Friday, May 19, 2023

Study abroad exploitation and enhancement

Study abroad opportunity is touted as one of the most powerful and coveted of educational experiences, yet who is able to participate, how it is marketed, and the content of learning when in a distant location can turn the experience into one of perpetuating ignorance and exploitation. While Liz Bucar's commentary on the popular study abroad experience she offered (Camino del Santiago in Spain) doesn't raise questions unfamiliar to discerning internationalists, it provides a very real example of how faculty can naively participate in cultural appropriation and perpetuate cultural myth. Bucar addressed how she would redesign the experience with the insights she has gained saying, "I plan to redesign my Camino program in a way that puts acknowledging exploitation at the center of the experience..." and "would be clear about its social justice objectives, insist on taking diversity seriously as a source of values and be willing to make students uncomfortable."

Having designed and taught in an undergraduate study abroad program, hosted graduate study abroad while working in Qatar (including Harvard University's School of Law), and created a joint "inquiry learning" initiative that involved participants from Qatar and three U.S. institutions, I offer a hearty "AMEN" to Bucar's essay. Eighteen years and many attempts later, the journey to truly transformative and respectful study abroad has included resistance, sad failures, and spectacular success.

Bucar's final comment is that she finally adopted a commitment to something that includes "much more ambitious goals than cultural competence." This last statement is particularly interesting since cultural competence is often referenced as one of the core outcomes of good study abroad. AMEN again! Cultural competence is important but study abroad that does not exploit has to accept the fact that a group of visitors are showing up in a foreign location, often ostentatiously displaying their privilege, and viewing their experience through the lens of superiority. Humility and curiosity have to be the starting place for any study abroad experience and both are central to fostering intercultural competence. Core to infusing humility is learning how student and faculty life experiences are part of systems and narratives that perpetuate myth and judgment.

The University of Delaware's World Scholars program is an example of placing expectations on study abroad that include the commitment to do it, preparation by complementing international students' experiences, and by being purposeful when the student is abroad. The program includes 100-150 students who are "open-minded to other cultures and experiences, resilient, independent and mature, plus has shown commitment to other activities, present and past, and wants to contribute as a member of the World Scholars community." Since the program began in 2015, over 1,000 students have participated and the last cohort includes 33% minority students!

A central point related to exploitation in study abroad is who gets to participate. Students who study abroad are disproportionately female, white, and privileged. If the experience is one of the best higher education has to offer, then why would institutions and programs not strive to make it equally available to all? When it comes to faculty opportunity, the Fulbright program has been around since the 1940s and funded by taxpayers, yet it has an elite reputation and has excluded faculty at community colleges throughout the decades. Another twist on the Fulbright award is where scholars go. For example, the Trump administration pulled China from the list of approved countries, which Biden did not reverse. Sanctioning study in China and other countries with which the U.S. disagrees seems in the spirit of promoting positive academic diplomacy. The elite brand of Fulbright is both a perceptual and real barrier to access, not unlike the "European tour" of the children of 19th century "Gilded Age" children. That privilege is a control of how students think about study abroad is a type of exploitation in itself.

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