youth and globalization 1 (2019) 282-306 © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/25895745-00102005 brill.com/yogo From ‘Geopolitics of Being’ towards Inter-being: Envisioning the ‘In/visibles’ in the Globalization of Higher Education Riyad A. Shahjahan Associate Professor of Higher, Adult, & Lifelong Education, Michigan State University shahja95@msu.edu Abstract Amid growing debates about globalization of higher education (HE), an analysis of the onto-epistemic grammar underlying the articulation of this global phenomenon remains absent. This essay posits that our understanding of the nature of globaliza- tion of HE cannot be separated from questions of a) emotions, b) temporality, and c) ontology. Drawing on the extant literature on globalization of HE to date and personal experiences, it demonstrates the efficacy of these above three concepts, and argues that our understanding of globalization of HE insidiously perpetuates a geopolitics of being, and constrains us from knowing/embodying inter-being. It suggests pursu- ing inter-being as alternatives to fixed notions of human progress and coloniality of knowledge embedded in the prevailing onto-epistemic grammar. By refusing to tame uncertainty or provide ‘probable outcomes’, this essay intends to provoke and imagine alternative ways of knowing/being. Keywords globalization – higher education – temporality – emotions – ontology – nature of being 1 Introduction So we can say that everything is in here with this sheet of paper. We can- not point out one thing that is not here— time, space, the earth, the rain,