Chapter 12: It’S All a Social Construct: Socially Just Leadership for International Students

Many of us may envision leadership similarly when we start to imagine it as embodied through higher education professionals in the United States. Differences among leaders and leadership might come to mind or we may be reminded of distinctions between leadership and management. However, what, if anything, do these mean if your conceptualizations of leaders and leadership do not match your students’ notions? How might a view of leadership change if one’s culture is more collectivist? What if it is more individualistic? These are among the questions socially just leadership educators explore as they strive to more deeply connect with their international students. This chapter delves into cultural and social barriers to international student (i.e. non-U.S. domestic) leadership learning and suggests how to navigate these barriers using the culturally relevant leadership learning (CRLL) model as a starting point (Bertrand Jones et al., 2016). As Cecil and Hu (2021) described international student engagement as spanning from leadership program involvement to being a part of student organizations, this chapter’s purpose is to take their foundational emphasis on the importance of international student engagement and expand upon how socially just leadership educators can incorporate research on cultural differences to address international student leadership education.