Unseen Workers in the Academic Factory: Perceptions of Neoracism Among International Postdocs in the United States and the United Kingdom

Abstract

In this article, Brendan Cantwell and Jenny J. Lee examine the experiences of international postdocs and their varying career paths in the current political economy of academic capitalism through the lens of neoracism. Using in-depth interviews with science and engineering faculty and international postdocs in the United States and the United Kingdom, the authors identify differing faculty expectations and treatment of international postdocs. They further reveal culturally specific stereotypes that negatively affected postdocs' work opportunities as they moved toward their professoriate career. The authors extend the concept of neoracism in globalized higher education by examining the larger structures of the academic job market and varying degrees of opportunity, depending on one's country of origin as reported by faculty and postdocs.