Why Can’t You Slow Down? Conceptualizing Compelled Agency in Global Higher Education

Abstract

This critical reflection addresses the question “why can’t you slow down?” by examining the dominant norm of being rushed, busy, and productive within the context of global higher education. The reflection particularly focuses on female international students, who experience intensified anxiety and fear produced by social and institutional demands. While existing literature provides thorough portraits of the multifaceted challenges faced by female international students (e.g., financial crisis, ageism, and gendered violence), there is a gap in understanding why they value career acceleration and productivity. Drawing on autoethnographic reflection, illustrative extracts from the author’s doctoral research, and scholarship on time in academia, this article addresses this scholarly gap. Specifically, this article reconceptualizes the choice of being busy, not slowing down as a form of compelled agency (viewing acceleration as a survival strategy), and as a gendered survival strategy enacted at the cost of one’s well-being and individual rhythms. This reflection challenges the ideal of slowing down and being self-compassionate as a luxury and privilege, thereby contributing to ongoing discussions about transformative change towards temporal justice in global higher education.