Internationalization for Whom and for What? Ethical Questions for Sport Management Programs in Global North Universities

ABSTRACT

This paper maps the ethical complexities underlying the internationalization of sport management programs in Global North universities. Drawing upon postcolonial theory, critical internationalization studies, and studies of global ethics, I review the current articulations that concern the internationalization of sport management programs and highlight the limitations therein – that is, they are primarily articulated from a liberal global imaginary. In introducing the critical and decolonial ethics frameworks, I present some alternative possibilities to envision internationalization practices and policies in sport management programs. Sport management scholars and educators located in Global North institutions are encouraged to confront the ethical challenges of internationalization and generate more globally accountable ways of “doing” internationalization.

KEYWORDS:

• Internationalization
• global ethics
• colonialism
• critical pedagogy
• sport management

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the Indigenous communities on Treaty 6 Territory for welcoming, embracing, and educating him as an uninvited guest, and members of the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation at the University of Alberta for welcoming him as an international graduate student. He is also indebted to Elaine Yip for years of engaging conversations on the issue of international education and Drs. Danielle Peers and Tricia McGuire-Adams for their support of this project during the pandemic.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).