“Left out of the global loop”“Left out of the global loop”

‘‘States of denial’ and African American States of denial’ and African American undergraduate students’ participation in U.S. undergraduate students’ participation in U.S.

college study abroad programs.college study abroad programs.

Jennifer Simon and Dr. Denise Donnelly,Georgia State University, Atlanta GA, USA

Topics of Discussion

Study Abroad in the U.S.: Historical Overview Minorities and the state of Study Abroad today

The African American situation Why Study Abroad matters What accounts for African American exclusion? Theoretical overview Program proposal (GSU case study) Overcoming barriers to exclusion

Study Abroad in the U.S.: Historical Overview

“Studying abroad is the act of a student pursuing educational opportunities in a foreign country”

Began in 1600s in New England colonies Catered to wealthy, white upper class students ‘Junior year’ model began -1920s Federal government funding of study abroad- 1950s Public universities began to embrace study abroad in

the 1980s -1990sLed to a rapid increase in enrollmentMinority involvement increased for the first time

Minorities and the state of Study Abroad today

Minority involvement still low nationally (out of 191,321 students who studied abroad in the 2003/4 period, only 16.3% of minority students participated) [Open Doors 2005 report]

- At Georgia State University (GSU), a large public research, educational institution, located in Atlanta Georgia, out of 410 students who study abroad, less than a third (137) are minorities, even though minorities comprise 45.9% of the population of the 27,267 students in 2004

Nationally, African American participation is among the lowest compared to all racial groups in the U.S. (they only comprise 3.4% of students who studied abroad in 2003/4)

Why Study Abroad matters

How do Students benefit?

Multitude of benefits have been documented

Career (Opper, Teichler and Carlson, 1990)Interpersonal (Hembroff and Rusz, 1993) Educational (Carlson, Burn, Useem, Yachimowicz,1990)

Minorities will lack the skills to play vital role in political and economic future of the nation.

How do host communities benefit?

Little research conducted on impact of international students on host communities

Lessens stereotypes

Widens the perspective of locals

Locals gain international awareness (especially if international students participate in community service programs) (Ward, 2001)

How do universities benefit?

Contributes to vital research and innovative collaborative activities

Increases international networks and partnerships

Promotes Intercultural interaction among student population

Widens intellectual perspective (Ward, 2001)

Enhances the reputation and international profile

Financial benefits

What accounts for African American exclusion in study abroad?

Personal barriers - Low Socioeconomic status (SES) - Lack of finances - First to go to college - Lack of interest Criticism of personal barriers - Posey (2003), majority of study abroad participants

in his study were white, occupied the lowest SES category, and used their financial aid to study abroad

- Carroll (1996), black students expressed high levels of interest to study abroad but were the most likely group to say that they perceived barriers, such as lack of information and support from the institution

What accounts for African American exclusion? (Cont’d)

Institutional barriers

- Exclusion from formal and informal networks of information

- Narrowness of study abroad program organization

- Lack of Administrative and faculty support

- Inadequate marketing and recruiting

Theoretical Overview

Existence of a “State of Denial” - African American students offered similar opportunities as whites - Based on the equal educational opportunity policy of public schools What fuels this denial? White privilege – “the unearned benefits that flow to whites in the

American racial order-as well as the “lack of awareness” of this privilege by whites” (McIntosh 1989; Wildman 1996; Rothenberg, 2000)

- How this privilege works - Certain criteria considered to be “normal” to study abroad administration and faculty unintentionally disadvantage African Americans and other races

Free time Sufficient financial support Exposure to networks of information Membership in certain organizations

Theoretical Overview (cont’d)

Color blindness – “assumes that society is organized along race neutral structures", and “silences discussions of persistent racial inequality and asserts that race no longer matters” (Bonilla-Silva 2001, 1997; Bonilla-Silva and Forman 2000)

Examples of this in study abroad: - Administrators assume not pursuing study abroad is believed to be a

function of students limitations and not inadequacies in the institution - Black Students see a lack of minority personnel and support and

limited access to information - Black Students see culturally insensitive advisors and faculty who do

not accommodate issues such as racial concerns - Faculty see Eurocentric focus of the curricula as “normal” - Black students see their culture and heritage as being not as important

as European Americans Ideology goes against the goal of the public school system to enable

every student to have an equal opportunity to achieve their full educational potential

Program proposal(Georgia State University Case Study)

Goal of Office of International Affairs: Increase study abroad participants from 410 to 700 in coming years.

Our goal: Increase African American participation, promote internationalization as a consist part of curricula

Plan: Provide sociology study abroad program linked to a Freshman learning community (FLC) with rotating destinations in non-traditional geographical locations.

- Northern Ireland, Ireland and a Caribbean location The Northern Ireland component would be linked to a course

called ‘Race, Religion and Conflict’; provides an understanding of pertinent global issues

The trip would be for two weeks in the May semester Rationale for locations: Northern Ireland: Faculty expertise,

history of Northern Ireland Catholics similar to U.S. blacks situation, civil rights movement, social inequality

Program proposal(Georgia State University Case Study) Cont’d

Caribbean: Cheaper, closer to the U.S., melting pot of races, can link a multitude of topics with various specialties and disciplines such as race and ethnic relations, social inequality (such as looking at how tourism industry impacts locals and tourists), history, sociology among others

Rationale for FLC: Interdisciplinary approaches being utilized, smaller classes, curricula integration

Rationale for length of trip: Costs less and caters to a variety of non-traditional students (Vondrova, 2003)

Recruitment strategies for African American students

Spend the time to identify and find workable financial aid options and get the information out

Use returned African American students as peer counselors

Use professional role models as examples Have an easily accessible network of returned

students Network with long term or African American

permanent residents abroad and minority student organizations in the host countries’ campus

Have African American recruitment staff and diversity officers at their disposal

Recruitment strategies for African American students (cont’d)

Market to both parents and students when they are just entering university

Bring up issues of privilege and race during orientation sessions

Have more targeted recruitment for African Americans

Have more collaborations between faculty and study abroad office in recruitment effort

Be more aware of and sensitive to culture specific inquires and concerns

Overcoming barriers to exclusion

Acknowledge that there is problem Facilitate awareness of the applicability of study abroad Manage cost of programs Have culturally sensitive and supportive faculty and advisors Strengthen international initiatives in departments Make information about study abroad more available in a wider

range of forums Incorporate dialogue that acknowledge race, power, and

privilege in host countries as part of formal curricula Widen the range of choices in program length, country Design a more culturally inclusive curricula that is connected to

studying abroad