Mobility and immobility during COVID-19: A narrative inquiry into the wellness of international high school students in Canada

Abstract

Through the conceptual and analytical lens of intersectionality, this article explores the wellness of international high school students (IHSS) in Canada during COVID-19. Two research questions guided this study: 1) What does wellness mean to IHSS? and 2) How did the pandemic impact their wellness? We employed narrative inquiry as our methodology and the three commonplaces of narrative inquiry—temporality, sociality, and place—set dimensions for our inquiry. In-depth interviews were conducted with thirty IHSS from 11 different countries and two focus groups with international student coordinators in a public schoolboard in Western Canada. Our research reveals that transnational mobility and pandemic-induced immobility clashed and compounded to generate new layers of understanding of wellness for IHSS through their lived experiences. Anchoring in participants’ understanding of wellness as something that allows one to utilize potentials and thrive in life, we analyzed the impacts of transnational mobility and immobility on their physical, social, mental, and emotional wellness. Our findings show that the immobility incurred by COVID lockdowns crippled an extensive range of learning opportunities for accumulating the intellectual, social, and cultural capitals that IHSS wished to pursue through transnational mobility. It also accentuated and compounded the challenges associated with transnational mobility, which were manifested in social, emotional, mental, and physical dimensions. Implications of the study include practical recommendations for developing educational strategies, resources, and policies at the micro, meso, and macro levels to better support IHSS.