/jcihe.v16i3.6303

Publication Title

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Volume

16

Issue

3

Pages

53-69

Abstract

This study used a social media discourse analysis approach to illuminate the narratives of Indian international students in Ukraine who experienced displacement and upheaval because of the Russo-Ukrainian war. We used agency and liminality as analytic lenses to highlight how this uniquely situated population used Facebook to navigate conflict, voice their demands, support each other, challenge hegemonic narratives, re/construct their diasporic identities, and re-orient their futures. Findings indicate that Indian international students in Ukraine displayed insurmountable courage and resilience during the war, enacting agency from the margins to amplify their voices and actuate desired futures. Furthermore, South Asian students in Ukraine put aside their religious, ethnic, national, and caste conflicts to come together as a collective, uplifting each other and centering humanity. Little is known about how international students, especially from non-Anglocentric, peripheralized European countries negotiate power and navigate crises during war. This study fills an important lacuna in the literature on internationalization, migrant studies, and higher education.

Rights

© 2024 Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License.

ORCID

0000-0001-8757-1639 (Sicka), 0000-0001-6239-1746 (Gregory)

Original Publication Citation

Sicka, B., Ungo, N., & Gregory, D. (2024). Social media sanctuaries: A discourse analysis of Indian international students’ agency and liminality during the Russian-Urainian conflict. Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education, 16(3), 53-69. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v16i3.6303

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