As international student mobility increases, research on students’ experiences with race and racism has expanded. However, much of current scholarship relies heavily on U.S.-based racial theories, often neglecting how race operates fluidly across global contexts. This conceptual article revisits the concept of “race” by extending critical race theory and raciolinguistics beyond U.S. and Western borders to examine racism and racialization as global phenomena. It argues that international students’ racial identities are shaped by preexisting racial discourses in their home countries, reinforced by global structures of racialized power, and continuously reshaped as they navigate transnational social fields. By broadening the theoretical scope of race, this article highlights the need for a globally inclusive race framework in international student research.
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