Unmasking Higher Education

In our final episode, Girish and Vedanth come together one year on from the October 2024 workshop, where the talks in this podcast were recorded, to discuss the broader themes that have emerged from this work, and what has changed and stayed the same in the political and economic landscapes of Indian international students in Canada. They discuss the mad timescapes that international students inha...

In this episode, we roll up our sleeves and get into the everyday politics of migrant activism with our two speakers, Sarom Rho and Parmbir Gill. They talk about how important it is to recognize that international students are also migrant workers, and they share some of the excellent work done by their respective organizations: the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change and the Naujawan Support Netw...

In this episode, Harshita Yalamarty presents part of her research on how couples mitigate the socio-economic insecurities that many immigrants face by migrating together. In her talk she helps us to understand the intersection of marriage and migration and the ways in which education and marriage are so closely intertwined in the migration decisions of Indian women. Harshita Yalamarty is a post-do...

In this episode, Tania Das Gupta speaks to us about the precarious lives of women Indian international college students. Her ethnographic research allows us to better understand the specific housing struggles of Indian women who attend college, and takes a closer look at the intersections of gender, patriarchy, and Indian households. Tania Das Gupta is professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality...

In this episode, we’re joined by Nam Kiwanuka and Yaseen Ali. They each share how Indian students have been and are represented in the media, and how, to the state, they stand as both bearers of cultural diversity and as racialized scapegoats who require integration.  Nam Kiwanuka is co-host of  The Agenda with Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s latest project, The Thread with Nam Kiwanuka, and host of T...

In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Soma Chatterjee. She speaks about the strong overlap between education migration and labour migration, and the dissonant role of the international student, who is cast as both the problem behind and the solution to Canada’s economic and labour crises.   Soma Chatterjee is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work, York University. Soma is broadly inte...

In this episode, Girish Daswani and Vedanth Govi provide the context for the episodes that will follow. They discuss recent developments in the treatment of Indian international students in Canada at the hands of the settler-colonial state, which sees these students faced with growing racism, housing and food insecurity, and a rapid erosion of their rights as residents of Canada. Girish Daswani is...