“Where are We from?”: A Critical Community Autoethnography of Place, Space, and Belonging by Ph.D. International Female Student-Scholar-Activists in the U.S.

Abstract

Constructing an identity as an international female student-scholar-activist in the U.S. has a lot to do with cultivating sense of place, belonging, and fostering new communities. Coming from China, Colombia, Israel and South Korea, the authors of this article share their testimonios of what it meant for them--individually and collectively--to be international female students enrolled in Ph.D. programs in the U.S. while maintaining to be scholar-activists. By employing the methodology of critical community autoethnography, the authors reflect upon and analyze their individual and collective experiences which cannot be separated from where they are from, where they are at – and where they are going.