The following is a guest post by Roric McCorristin. I really like Roric's piece and I find it to be very important read for colleagues in our field! I'm very pleased that I get to post his work here on IHEC Blog!
The
participation of students of color in study abroad is characterized by two
unfortunate trends: disproportionately low participation compared to white
students, and evidence of racial micro-aggressions directed at students of
color by other U.S. students who are abroad with them. These trends stand out
because we wish them to be anomalies. Yet they persist over time, despite
efforts to promote inclusion and diversity in international education. The good
news is that we can take action to reverse these trends, especially if
predominantly white institutions (PWIs) choose to prioritize addressing racial
bias in their study abroad services.
According
to the 2018 Open Doors report from the Institute of International Education,
70.8% of U.S. study abroad participants during the 2016-17 academic year
identified as white, while only 6.1% identified as Black or African American.
Although the gap is closing incrementally over time (10 years prior white
students accounted for 81.9% of participants and Black or African American
students 3.8%), the overall snapshot provided by the Open Doors statistics
still does not accurately reflect the overall diversity found in U.S. higher
education.
To explain
the difference in participation rates the Four Fs — fear, family, faculty, and finances
— are often cited as negative factors that students of color in particular have
to overcome. While the Four Fs can describe potential barriers to access, focusing
too much on them invites deficit framing and devaluation of the experiences of
students of color. In that sense, the Four Fs have become a way to blame access for low participation rates
and deflect blame away from the services
provided by study abroad professionals to students of color.
PWIs in particular should think more purposefully about how
to leverage the study abroad services they offer to increase participation
among students of color at their institutions. Historically black colleges and
universities (HBCUs) regularly and successfully promote study abroad and
prepare students of color for the experience. However, the question of what
PWIs can learn from HBCUs in terms of best practices in study abroad advising
has not been extensively explored. While the successes of HBCUs cannot simply
be replicated at PWIs, study abroad offices at PWIs should take the lead in
pursuing this potential avenue of collaboration. By establishing meaningful
relationships with their colleagues at HBCUs, PWI personnel could learn about
best practices in advising strategies and pursue programming like joint
pre-departure orientations.
In doing
so, PWIs could address among their students the distressing and regrettable
incidents of racial micro-aggressions that are committed against students of color by other U.S.
students in their study abroad cohorts. Ethelene Whitmire (2019) defines
micro-aggressions as “slights and condescending comments often based on racial
stereotypes.” Her current book project on the history of African Americans in
Copenhagen shows us that white students discriminating against their black
peers while abroad is nothing new. She tells a story from 1931 about two young
Fisk University graduates who, while traveling through Italy with other African
American students from Hampton University, were harassed in a dining train car
by a group of students from Texas.
It is not difficult to imagine the same scenario playing
out today. In an interview I recently conducted
with study abroad personnel at a HBCU, I learned about the prevalence of this
problem. The students at this school report being less concerned about racism
they will encounter in their host communities than they are about the racism
they will encounter from other American students from PWIs in their study
abroad cohorts. In
her fascinating study of Black women who studied abroad through community
colleges, Tasha Willis (2015) documents incidents of racial micro-aggressions
perpetrated by U.S. peers. She
also found that incidents of racial micro-aggressions from white U.S. peers
were more troubling than those from the host community. In addition, Willis provides the insight that overseas
programs are an expansion of campus climate, suggesting that student behavior
abroad will be a reflection of typical behavior on campus. What Willis
suggests, and what my discussions with study abroad personnel at an HBCU
supports, is that students take their racial biases with them when they go
abroad and they behave insensitively towards their peers as they might do on
campus. Therefore, PWIs must take the lead in making racial and social identity
more urgent priorities in pre-departure orientations. This would raise
awareness of the role of social identity in the study abroad context, and
address incidents of racial bias that students show towards their peers and
fellow citizens while abroad.
Ironically,
pre-departure orientations, which are intended to prepare students for
intercultural exchange and interpersonal communication abroad, are becoming
increasingly impersonal. It is common now for pre-departure orientation to take
place online. We should instead be providing outbound students with more
in-person contact with peers before their travel abroad begins, in order to
raise their awareness about racial bias that they may encounter abroad.
Collaboration between PWIs and HBCUs is one way to do this; it is in the
interests of PWIs to learn from the success of HBCUs in increasing study abroad
participation. Improving the quality of service at PWIs for students of color,
and for all students, would be a significant first step towards closing the
diversity gap in study abroad.
References
Institute of
International Education (2018). Profile of U.S. Study Abroad Students,
2005/06-2016/17. Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange.
Retrieved from http://www.iie.org/opendoors
Whitmire,
E. (2019). Traveling While Black Across the Atlantic Ocean. Longreads.
Retrieved from https://longreads.com/2019/01/22/traveling-while-black-across-the-atlantic-ocean/
Willis,
T.Y. (2015). “And Still We Rise…”: Microaggressions and
Intersectionality in the Study Abroad Experiences of Black Women. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study
Abroad, 26, 209-230.
