Study Abroad and Coloniality: Postglobal Teacher Educator Reflections

• In Event: Critical and Narrative Perspectives on Intercultural Teaching

Abstract

Objectives: In this presentation, we critically explore, through a postcolonial lens (Mignolo, 2012), the context in which U.S. preservice teachers engage in international intercultural experiences through the Honduras study abroad program. Our reflections will focus on the Honduran school, Esperanza School (pseudonym), where program participants spend the vast majority of their field experiences, and the curriculum of the Honduras study abroad program. The reflections offered are based on a critical hope (Duncan–Andrade, 2009) that recognizes how study abroad programs often fall short of the educative potential of international intercultural experiences when understood systemically.
Theoretical Framework: The embrace of superficial cultural differences may be an unconscious strategic tool that reinforces white privilege. This is further indicative of the cooptive logic of capitalism that subsumes alternative epistemologies under a universalizing ethos. Our postglobal lens seeks to counter this cooptive logic which acknowledges difference for the purpose of “flattening” (Friedman, 2005) into epistemic singularity. In this sense, we are interested in the fraying edges of neoliberal singularity, where othered otherness cultivates alternatives to globalization (López, 2007; Mignolo, 2012; Said, 1978). Difference within dominant global understandings, understated by neoliberal capitalism, limits the scope of education and the pedagogical development of preservice teachers. Instead, we seek difference outside the epistemic boundary of globalization through preservice teachers’ international intercultural experiences.
Methods and Data Sources: We reflect in our presentation on how the Honduras study abroad program in its early years was incorporated as an option for earning foundational credits in a teacher education program, how the program has changed within the constraints of a teacher education program and based on the relationships built with the Esperanza School and partner rural public schools, and then consider what the Honduras study abroad program can be in the future. These contemplations are intended to inform how teacher education that includes an international component might be conceived of in the United States, and how teacher educators can engage international social relations for the purpose of epistemic border crossing, which can foster critical perspectives among preservice teachers. The authors of this presentation include the Honduras study abroad program researchers, educators, a program assistant, and the program founder and leader. Each author has multiple years of experience conducting the program and/or conducting research around preservice teacher program participants.
Results: The findings of our study indicate how consideration of how teacher educators should engage study abroad as an educative experience that cultivates critical perspectives can be explored through dialogue regarding the construction of the modern/colonial world system. Our study further illustrates how a postglobal perspective cultivates questions about normalized assumptions about differences and international relations. Systemic constructions further influence how educators engage intercultural learning.
Scholarly Significance: This presentation is of scholarly importance, since we highlight how our postglobal lens aims to provide an analytical tool for researchers of study abroad around the cultivation of international intercultural experiences.

Authors

• Jubin Rahatzad, Purdue University

• Hannah Dockrill, Purdue University

• JoAnn I. Phillion, Purdue University