Creative Changemaking and the Crisis of Malperformative Inclusion: A Scholarly Personal Narrative Literature Review of International Student Experience in Canadian Higher Education

Abstract

This literature review synthesizes scholarship on the international student experience in Canadian higher education, introducing “malperformative inclusion” as a conceptual framework for understanding how institutions demonstrate awareness of equity problems while maintaining structures that produce them. Extending Sara Ahmed's analysis of non-performative diversity statements, this review argues that contemporary practices have evolved beyond mere failure to act to the strategic deployment of inclusion rhetoric, thereby forestalling substantive change. Drawing on scholarly personal narrative methodology, this review synthesizes literature across performativity theory, epistemic justice, the Canadian edugration context, trauma-informed pedagogy, and participatory methods. Each domain is subjected to critical examination through inversion thinking. The review introduces “Ghost Data” as a methodological innovation and proposes “transformational accountability” for research serving participant communities.

Keywords: malperformative inclusion; literature review; international students; epistemic justice; academic capitalism; Canadian higher education; ghost data