What's the subject of study abroad?: race, gender, and "living culture"

• Published in: The Modern language journal (Boulder, Colo.) Vol. 83; no. 2; pp. 163 - 175
• Main Authors: Talburt, Susan, Stewart, Melissa A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, USA and Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishers Inc 01.06.1999; Blackwell Publishers; National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: African Americans; Ausland; Auslandsstudium; Black Students; College students; Cross Cultural Communication; Cultural Awareness; Cultural Differences; Cultural education; Cultural Instruction; Cultural studies; Culture; Curricula; Curriculum; Didaktische Grundlageninformation; Empirische Forschung; Ethnography; Foreign Countries; Foreign students; Geschlechtsspezifischer Unterschied; Hochschule; Interkulturelle Kommunikation; International students; Learning; Learning experiences; Learning Processes; Lernprozess; Men; Minority Groups; Race; Racial Factors; Racism; Rassismus; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Sex; Sex Differences; Spain; Spanien; Studium; Study Abroad; Teaching; Spain
• ISSN: 0026-7902; 1540-4781
• DOI: 10.1111/0026-7902.00013

Based on an ethnographic study that focused on the relations of student's in- and out-of-class cultural learning during a 5-week study abroad program in Spain, the article analyzes processes of teaching and learning in a Spanish culture and civilization class, the experiences of the only African-American student on the program, and student's responses to a class meeting in which race was overtly problematized. In contrast to the shared construction of cultural knowledge that characterized the class, discussion of race and gender was limited in its complexity, despite signs of new understandings among student's. Given a need for all students to gain multiple cultural perspectives and growing evidence that peer groups constitute sources of identity and cross-cultural understanding for students abroad, it is suggested that study abroad curricula incorporate sustained discussion of student's sociocultural differences and resulting particularities in their experiences in the host culture as part of the formal curriculum. (Verlag, adapt.).