Colonialist Tendencies in Education Abroad

This paper considers education abroad (EA) and its relationship to global citizenship and colonialism by describing and analyzing the agitated interactions of one EA course through a post-colonial lens. Rather than claim the EA experience as emancipatory or colonialist, the paper illustrates the ways that colonialist tendencies can manifest in particular moments and through specific dynamics of an EA course. This paper illustrates the ways that colonialist tendencies related to a reifying of consumerist ideologies, a westernizing of the EA experience, and an ongoing employment of an objectifying tourist gaze became manifest in an education abroad context. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings that includes some ideas for how education abroad programs can address its colonialist tendencies.