Learning to unlearn: exploring the relationship between internationalisation and decolonial agendas in higher education

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this article we consider the resonances between internationalisation and decolonising initiatives in the university. Based on our own experiences, as white, British, female scholars, of engaging with both internationalisation and decolonising agendas through our two decades of research and practice in these fields, we consider the parallels between these two strong initiatives. We feel that there are many resonances and opportunities for learning across them and that there is potential strength and solidarity in outlining the ways in which these two agendas can be mutually supportive. Using a discursive approach embedded in literature in the field, we argue that setting internationalisation and decoloniality alongside each other may enable an understanding of culture, race and whiteness; knowledge production; positions and positionality which could inform ways forward for both agendas. Through our reflexive conversations in this article, we aim to illustrate the ways in which internationalisation may perpetuate coloniality and yet how it can advance the decolonial possibilities of higher education, suggesting that the circularity may be broken by learning to unlearn and finding a common language between the two agendas.