The Black female body has been subject to cultural scripting in which Black women are deemed as the "other." This representation of the Black female is played out in many ways such as through the racial and racist marking of her hair and skin color. In investigating Black women who have participated in a study abroad program, I found that this is one vehicle in which they have been exposed to other's perspectives of the Eurocentric standards of beauty. In this paper, I have examined ways in which Black women are active agents in their own social scripting of their bodies. Through interviews, focus groups and participant observation, with 20 self identified Black women, the investigation began with a look at the African and European cultural influences on African American ideas about beauty, hair and identity. Initial discussions of participants' experiences with hair at home and abroad led to broader dialogues about transformations in their concepts of gender, race, and identity.

This study examined College of Agriculture students' perceptions and concerns about international educational experiences. The purpose of this study was to determine students' perceptions about international educational experiences, students' interests in gaining international educational experiences, students' ratings of selected factors that may prompt them to acquire these experiences, or barriers that prohibit them from gaining international educational experiences. A stratified random sample of students (N = 153) was asked to complete an online questionnaire. The response rate was 67 percent. Participants (n = 98) included 27 from Tarleton State University and 71 from Texas A & M University. The instrument included items to measure students' interests and preferences for international educational experiences, factors that influenced (motivated or prohibited) students' desires to gain international educational experiences, and perceptions of international educational experiences. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and correlations were used to analyze the data. The results showed that only 4 percent of the respondents had participated in study abroad programs. About 77 percent of the respondents were interested in gaining international educational experiences. Students believed that gaining international educational experiences helped them enrich their overall life experience, seek opportunities to live in another country or culture, and helped their resume. Respondents were willing to join the study abroad program held by their universities. They preferred to register for a university faculty-led study abroad, spending one to ten weeks abroad, university study abroad course as an internship, directed study, research project, or similar international experience, and register for university courses at a university study center. The barriers students faced were financial constraints -- paying for the program or funding personal living expenses and studies during the study abroad, finding affordable and adequate housing -- and language barriers. Students who believed that joining in study abroad programs would improve their competitiveness in the global marketplace were more willing to gain international educational experiences than students who didn't think that joining in study abroad programs would improve their competitiveness in the global marketplace.

Thesis advisor: Betty Leask / Race plays a significant role in shaping the experiences of Black students who study abroad. Unlike their White peers, Black students are likely to encounter racism abroad, which a small body of research has documented. However, these studies say little about the short- and long- term effects of these experiences. This study is located in this gap in the research and examines how racism experienced while studying abroad can affect the wellbeing of Black students. In-depth interviews were conducted with 8 participants. Results revealed that the racism Black students encounter abroad can cause significant stress. When Black students lack adequate resources to cope with this stress, their wellbeing is threatened. Recommendations for study abroad offices and administrators for reducing and limiting the incidences and impact of racism experienced by Black students studying abroad are made. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

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Thesis advisor: Heather Rowan-Kenyon / Community college students comprise over 40 percent of undergraduates in the U.S. but account for less than two percent of undergraduates who study abroad (Community College Research Center, 2020; Open Doors, 2020). Additionally, students of color are overrepresented in the two-year sector (Ma & Baum, 2016). While study abroad participation has been examined in terms of which students study abroad (Barclay Hamir & Gozik, 2018; Salisbury et al., 2011) and students’ decision-making process (Luo & Jamieson-Drake, 2014; Stroud, 2010), much of this literature centers on four-year colleges and universities. Several studies have investigated the factors that influence study abroad participation at the community college level from both the student and institutional perspective (Amani, 2011; Amani & Kim, 2017; Raby, 2012, 2019, 2020; Whatley, 2018a). However, of the studies that examined study abroad participation factors from the student perspective, few interrogated how racial or ethnic identity shaped the students’ experiences throughout the study abroad decision-making process. With the exception of a handful of studies (e.g., Willis, 2012), little is known about the experiences of community college students of color who have studied abroad. This Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith et al., 2009) study sought to address this gap in the literature by examining how community college students of color navigate the study abroad decision-making process. Guided by Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth framework, this study examined the experiences of eight community college students of color at a single community college in the Southwest. Two semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with each participant, and data were analyzed using the IPA data analysis process (Smith et al., 2009). The findings indicate that the students in this study activated familial, linguistic, aspirational, and social capital when navigating both the study abroad decision-making process and their time abroad. The participants’ racial and ethnic identities, as well as systemic factors, influenced their decision to study abroad in particular destinations and shaped their study abroad experiences. This study offers a nuanced understanding of the experiences of community college students of color who have studied abroad and how they employ cultural wealth to overcome systemic barriers to studying abroad. Implications for higher education practice, research, and theory are offered. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

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Today, almost 305,000 U.S. college students are taking advantage of study abroad opportunities throughout the world. While study abroad experiences have has been increasing in number and scope, there continue to be questions about the importance and value of study abroad on the students' growth and development. This study highlights a summer study abroad program at Virginia Tech from 2008 – 2012. Reflection and transformative learning serve as the primary theoretical frameworks for this study. The work of Dewey (1933), Mezirow (1991, 1997), Moon (2004), Whitney and Clayton (2011) and others help to provide additional insight into better understanding reflection and transformative learning. The methodological framework is a qualitative case study focusing on the student participants from summer 2012 and examines the role of reflection in the academic components of the program and whether or not reflection helped to further enhance the influence and impact of the experience on the students. I collected data from photo journals, weekly reflection papers and their final exam paper, all of which comprised the academic requirements for this credit-bearing course. The participants consisted of seven female identified students and four male identified students, representing the following academic disciplines: Human Development, Geography, Political Science, Journalism, Studio Art and International Studies. Through content analysis (Mayan, 2009; Merriam, 1998), I discovered the themes of self-awareness and visibility and presence. These two themes provide a deeper understanding about how the study abroad experience has a distinct influence on the students, as can be evidenced through their academic work. While the two themes help to further reinforce the importance of reflective practice, the study also reveals that reflection can be problematic as well. / Ph. D.

Previous research has discussed the extension of social, economic, and political rights, including same-sex marriage, to the lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities. Yet, as Duggan (2002, 2003) and other argue, these sexual rights are extended only to individuals on the condition that they conform to the pre-existing heteronormative framework. Puar (2007) argues that this new normativity, called homonormativity, is part of a larger nationalist project that constructs and defines the terms of national belonging by extending sexual citizenship to the "good gay citizen." One way that individuals can work towards their inclusion is through consuming homonationalist "prepackaged experiences" that spread American ideals through travel. One example of this includes study abroad programs, where students serve as representatives of the home nation by spreading skills, culture, and ideologies to the international real through subtle actions. Preparatory orientation programs serve as a sight where students are instructed on how to be responsible representative citizens of the their nation (Virginia Tech Global Education Office 2014). Utilizing analysis of a study abroad website, participant observation of an orientation program, and eight interviews with study abroad staff and lesbian, bay, and bisexual identified students, this study examines how study abroad perpetuates homonationalist motives and ideals through the construction and inclusion of the "good representative student." I find that by privatizing and excluding sexuality from the study abroad experience as a "non-factor"--claiming that is it a matter of what students do, not who they are--homonationalism can be considered a consequence of current orientation practices. / Master of Science

The field of study abroad for language learning has drawn extensively on related fields such as applied linguistics and psychology to conceptualize learners' experiences, which then informs how practitioners go about designing programs for those learners. Research has encouraged practitioners to increase learners' access to the target language (e.g., through speaking partners, content courses), but it has also become clear that while access might be necessary, it does not guarantee learner engagement and growth. This dissertation explores two unique conceptual frameworks for understanding language learners and presents empirical research that demonstrates the kinds of findings that these frameworks can produce. The common subject of analysis involved the experiences of participants who struggled to engage in speaking during an Arabic study abroad program. The first framework emerged from a grounded theory analysis and characterizes participants' struggles as a clash of expectations that required negotiation. The findings fit well with a recent "ecological turn" in language learning, and a review of study abroad research from an ecological perspective suggested avenues of research that would further develop the field's understanding of access, engagement, and the learners themselves. The second framework built on interdisciplinary insights to present a hermeneutic moral realist account of the same participants who struggled to engage in speaking activities. This approach revealed a moral ecology of unstructured speaking with unique moral goods, reference points, and tensions that the participants had to navigate as they tried to find good speaking opportunities for themselves. This dissertation positions these findings within current second language study abroad experiences, offering an ecological perspective and recommendations for students and faculty alike.

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