Encounters with borders A migrant academic’s experiences of the visa regime in the Global North

• Published in: Learning and teaching Vol. 14; no. 2; pp. 55 - 75
• Main Author: Dixit, Priya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Berghahn Books 01.06.2021; Berghahn Journals; Berghahn Books, Inc
• Subjects: Air Transportation; Alienation; Anxiety; Asians; Barriers; College Faculty; Colonialism; Developed Nations; Developing Nations; Ethnography; Evaluators; Faculty Mobility; Faculty Promotion; Foreign Countries; Foreign Nationals; Immigrants; Immigration; Influence of Technology; International education; Laws, regulations and rules; Learning; Migrant Education; Migrants; Migration Patterns; Mobility; Overseas Employment; Public Policy; Race; Research Opportunities; Social aspects; Story Telling; Teaching; Visas; United States; United Kingdom; Nepal; New York
• ISSN: 1755-2273; 1755-2281
• DOI: 10.3167/latiss.2021.140204

This article examines (im)obility in the global visa regime through the experiences of a Global South academic working in the Global North. Drawing on an autoethnographic account of a visa application, this article outlines the ways in which the global visa regime negatively affects a Global South academic’s life. Visa regulations constitute a particular Global South academic subject in the Global North, one whose academic career is characterised by uncertainty and anxiety, as visas can limit access to promotions and to fieldwork and research opportunities. Visa experiences can thus contribute to alienation and non-belonging of Global South scholars in academia, while impacting knowledge production and teaching.