(Re) Presenting Study Abroad through the 'Colonial Library'
dc.contributor.author | Woods, Zuleka Randell | en |
dc.contributor.committeechair | Luke, Timothy W. | en |
dc.contributor.committeechair | Faulkner, Brandy S. | en |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Soledad, Michelle Millete | en |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Hall, Ralph P. | en |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Caraccioli, Mauro J. | en |
dc.contributor.department | Public Administration/Public Affairs | en |
dc.date.accessioned | 2025-06-06T08:00:34Z | en |
dc.date.available | 2025-06-06T08:00:34Z | en |
dc.date.issued | 2025-06-05 | en |
dc.description.abstract | As the U.S. continues to prioritize the internationalization of higher education, studyabroad participation has doubled in the last decade. To correspond with this increased interest and prepare students for an intercultural workforce, the study abroad programs of colleges and universities have diversified travel destinations to include countries on the continent of Africa, most of which have colonial histories. Relying on scholarship from postcolonial studies, critical tourism studies, and higher education, this analysis addresses the social imaginary that anchors study abroad programs in such host countries on the African Continent. Specifically, it concentrates upon how and why the depiction of Africa sustains problematic images and narratives in continuously running promotional campaigns on study abroad websites. This critical analysis then examined how closely such representation of Africa is subconsciously included, if not intentionally reproduced, in colonial depictions by deploying the insights of Congolese postcolonial scholar, V.Y. Mudimbe, whose work arguably discloses the subtle distortions in the mass marketing of studying in Africa to American students. Indeed, it suggested the commodification of study abroad programming reanimates often othered and subjugated images of Africa for the students, staff, parents, and faculty who interact in the institutions of study abroad learning. The case is made through research methods grounded in the content analysis of 1022 images of study abroad programs collected and analyzed using Mudimbe's postcolonial framework. This method yields a more complete and nuanced understanding of what images are projected of Africa, as well as which pedagogical practices are highlighted in study abroad educational recruitment, management, and delivery that sustains 3 such learning as colleges and universities struggle to internationalize their higher education programming. The findings of this study strongly indicate that the representation of Africa by U.S. colleges and universities aligns closely with the subjugated representations as Mudimbe's critique asserts. Additionally, this cultural continuity to earlier colonial era themes and tropes too often return images tied to wild jungles, destitution, starving children, and vast empty landscapes to animate the imagery of the locales that study abroad programs focus upon by going to Africa. U.S. higher education institutions play a key role in regenerating and reshaping colonial narratives for those enrolling in study abroad programs whose travel purportedly pursues expanding and diversifying their participants' intercultural learning goals. My work's findings point out both practical difficulties and academic contradictions created by these educational endeavors | en |
dc.description.abstractgeneral | Studying abroad remains an avenue for U.S. colleges and universities to expand learning beyond the classroom in their pursuit to produce the pedagogical practices for developing culturally competent global citizens. The representation of travel destinations is shared on the pages of study abroad print brochures and electronic websites to market these programs to their current students and attract potential new applicants. The images used by colleges and universities to portray these destinations were used to examine how Africa is represented. Through a visual content analysis, 1,022 images of study abroad programs going to Africa were analyzed using the postcolonial theory of V.Y. Mudimbe as its central analytical framework. Key findings from the analysis are that the main themes of institutional presentations support Mudimbe's claim that many Western countries' institutions continue to use images that convey subjugated representations of Africa. These results show Africa's representation from U.S. colleges and universities aligns with the colonial era images such as wild jungles, animals, large empty landscapes, and culture. Similar to the web page images used by international development institutions and global charity organizations, the representations of Africa by colleges and universities focus on images of urban slums, undernourished children, rural destitution, and foreign nationals performing social service work in such settings. These findings suggest that one of the most prominent purposes of university study abroad education offered by U.S. colleges and universities reproduces colonial images and narratives in their representation. 5 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated primarily to my sister, Dr. Kolu Baysah-Clark, whose winds I have been riding on all my life. Also, to my parents, Randy Dramani Dauda, my late father whose love language was education, and Beatrice Lorpu Dougba, whose prayers propelled my growth and confidence. | en |
dc.description.degree | Doctor of Philosophy | en |
dc.format.medium | ETD | en |
dc.identifier.other | vt_gsexam:43403 | en |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10919/135082 | en |
dc.language.iso | en | en |
dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
dc.rights | In Copyright | en |
dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en |
dc.subject | Africa | en |
dc.subject | Post colonial studies | en |
dc.subject | Representations | en |
dc.subject | study abroad | en |
dc.title | (Re) Presenting Study Abroad through the 'Colonial Library' | en |
dc.type | Dissertation | en |
thesis.degree.discipline | Planning, Governance, and Globalization | en |
thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
thesis.degree.level | doctoral | en |
thesis.degree.name | Doctor of Philosophy | en |