What “gaze” does the US higher education study abroad industry want to cultivate amongst students? How does the lack of diversity in US study abroad programs affect the narratives told about it, and diverse student experiences of it? What role should study abroad and/or other cross-cultural experiences play in a liberal arts education? Despite it being a much heralded competence putatively cultivated during a study abroad experience, is global citizenship often empty of content in practice? How has the Covid-19 Pandemic shaped study abroad media and practice, including the new work in “virtual study abroad” programs?
We discuss these questions and more with Kelly Hankin, Professor of Film Studies at the
Johnston Center for Integrative Studies of the University of Redlands, and the author of the new book Documenting the American Student Abroad: The Media Cultures of International Education (Rutgers University Press, 2021). This dynamic interdisciplinary work illuminates a greatly heralded but little researched domain in humanistic higher education, the study abroad experience and its media cultures. Hankin was also Eli’s undergraduate advisor at the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies, a student-centered integrative degree program and living-learning community at the University of Redlands. Hankins’ leadership and collective work in this unique creative center in higher education greatly shaped and informed their new book.
* See here for more on the The Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS) Creative Arts & Design Professional Practicum virtual study abroad program, mentioned in today’s episode.
