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The Romance of Crossing Borders Studying and Volunteering Abroad Edited by Neriko Musha Doerr and Hannah Davis ra·ieb berghahn NEW YOR~ • OXFORD www.b,rghahnbooh.con, s For the McChe sneys, my counselor Pri t ers, my host families and ll f , es s. trands. Davises. and Park- Published in 2017 by Z · a my nends in K · ealand, my beloved study abroad d t· . ap1t1 Coast. Aotearoa/New es matton. 8erghahn Books -Ne1rl<o Mush a Doerr www berghahnbooks.com For my colleagues at the CIEE Pa n.s center for f rec ors throughout the world d f ' my ellow resident di- t © 2017 Neriko Musha Doerr and Hannah Davis Ta\eb gratitude for all the wonderful;~ or n:'Y trusted US colleagues. with on our practice. versahons that inspired me to reflect Hannah Davis Taieb Al\ nghts reserved Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of cntic1sm and review. no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical. including photocopying, recordmg. or any information storage and retneva\ system now known or to be invented. without wntten permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Doerr, Neriko Musha, 1967-editor I Davis Ta1eb, Hannah. editor. Title The romance of crossing borders · studying and volunteering abroad I edited by Neriko Musha Doerr and Hannah Davis Tateb Descnption: New York : Berghahn Books, 2017 I Includes mdex. Identifiers· LCCN 2016053198 (pnnt) I LCCN 2016058381 (ebool<) I ISBN 9781785333583 (hardback · a\k paper) l ISBN 9781785333590 (ebook) Subjects LCSH foreign study -Social aspects. I Volunteerism- Soc1al aspects. I International education- Social aspects. I Co\lege students· Intellectual life I Educational anthropology. Classification LCC LB2375 R66 2017 (print) I LCC LB2375 (ebook) I DDC 370116/2· dc23 LC record available at https 1/lccn loc gov/2016053198 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Pata A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 978-1-78533~358-3 ISBN (hardback) 978-1-78533-359-0 ISBN (ebook) Contents List of Tables ix Preface: The Romance of Study Abroad X Michael Woolf Acknowledgements xvi Part I. Introduction Chapter 1. Affect and Romance in Study and Volunteer Abroad: Introducing our Project 3 Nenko fvlusha Doerr and Hannah Davis Taieb Chapter 2. Study Abroad and Its Reasons: A Critical Overview of the Field 35 Hannah Davis Taieb and Neriko fvlusha Doerr Part II. Studying with{out) Passion: Study Abroad and Affect Chapter 3. Passionate Displacements into Other Tongues and Towns: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Shifting into a Second Language 69 J<aren Rodnguez Chapter 4. Sojourn to the Dark Continent: Landscape and Affect in an African Mobility Experience 93 Bradley Rink Chapter 5. Thinking Through the Romance 114 Hannah Davis Taieb, with Emily Bihl, fvlai-Linh Bui, HyoJung Kim and Kaitlin Rosenblum viii • co~l 1l~ Tables Chapter 6. Fa\Hng In/Out of Love with the Place: Affective Investment. Perceptions of Difference. and Learning in 139 Study Abroad Nenl<o /v!usha Doerr Chapter 7. Learning Japanese/Japan in a Year Abroad in Kyoto: Discourse of Study Abroad. Emotions, and Construction 166 Table 4.1. Analysis of student re perception) sponses (retrospective of Self 104 Yuri l<umagai m. Table 4.2. Analysis of student responses (current perception) 109 Part Serving with Passion: Romantic Images of Self and Other in Volunteering Abroad Table 9.1. Research Stud Parti I Marshall Islands Volun~eers c ~a~ts- Returned WorldTeach an emograph1c Information 244 Chapter 8. One Smile, One Hug: Romanticizing "Making a Difference# to Oneself and Others through 195 Table 9.2. Pa r t1 C1pants' Interview Transcnpts 246 English-Language Voluntourism Cori Jakubiak Chapter 9. #People with Pants": Self-Perceptions of 220 WorldTeach Volunteers in the Marshall Islands Ruochen Richard Li Conclusion 251 Hannah Davis Taieb and Neriko /v!usha Doerr Student Photo Essay 276 /v!organ Greer. Lee-Anna John. Richard Suarez. Carla Vil/ads f)rcf a.c • xi liquid tones melted hearts with lyncs in . love was tragically interesting and . . which the pain of unrequited In this context a romantic is the s~:;e~;sttbly attractive (or so we hoped). Preface are logical collocations. They also k ~ers_on for whom moon tn June This form of romance eep onsts ,n business The Romance of Study Abroad may, ostensibl h with study abroad but the P y, ave tenuous connection t ( . · rocess of attracti ton with the co-related potential f . on. romance, and seduc- Michael Woolf resonates metaphoncally with the stu: re1ect10~ and abandonment) ways. Martha Johnson argues th t ent expenence in a number of pectations parallel romant1·c a , m predeparture phases, student ex- . expectations "Th . . . ration are analogous to a l . .' e antlc1pat1on and prepa- 'bl d · ong awaited first dat m date by the time the student d .. e, and tn many cases a Study abroad is at so I eparts (2012: 33). , me eve\ an en landscape populated by ,conic ima ,e . .g a~ement with a dreamed There are broadly three concepts covered by the word ·romance·: ro combination of curiosity im . g s proJecttons that are formed by a mance as a courtshlP process. as an artlstic sensibility, and as a \<.ind . , agmat,on and pa · m 1cates: "the ability of th ·. . sston, as Martha Johnson of fanciful delusion. In all three, there are demonstrable connections d . e city to ehctt a · 1 sponse is a powerful but often als viscera and emotional re- with study abroad. The essays in this co\1ection. expUdt\y or implidtly, abroad" (2012: 32). o untapped element of the experience exp\ore these connections that. by way of introduction. I will catego rize as "\ove at first sight/site," as "the exa\ted mood.'' and as ·stereotyp As in any relationship, the earl da s by euphoria, unease, excitement y b y of engagement are marked lcal myopia." In love at first sight/site, students engage in a relatlonship feelings that frequently characte ·. em_a rrassment and all the cluster of with location that is analogous to courtship. The exalted mood (William . nze ntuals of r · some pomt the student ma d' omanhc engagement At Wordsworth's term) is marl<.ed by heightened sensibility, emotional in Y 1scover that th 1 . · m. adore London but are odd\ ct·tt ey ove Pans or hate Ber- tensity, and a focus on the self. what Georg Wilhelm Friedrich \-legel 1ro mance is embedded in the ;/ m. I ere.nt to Rome. The language of called "absolute inwardness·:1 notions that for good and/or mr everber of place· ays m which we relate to the d1 scovery ate around student expenence abroad. Stereotypical myopia relates to the state of sem1awareness in which student preconceptions are not challenged or disrupted· a faUure of educational responslb1hty. The romance of study abroad is then a set of dynamics that may form The Exalted Mood and inform ways in which students engage with their host env1Tonments. 6 !he romantic is not of course sole\ ab mg tn and out of love in wha~ th out the curious business of fall- demonstrates m "The, Prelude" (1;99~e1~k; called ·Er~s: As Wordsworth Love at First SighVSite tual lo_ve. or "Agape," is expressed thr SJ, something closer to spin ters with ideas and lands ough the exalted mood; encoun- Romance 1s a ntua\ that seems oddly archaic in these more utilitarian . cape marked by heightened intensity· ttmes. It was a process through which (when l was a \ad) we aspired to TW~1sh spiritual Love acts not nor can exist . move trom attraction to seduction. a set of gestures aimed at ultimate 11 t out Imagina ti on whi.c h. in truth intimacy. Important artifacts such as flowers and muslc were employed 1 but another name for absolute power as visual and audio aids For an earlier generation, by way of example. An~ clearest insight, amplitude of mind the songs of Fran\<. Sinatra proved to be somewhat effective. This was n Reason m her most exalted mood . part\Cu\ar\y true of the Capitol Record years. from 1953 to 1961. when xii • Michael Woolf A Hopeless Romantic Wordsworth engaged with natural and built enwonments ta field of ir:t7d daffodtls and Westminster Bridge) with the kind of intenstty that trans A far less desirable outcome is s delusion and a form of distorted by t~e idea of romance as a formed the external world into internal epiphany. Place is more than may ~ndorse stereotypical constru~t pa In this sense, a romantic view geography and history; it has the power to transtorm consciousness. locations are frequently presented ths. By way of illustration. European Ttm Blanning argues that in the Romantic imagination, "the inner self ~bout ·authenticity." Those usually d rough unchallenged assumptions was everything: if the hght did not shine brightly from within, nothing ost 1den~1ties that were, m any ca enve from romantic nostalgia for worthwhile could be achieved" (2010: 31). The idea of authenticit d se, mostly illusory. The Romantics embedded movement in their phtlosophy both in a r the" Y enves from d . d '.ea Spatn or Italy, or wherever Th an t ea of what constttutes llteral sense tengagement wtth place acts as a catalyst for heightened I eahzed images Jerusalems of th.e ese .notions are usually rooted in perception). and metaphorically m that an objective was to move from the loss of the real England for ex i~agmat1on Lamentations about one level of consciousness to another higher form of intensity.! At the s1on of a dreamed land , amp e. customarily denve from center ot our endeavor is the notion of disturbance as an educattonal . scape shaped b E r a ver nng Hugh Grant, conservative (and y a mg comedies or films star- aspnation The heart of the liberal educational ideal is the asphat1on good old days. and countless fant . Conservative) delusions about the to create experiences that broaden. challenge, and disrupt students· for the most part' based on romanatsi1ceis odf pastoral community· Th ey are assumptions In a domesttc context. the challenge of new ideas can mshed by time. or by current reality ze images untouched and untar~ achieve that purpose. ln study abroad the process of disturbance is both physical and intellectual: opportunities to broaden and deepen student The notion of th e real Spain is fill t1ons of Hemingway's heroic land erect through imperfect recollec thought are enhanced by simultaneous engagement with the unfamil- men. and mystenous dark-hatred s;'.,"pes, populated by noble and stlen; tar m both 1deas and locations. mg. if ~enacmg, beauty; but ar~ th;peramental women of outstand The paradox through whtch exposure to new external environ- authenttc, less real, than the sawd beaches of Benidorm really less ments may enlighten and enrich the inner self was well understood by ists drinking lager in the pubs b L~:t bars of Pamplona? British tour the Romantic poets. as demonstrated by Shelley in "Mont Blanc· Lmes ~~uld an unreal Spain look like? ~h ant1~e Beach look very real What Wntten in the Vale of Chamouni": t1c1ty are usually expressions o. ere is ,t? In short. notions of authen ex,st. if at all, in fictions, myths :;~:antic nostalgia for lost worlds that Thou art pervaded with that ceaseless motion. abroad marketing, and, of course t io_n an~ identity, thoughtless study Thou art the path of that unresting sound D12zy Ravine• and when I gaze on thee Study abroad ,s littered with ,roounst_offices. I seem as m a trance sub\tme and strange ~lter~d through some combination:~ntlc versions of national identity To muse on my own separate fantasy, t1on, ~conic images, advertising stereotype, manufactured tradi My own, my human mind Spamard is as hkely to be an a~~~::erce. and myth In reality the true anecdotally, more accountants than b nil~ ash a b~llhghter and there are, The mterplay of mind and space reflects. in rhetoncal and idealized form, u 9 ters m Madrid the l<.1nd of creative engagement that is aspirattonal for study abroad studTenhtes .R omanhcs were essentlally cosmopolitan in that they sought Conclusion: This Is a F1·ne Ro mance to expand their consciousness beyond the parochtal ln a literal sense, many of them traveled widely and recognized that new locations (par It is apparent that there are man w . mance resonates with the ende Y ays m which consideration of ro ticularly the Hellenic and Medtterranean worlds) offered radical ways of ;phor for understanding stude:;~~o f study abroad. It may offer a met: understanding place as the interaction of senstbihty. h1story, geography, omanttc tmagination, it represents ;~gement w1:h new spaces; in the and myth. Perception 1s redefined and transformed 1n the process. The orm of ennched and heightened redehnitton of perception is a core value m study abroad. f>;, ,.,. ( • xv xiv • Michael woon BF labn ning, .T im 2010 The Ro mant1c Revoluti L er er. Mtchael 2010 Romanticism A on ondon We,denreld and Nicolson sens1bihty that could prohtably disturb and disrupt students' precon University Press Very Short Jntroducuon Oxrord Oxford ceptions; 1n an alternative sense. it should teach us what to avO\d the Galltz. Kathryn Calley Romant1c1sm D dissemination of unchallenged stereotypes ropohlan Museum of Art. http //w~;r~ment of European Pa1nlmgs. Met Perhaps most signihcant\y the Romantic Movement reminds us of roma hlm. accessed 29 Apnl 2015 etmuseum org/toah/hd/roma/hd the power that creauve thought and imaginative introspection has to Johnson, Martha 2012 'C1 t Y as Relat.io nship· I Tl reshape ways in which we see the world. If our students \earn what ronments as the Classroom in Ed . n ,e City as Text Urban Envr Michael Ferber identifies as a key element in the Romantic imagination. s EGdnusctwatoioond and M Woolf. 32 35 u(°ant1doonn A abnroda dB.o Ostcocna siCoAnPaAl P Ia np 1ee rrn 1a. te>do n;a l we w1\l surely ennch thetr hves: helley. P.e rcy Bysshe 1817 "M onl Bl ane Lme W 'The imagination was not a b\anl< slate. not just the passive power to In History or a Six Weeks .,,.,o ur th rough as ntten m the Vale of Chamou rn • register. remember and compare perceptions or ·images· but an active many and Holland London Hookham part of France. Switzerland. Ger- power to shape the perceptions themselves in fundamental ways And Wordsworth, Wilham 1888 'The P I 177 Poetical Works London Macm:~a~de. Book Fourteenth. In The Complete everyone had it (2010 xx) In Blanning's v1ew "the romantic revo\utton ts not over yet" (2010· 186). The potential for profound alteration remains within a\l of us as we con template, explore, and analyze the troubled spaces of our world. Dr. Michael Woolf is the deputy president for strategic development at CAPA Global Educauon Network. Mike has had much of his career in an international context. Pnor to working in mainstream mternational educatton. he taught Amencan literature m the umversities of Hu\\. Mid dlesex. Padova. and Venice and worked as a researcher-writer for BBC radio He has held leadership roles in international educatton for many years with FIE. ClEE. and Syracuse University. He has written widely on international educatton and cultural studies. He serves on a number of boards and was a member of the Board of Dnectors of the forum on Education Abroad trom 2006 to 2012. Notes 1 Cited in B\anning 2010, 9 2 From a cynical viewpoint ,t may be argued that the exclamation mark. a recurrent indication of multiple epiphanies m Romantic poetry. 1s a form of hyperbole that resonates with the kinds of inflated rhetoric famlliar in study abroad Beyond that somewhat superficial critique. there 1s also a more positive implication for our \earning objectives Refecences Berlin. Isiah 1999 The Roots of Romanticism Princeton. NJ Princeton Univer· s1ty Press. .,.. Acknowledgements PARTI Introduction We are grateful to the students who participated in our studies and contributed to this volume, the study.abroad and volunteering-abroad professionals who welcomed us as we carried out these studies, col leagues who commented on our presentation based on these chapters at the Forum on Educatton Abroad conference in 2013, and our tamtly and fnends who helped us formulate the ideas and supported us whtle we engaged in this work. We would also \il<e to thanl< the anonymous peer revtewers: we have tried to mtegrate mto this volume our reactions to thetr helpful and stimulating comments The text's dehc1endes are wholly our responsibility. CHAPTER 1 Affect and Romance in Study and Volunteer Abroad Introducing our Project Neriko Musha Doerr and Hannah Davis Ta·ieb Romance 1s at the heart of our travel fever. We romanticize landscapes, people, languages, and the very fact of movmg across borders, of en countering and learning something new. of transforming ourselves as well as others Study abroad and volunteering abroad are fueled by these passions. by this romance And along with this romantic passion comes other emotions: fear of the unknown mixed with thrilling at traction to its temptations; longing for liberation, yearning to make a difference: guilt about one's privilege; moral righteousness; and hope for growth, transformation. and enlightenment. What kind of affect helps students form deep, long·lastmg rela tionships with people during their travels? What kind of affect thwarts or dehumanizes encounters? What kind of affect drives study abroad students to understand their sociocultural surroundings and participate in wider social activities? What kind of affect leads them to withdraw into transient observer or consumer pos1t1ons? How do study and vol unteenng abroad programs generate. shape. or transform such affect? What drives the romanticization of border-crossing and the construc tion of the border itself? And how does affect tie in to larger social and economic structures around us, to neollberal and globalist and other world transformations, to the subjectiv1t1es of our t1me7 These are the questions that inspired us to put together this volume. As a collaborat1on between researchers and study abroad practi tioners with diverse expertise- cultural anthropology. geography, ed ucation. foreign language education, and psychoanalysis-this edited All<_, a "'d Roma'"ln" n SI l d y a1d Vou., teer Abroad • 5 4 • Neril<o M..,sha Oor-rr and Hannah Davis 1a1£b growing dramatically. but littl analy~,s of these phenomena~ ser~us attention has been paid to th volume seeks to explore the romant\c passions and related affect of bor ~menc ans in parncular are be~:a t they suggest about what youn: der crossmg in the context of study abroad and volunteenng abroad by ecome Thus this volume at one mg and are being encouraged to students from American colleges and univers,ties professional · · e geared to the scholar and to the The framework that we bring to this mult,dtsciplinary volume is that of affect. As we will dtscuss below. we use the notion of affect to fo Our professional motivation 1 ::~~:trvention a_nd practical su;;!~~~:~na sk_~ estions with proac· cus not only on bodily response that cannot be s,gnitied (Buda 2015: s people instead of creatmg b mm . What kmd of affect d'Hauteserre 2015). but on how affect is mobilized and managed and sure our romantic desire and . . oundanes? How can we m how it shapes subjectivities-and how these processes are embedded in relat1onsh1p with the cultural cunos,ty for the exo\tc do not make ake broader economtc and polttical processes. in relations of power. ness and redirect emotions nothder mto voyeurism? How can we hour Why examine study abroad and volunteenng abroad in this way? kl d I or er to hu · ar- n s of mob1hzatlon and mana em marnze the encounter? What Fust of all. because of the mtens,ty of the affective load that surrounds power and domination and inste;d ~nt of affect reduce relations of study and volunteer abroad. Before travelling the destination is often In what follows, we will first /emforce egahtanan relations? surrounded in the mind by a romantic aura. driving and he,ghtening work and an overview of our app; es~nt a broader theoretical frame- the destre for change. for discovery. Once the student or volunteer ar situate th,~ volume's contnbutionti~c to ~ffect We will then go on to rives at the destination. other. equally strong emotions may come mto upo~ the issue of affect and border four fields whose interests touch play: love, or shame, or guilt, anger or fear, exhilaranon. deep disap· longing and the global. affect in the crossing: affect m the national be pointment. The strength and importance of these emotions is evident. ~elahons. of power, affect in leamin;nco:nter w~th the cultural Other in and is reflected in their use ,n marketing study abroad and volunteering introducing the chapters in this vol~ an affect m helping others. After abroad programs. as well as in the many practices of predeparture and scnpt that explams how th . me, the chapter ends with a ,s proJect began post· on-site professionals intended to handle these emotions to enhance outcomes defined as optimal. and m the wntings of students and vol unteers about their expenence. Furthermore. m the literature written by and for study abroad and volunteering abroad professionals. there Affect: Theoretical Frameworks is growing mterest m looking at emonons and affect and bringing this aspect of student experience squarely into discussions in the field. Our There is no single theory of affect S Massumi. one of the mfl ( e,gworth and Gregg 2010) F B approach to affect. pnmanly anthropolog,cal but also emerging from su . uenttal scholars f ff . or nan m, 995. 2010). the d1stinctton bet o a ect writing today (cf. Mas- other nelds. can contnbute to these dtscusstons. and ,s thus of interest 1 as they follow "different logics and we':n emot,on and affect is central for internattonal education and community serv,ce professionals. Massum, uses the word "emot' ~ertam to different orders· (1995· 88). This book is also geared for anthropologists. geographers. and from that point on defined as ,on to m.ean the. quahty of experi~nc~ cultural studies scholars who study affect m globahst/globahzing pro be mserted into the system of personal. it is a quahfled intensity" t cesses. encounters with cultural Others. travel and tourism. education. tbly. b ~ d'' Iy and autonomic: passmioena ning Aft ect, m. contrast. is irreduco- and humanitarian work Our turning of the lens onto study and volun :~1 m, s ~1stmct1ons. wntmg that ·meei Enc Shouse further c\anfles Massu- teer abroad contributes a new field of affect analysis that focuses on the 0 ~:;;.~~~'::s a;: sodaL and affects a,.';;;p:~i~::. and biog~phicaL construct,on and sustenance of difference in globalist processes. border d' penence of intensity· (Sh , ect here ,s a non- crossings involving less apparent relations of power. a field of experiential tiois cussed by Ka ren Rodnguez tn th ouse 2005· 5)· Ju r1 a Krtsteva. as learning m which what const\tutes ·tearrnng· is not dear. volunteer and 1 ma'::· sha'.ed with other vertebrates,~ vo u~e. distinguishes the emo- service work. and on intersections of affect and wider political economy. We cons,der the field of study and volunteering abroad to be a rich. chapt:~~i'°volve reflexive consctou;::,; l~n:::;;:i. w 8h01, cqhu aortee dh ~m- understudied domain for understanding the emergence of the subjec tivities of twenty-hrst·century selves. Study and volunteer abroad are

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