Jumping, Horizon Gazing, and Open Arms: How Study Abroad Imagery Reflects the Promise of College

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 74
  In Roundtable Session: Images and Imaginaries: Representations and Perspectives of Higher Education

Abstract

Utilizing visual research methods, this paper offers an informed interpretation of the messages conveyed in thousands of images of international education travel, collected from the websites of 39 leading American universities. Although textually these programs often subscribe to notions of global citizenship, the visual repertoire employed to market them relies on images of students jumping, horizon gazing and standing with open arms. These tropes speak to the implicit promise of college in the American context: that it will be fun, pensive, and transformative, an experience through which students can grow from adolescents into adults. The paper holds important implications for how study abroad is marketed, and how it is conceived as part of the cultural globalization of American higher education.

Authors

• Jonathan Z Friedman, New York University

• Cynthia Miller-Idriss, New York University

• Jennifer Auerbach