Being Bad Guests: Teaching Ethnic Studies with Study Abroad

Authors

  • Natchee Blu Barnd Oregon State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v37i2.658

Keywords:

Colonialism, ethnic studies, pedagogy, program design, racism, whiteness

Abstract

In this essay, I argue that Ethnic Studies-based approaches to racism and colonialism can improve student learning during study abroad. These approaches can further extend learning impact beyond that of diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. I outline how every host site can support attention to race and colonialism, explain the dangers of ignoring racism and colonialism during international learning sojourns, describe the need to specifically attend to whiteness, and illustrate my argument with three brief case studies of pedagogical and program design outcomes from recent study abroad trips to England and Japan. The essay intends to expand the “locations” where attention to issues of race and colonialism can be appropriately applied in order to make interventions in program design. For faculty who lead programs and to study abroad staff who organize and initiate programs, the essay offers tools and frameworks to more effectively combat racism at home and abroad as well as to avoid colonial travel practices.

Abstract in Japanese

著者は、民族研究に基づくアプローチが、留学中の学生の学習を改善し、多様性、公平性、包括性の目標を超えてその影響を拡大できると主張しています。この論文では、どのホストサイトでも人種と植民地主義を考慮する方法を概説し、海外での学習中に人種差別と植民地主義を無視する危険性を説明し、白人性に特に注意を払う必要性を述べ、最近のイギリスと日本における研修旅行で得られた教育およびプログラム設計の成果に関する3つの簡単な事例研究を提供しています。この論文は、人種と植民地主義の問題に注目すべき「場所」を拡大し、プログラム設計に介入するための適切な運用を目指しています。この記事は、プログラムを主導する教員やプログラムを計画し行う留学スタッフに、国内外での人種差別と戦い、植民地的な旅行を避けるためのツールとフレームワークを提供することを目的としています。

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Author Biography

Natchee Blu Barnd, Oregon State University

Natchee Blu Barnd, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of History of Art and Architecture, and of Indigenous Studies, at UC Santa Barbara. Previously, he was faculty in Ethnic Studies at Oregon State University. He earned his doctorate in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego. He is author of Native Space: Geographic Strategies to Unsettle Settler Colonialism (OSU Press 2017), and several writings focused on comparative Ethnic Studies, Indigenous Studies, geography, experiential learning, Indigenous public art, and pedagogy. He currently serves as editor for the Ethnic Studies Review journal.

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Published

2025-04-17

How to Cite

Barnd, N. (2025). Being Bad Guests: Teaching Ethnic Studies with Study Abroad. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 37(2), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v37i2.658