Disruptive Learning Narrative Framework: Analyzing Race, Power and Privilege in Post-Secondary International Service Learning

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

This group panel draws on the lived experiences of a variety of faculty who have organized international service learning opportunities. The faculty members have different identity factors, such as but not limited to, race, gender, and social class. In addition, this panel is representative across three academic institutions that are geographically located in two Canadian provinces and an American state. It is important to acknowledge the presenting faculty are at different points in their academic career and are situated in different faculties. The positionality of each presenter is important because it provides the context that helps understand how they interpret their experiences abroad with students. The presenters will provide insights on their respective chapters that focus on being abroad with students in Tanzania, Uganda, China, Ecuador, Norway, Paris, and London.

The presenters will share how the new theoretical framework, Disruptive Learning Narrative (DLN) framework, which was devised by the co-editors of this collected volume, has helped interpret and challenge the insights gained on these international experiences. The four chapters that will be presented are, (1) Disruptive Learning Narrative Framework: Understanding Intense and Uncomfortable International Experiences; (2) Linguistic Discomposure: Disruptive Learning Narratives and Lacan in a Short Study Abroad Programme; (3) Navigating the Discomfort of International Teaching Placements: Resistance or Flexibility?; and (4) Helping Future Teachers Negotiate the Paroxysms of Patriotism at Home and Abroad: A Parallax View. Each chapter has its own theoretical and philosophical literature that it uses to centre the narratives shared, and they all use the DLN theoretical framework as they see fit. Given that the DLN is new theoretical framework this book provided a space for contributing author(s) to challenge, add, and provide further insights on its usefulness in unpacking the narratives shared. It is important to note, that three of the four chapters being presented are co-authored and thus their development was collaborative and rich as it drew on the multiple perspectives, lived experiences and thus yielded often multiple understanding of narratives.

Our panel proposal aligns with the conference theme of reimaging everything with respect to using a new theoretical framework that emerged from lived experiences and understanding the role of positionality in what occurs abroad. We use the DLN framework to explore new critical understandings of race, power and privilege when abroad and upon our return. All presenters share unique narratives from different geographical spaces and use the DLN framework to help reimagine what can be learned and unlearned from the international experiences abroad with their students. The hope is that unpacking and analyzing international narratives, reveal new insights from learning abroad and upon our return to help provide a space for reshaping education; as it struggles in learning more about race, power and privilege. The centrality of understanding context with respect to geographical space, power politics, and the psychological impacts it has when considering who we are as individuals (including our group/community connections) helps us all develop a better vision for advocating for an education future that is inclusive of marginalized communities.

With respect to the theoretical framework this collected volume utilizes, the new Disruptive Learning Narrative framework, which draws on the primarily on scholarship of Britzman that focuses on identity, Foucault’s work on power on macro and micro levels, and Freud’s understanding of displacement alongside more contemporary theorists share a critical understanding of international experiences, especially those used in teacher education programs. The three key elements that are interconnected with respect to this new framework are respectively: disidentification, dislocation and displacement. As mentioned previously, the contributing authors can draw upon their own philosophical and theoretical framework in their chapter, while using the DLN framework for the analysis of the narratives they are examining. The DLN encourages educators who take their post-secondary students abroad to think through disruptive and uncomfortable experiences by analyzing its three elements (disidentification, dislocation and displacement) and the nature of these in disruptive narratives.

It is noteworthy, that every contributing chapter and its author(s) articulate their own interpretations of any narratives they experienced themselves, or that of their students, which makes this theoretical framework adaptable to different models of international postsecondary
experiences. This panel will demonstrate critical reflection on how the context of constructing the international experience, the identities of the students and instructor(s), the historical context of the international country and the home country to which students and instructor(s) return to, and the importance of recognizing the varying degrees to which different students and instructors are impacted by each of the three elements of the DLN framework (disidentification, dislocation and displacement). These analyzed narratives then provide findings which help give insight and meaning to May’s (2006) statement of ‘what we do not know is what our doing it does.’

The inquiry methods are different in each chapter and the authors will speak to them respectively as stated in their 500-word abstracts for individual papers. The findings are different in each chapter given the interpretation of the authors with respect to their analysis of highly contextual narratives, which can also be seen in the individual abstracts.

Overall, the nine chapters make the case for a much-needed contribution to the field of international experiences abroad, which emphasizes the role of race, power and privilege which must be given more attention for these heavily impact and influence the possibility of reimagining education for all. Three of the key learnings that emerged in the book are (1) understanding that the racial identities of racialized students entering into mostly racialized countries abroad has an influential impact on comprehending the way privilege and power are understood in the country from which they departed, (2) the educator who is supervising students abroad must do their best to ensure no deficit thinking or stereotypical affirmations are taken away from such experiences by educating students before over their biases and privileges, during and after such excursions, and (3) acknowledging the power politics that are interconnected in the political, historical and social circumstances of the international country and how those apply to students and faculty’s experiences abroad.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Manu Sharma, Thompson Rivers University

Individual Presentations

• Disruptive Learning Narrative Framework: Understanding Intense and Uncomfortable International Experiences - Manu Sharma, Thompson Rivers University

• Disruptive Navigating the Discomfort of International Teaching Placements: Resistance or Flexibility? - Ruth Kane, University of Ottawa

• Helping Future Teachers Negotiate the Paroxysms of Patriotism at Home and Abroad: A Parallax View - Geoffrey Scheurman, University of Wisconsin -- River Falls

• Linguistic Discomposure: Disruptive Learning Narratives and Lacan in a Short Study Abroad Program - Michelle Parkinson, University of Wisconsin, River Falls

Discussant

• Gretchen Whitman, University of Wisconsin-River Falls