Kumari Beck, Roumiana Ilieva, Ashley Pullman and Zhihua (Olivia) Zhang
The aim in this paper is to extend Dorothy Smith's conceptual understanding of work to consider the emerging labor of “knowmads” within internationalization of higher education…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim in this paper is to extend Dorothy Smith's conceptual understanding of work to consider the emerging labor of “knowmads” within internationalization of higher education. Through original research on everyday experiences of internationalization, the authors seek to illuminate the ways individuals develop skills and competencies in relation to these new forms of work in order to address the reproduction of inequities. The authors make a connection between internationalization of higher education and knowmadic labor based on the premise that cross‐border education is often pursued in order to develop knowmadic attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a critical institutional ethnography of one mid‐sized Canadian university, the paper uses survey and interview data gathered from students and faculty ‐ individuals who are involved in knowmadic labor connected to internationalization – to illustrate some of the study participants' daily experiences of internationalization coordinated by the institutional structures of the university in times of globalization.
Findings
It is concluded that internationalization and connecting new forms of work involved in becoming and producing knowmads not only bypass and disregard present inequities in higher education, but work to reproduce them in new ways.
Practical implications
The paper provides insight in regards to processes and allocation of work within internationalization, while addressing forms of social inequities that often cut across these practices and concludes with brief comments on the implications of academic knowmadic labor in Western higher education institutions engaged in internationalization.
Originality/value
While research has been conducted on work in international contexts, little has addressed “the labor” that is involved in becoming knowmads, and that of “producing” knowmads. The paper draws connections between the internationalization of higher education and knowmadic work showing that knowmadic labor is often preceded by knowmadic educational opportunities. The cosmopolitan vision of creating globally aware citizens, with international knowledge, skills, and competencies that institutions espouse, are assumed to be good per se, and to lead to knowmadic qualities and attributes required in a knowmad society. The paper questions these assumptions and the relations of power on which they rest.
Details
Keywords
This essay aims to introduce the “knowmads” concept in the context of converging futures of work, learning, and how people relate to one another in a world driven by exponential…
Abstract
Purpose
This essay aims to introduce the “knowmads” concept in the context of converging futures of work, learning, and how people relate to one another in a world driven by exponential, accelerating change.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework for understanding knowmad society is presented, with specific insight to how it impacts formal education systems. A summary of articles following this viewpoint in this issue of On the Horizon is presented to highlight key ideas and how the issue is structured.
Findings
Knowmad society is already here, but education systems seem ignorant of this reality. This essay highlights that in this issue, ideas, approaches, and original solutions are offered for further discussion.
Practical implications
It is too late to ignore the trends driving the creation of a knowmad society, and it has to be decided if there is to be an attempt to catch‐up to the present, or leapfrog ahead and create future‐relevant learning options today. Otherwise there is a risk of producing workers equipped for the needs of previous centuries, but not the kind that can apply their individual knowledge in contextually‐varied modes to create new value.
Originality/value
This essay presents a formal introduction to the knowmad concept, and calls for the co‐creation of a broader ecology of options for relevant learning in a knowmad society.