“They Don't Even Know How Ethnocentric They're Being”: Comparative Approaches to Worldview Diversity Education

Abstract

Is diversity education in international education ethnocentric? Viewed from a critical internationalization studies lens, how diversity work is framed, crafted, or exported has the potential to ‘other’ alternate worldviews and reinforce neocolonial relations in international higher education. Conversely, global diversity education offers an opportunity to collectively reimagine internationalization as otherwise, encouraging mutuality in theorizing and contextualization in praxis. This article presents findings from a sequential exploratory comparative case study of approaches to worldview diversity education that combined a representational survey with elite interviews of global liberal arts campus leaders, unearthing commonalities as well as critiques of Global North dominance in international diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and belonging (DEIJB) work. In amplifying the leaders’ common expressions of worldview diversity education and highlighting their critiques and recommendations for practice, this article offers global perspective to enhance epistemic justice in the conceptualization and delivery of global diversity education.

Keywords

diversity education comparative case study religion worldview critical internationalization

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