This Moment Is the Curriculum: Equity, Inclusion, Curriculum Mapping for Study Abroad Programs, and COVID-19

• In Event: Collectivist Curricular Approaches to Construct Communal Ways of Knowing and Belonging

Abstract

This article explores critical curriculum mapping in experiential education vis-à-vis Study Abroad Programs (SAPs). Using Black feminist thought as a theoretical moor and dialogue and reflexive narrative as methods, the tetrad of authors theorizes then models the practice of criticality in curriculum mapping for SAPs. The curriculum mapping framework presented is berthed to the authors’ collective knowledge of how Black women rely on lived experience to survive precarity. Thus, the framework exemplifies an epistemological “alternative” to dominant individualistic Euro/American approaches to curriculum mapping. Such approaches privilege predictability and linearity, contributing to the low participation of collectivist-oriented Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students in SAPs. Implications for addressing enduring issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in SAPs are discussed.

Authors

• Esther O. Ohito, Rutgers University

• Jamila Lyiscott, University of Massachusetts – Amherst

• Keisha L. Green, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

• Susan Wilcox, SEW Consulting