Encountering the Other Through Study Abroad

"To explore this question, the study undertakes an analysis of narratives generated through one popular American study abroad program, Semester at Sea (SAS). The study considers the images in SAS's promotional materials, the program's instructional practices, photographs taken by SAS students, and students' verbal reflections on their experiences, using methods of in-depth interviewing and content, semiotic, discourse, and frame analysis. It concludes that the traditional western imaginary is both reinforced and resisted through educational tourism with SAS. The disparate narratives identified are then analytically situated in a framework that considers the constraints under which imaginative labor is performed through SAS. The program's discursive output is contextualized within larger regulatory systems in which it operates, such as a mediascape riddled with colonialist fantasies and a neoliberal capitalist economy in which both educational institutions and tourism brokers must compete for ""customers."" Students' narratives are explored with reference to the modes in which they chose to consume the spaces and experiences offered by the program. The study thus sheds light on the interpretive dynamics at play when western students encounter the Other."

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Recreation, Sport and Tourism

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Caton, Kellee

Contributors dc:contributor

• Carla Santos

• Education, Higher

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3314739

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/86017