African Diasporic Consciousness as Curricular Model for Equal Educational Opportunity in Study Abroad

• In Event: 14.044 - Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: 14.044-18 - Diasporic Curriculum, Youth Resistance, and World Citizenship

Abstract

Disrupting the dominant narrative of study abroad requires critical analysis and interventions at multiple levels. During the summer of 2016 the author researched a study abroad program that substantively targeted several problematic issues that undergird standard programs. Specifically, this program was created and led by Black women, with an explicit focus on the development of a gendered African Diasporic Consciousness, prioritizing self-awareness as well as historical and communal identity. The setting was a Black Caribbean locale, and the student group was predominantly of African descent. Situated within the well-established practice of curriculum theorizing and critique, the present study explores issues of educational equity, mattering, ideological critique, and difference as they manifest in the curriculum of this pilot study abroad program.

Author

• Kirsten T. Edwards, University of Oklahoma