In the Nation's Service: The Founding of an Elite American School in Switzerland

• In Event: 63.086 - Sheraton Roundtable 11 - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 63.086-6 - Transnational Narratives of Schooling

Abstract

This paper examines the founding objectives of an economically elite American boarding school in Switzerland. It locates these objectives within the wider geopolitical context of the era – the 1960s – and builds on emerging historical scholarship that applies a transnational lens to different kinds of ‘elite’ educational institutions, on a global scale. This study employs an interpretivist and critical approach to theorizing documentary data, and evidences arguments from a combination of internal school documents and printed primary sources. It ultimately argues that the school’s objectives can be read as a commitment to strengthening the American nation both domestically and abroad. This is significant in drawing links between education and nation-state agendas, a notion of critical importance both historically and contemporarily.

Author

• Karen Lillie, University College London