The Baggage They Carry: Study Abroad and the Construction of "Europe" in the American Mind

Autor/in	Woolf, Michael
Titel	The Baggage They Carry: Study Abroad and the Construction of "Europe" in the American Mind
Quelle	In: Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 21 (2011), S.289-309 (21 Seiten) PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1085-4568
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Study Abroad; Culture; Educational Environment; Imagination; Educational Trends; Figurative Language; Time; Fairy Tales; Fantasy; European History; Cross Cultural Studies; Student Attitudes; Physical Environment; United States Literature; English Literature; French Literature; German Literature; Italian Literature + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Studies abroad; Auslandsstudium; Kultur; Lernumgebung; Pädagogische Umwelt; Schulumwelt; Bildungsentwicklung; Zeit; Fairy tale; Fairytale; Fairytales; Fairy-tale; Fairy-tales; Märchen; Fantasie; Cultural comparison; Kulturvergleich; Schülerverhalten; Natürliche Umwelt; Englische literatur; Deutsche literatur
Abstract	Western Europe has been constructed in the field of education abroad as a "traditional" location: in some sense or another that label is used to suggest that it has a kind of static or dormant significance. In reality, Western Europe is an enormously rich location for study abroad precisely because it is a fluid learning environment that contains and sustains multiple meanings and ambiguities. It is a location that has been represented and constructed by American culture in some key ways over time and what is represented is simultaneously true and untrue. Within that paradox resides a great learning opportunity. This article explores some of the ways in which Europe has been created and recreated in the American mind and relates those constructs to the limitations, opportunities, and dynamics that may be explored in education abroad. Those constructs represent in part the baggage that students bring with them. In this article, the structure will recreate the experience of students coming to Europe. The essay explores the baggage they carry; engagement with the European environment, and, finally, the process of return. In that structure, which mirrors the experience of the study abroad student, a partial but suggestive set of perspectives emerge that go further than defending the traditional and, instead, present a cogent set of rich realities that collectively create the case for Europe. (Contains 35 endnotes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Frontiers Journal. Dickinson College P.O. Box 1773, Carlisle, PA 17013. Tel: 717-254-8858; Fax: 717-245-1677; Web site: http://www.frontiersjournal.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10