The Politics of Knowledge and Resistance in Higher Education: Towards Critical Relationalities and Postcolonial Solidarity Through Non-Western European Students’ Narratives at the University of Iceland

This article situates itself within the theoretical contours of Critical Internationalization Studies (CIS) in the Internationalization of Higher Education (IHE), focusing on “internationalization otherwise”. Employing a postcolonial lens, it examines narratives of non-Western European students from post-socialist countries at the University of Iceland (UI), conceptualizing them as “exotic insiders”. Drawing on Said’s Orientalism and Herder’s Romantic Nationalism, the study interrogates the interplay of racial triangulation, global white supremacy, and precarity in shaping these experiences. Methodologically, the research hinges on the content analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews (5.5 h of recordings, 126 pages of transcripts) with ISEP students, supplemented by the author’s reflexive narrative as a constitutive member of this cohort. The data collection included one group interview with three participants and three individual interviews, with anonymity concerns influencing format choice. By foregrounding an underexplored dimension of Icelandic IHE research, this study illuminates intersections of precarity, neoliberal globalization, and IHE practices in late modernity. It advocates for postcolonial solidarities, challenging hegemonic structures and fostering transformative alliances within higher education. The findings underscore the need for critical engagement with IHE processes, offering theoretical and practical insights into the realities of marginalized student populations.