Thesis advisor: Audrey Friedman / As increasing numbers of international students enroll at US universities, these institutions must consider how best to create inclusive campus environments that serve varied learning needs. While international student enrollment at schools of education remains low, some elite programs are drawing growing numbers, but there is a dearth of research regarding international students' transitions into this culturally-embedded field. These experiences warrant investigation so that faculty, administrators, and fellow students might better understand, accommodate, and empower the international students in their midst. The purpose of this dissertation is to describe how 7 female international students from China, South Korea, and India perceive their transition experiences in Master’s programs at an elite US graduate school of education. Three interviews were conducted with each woman, using questions based on Charmaz's (2006) life change protocol. Research sub-questions concerned: a) the decision to study in the US, b) the women’s personal characteristics and background experiences, c) challenges and changes, d) strategies, and e) forms of support. Grounded theory was paired with narrative methods to analyze and present findings, highlighting themes within and across participants’ transitions. Schlossberg’s transition model (Anderson et al., 2012) was used to interpret results, especially women's coping resources. Three main themes emerged: the complexity of self-determination, hard work and its limits, and marginalization and attempts to minimize it. Despite positive experiences, the women faced challenges. While most gained a sense of independence, some resented their new responsibilities and missed previous support networks. All women reported hard work as a key academic strategy, but their diligence was not always enough to transcend language and cultural barriers. Faced with segregation and/or marginalization in America, most women attempted to enrich their experience, surrounding themselves with caring people, volunteering, or seeking resources to achieve goals. The findings suggest that institutions of higher education should assess the social and academic needs of international Master's students and offer tailored support services that address language and cultural barriers inherent in their programs. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

This doctoral thesis approaches literary tourism initially from an historical perspective in order to define the phenomenon through a review of the existing academic literature in the field. The forms of literary tourism are analysed to provide a typology and from this the value of literary tourism is explained both from the visitor's point of view and the destination manager's. Current theories underpinning the existing literature on literary tourism, including Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital are reviewed. To extend the current state of research and to answer the research questions a case study of successful urban literary tourism is identified, in this case in Brittany, France. The uses of French literature in literary tourism are reviewed to provide a sound basis on which to examine French texts and tourist destinations. Novel methods of field research are developed to formalise and to make reproducible the methodology for this study and for future work drawing on, and seeking to combine both literary theory and ethnography. Following a pilot study on the French Riviera the full discovery instruments are designed and applied in fieldwork on the case destination, Concarneau, using the detective novel, The Yellow Dog, which is set in Concarneau. Analysis of the findings from this provide a new contribution to the field of literary theory, in the area of reader interpellation, and answer the research questions in the form of a new set of recommendations for DMOs and tourism stakeholders. From the empirical study that used Web 2.0 social media, only available since 2013, an analysis of which novels do stimulate literary tourism is presented for the first time. Out of the research process new methods have been evolved, and are presented in the conclusion, for the DMO to synthesise and leverage digital resources. This provides DMOs with interpretation processes for its managed heritage to use with its local stakeholders in hotels and in tourism businesses. Finally, an innovative conceptualisation of what constitutes tourism knowledge is proposed.