The concept of rurality is at the centre of complex geopolitical, geosocial and cultural debates and research which foregrounds the concept of rurality is scarce. This paper seeks alternative perspectives on rurality through a secondary analysis of international doctoral theses contained in the EThOS repository of the British Library, an online collection of half a million doctoral theses completed in UK universities. The doctoral research focusing on rurality and also ethnicity in higher education in a range of countries was explored and twelve theses were focused on. The narratives presented in these twelve theses present alternative constructions of rurality and also raise issues of ideology and politics; deficit and minoritisation of rural students; the importance of intersectionality and the need for universities, including rural institutions, to rethink their agency in engaging with their marginalised communities.