As I was reading Talya Zemach-Bersin’s “Selling the World,” I thought that there were a lot of unfair criticisms of study abroad. I agree with the fact that it often has colonial undertones, and that many students use a foreign place and foreign people as an exciting backdrop for their own personal discovery and gain. However, I disagree with a lot of the other arguments that Zemach-Bersin made. I don’t agree that it always has to be problematic for white, or otherwise privileged, students to travel to less privileged countries. I honestly think it would be much more problematic for every white person to avoid going somewhere to learn about cultures that are different from theirs. Why should they only interact with people who have had similar privileges? It is an important choice to leave one’s bubble of comfort, and with the correct intentionality, I don’t think it is at all racist. That being said, Zemach-Bersin’s argument that students need to do a lot more research before going abroad really resonated with me. I think it is a problem if students are choosing to go to a more “exotic” place just for the “cultural currency,” and with little prior knowledge. The biggest difference here is between a student who goes on a whim and a student who does their research and has specific reasons behind their interest in a place.
During our discussion in class, one argument that a classmate made was that she wouldn’t want to go to a non-European country because of a fear of “doing something wrong.” A country of other white people would be the safer, and less scary choice. While there is some validity to that, and everyone is entitled to their own opinions and has their own study-abroad learning goals, I very much disagree with this point. I think that a fear of doing something wrong should not be a reason not to do anything. How can one learn and expand their worldview that way? Taking risks can be scary, but the outcome can be so much more valuable.
My perspective is that people are always going to complain. If you are a white person going to a non-white country, you are advocating some higher colonial agenda, but if you purposely avoid non-white countries, you are racist. The intentionality behind one’s decision to study in a specific place matters much more than anything else. Also, it feels wrong to make blanket statements about what is problematic and what isn’t, because life, and people, and their decisions are much more complex than that. There isn’t only good or bad, there’s nuance to the decision. I agree that there probably should be a reframing of what study abroad is about. It shouldn’t be a vacation, with a world that is “waiting for you!” It should be a rare and unique educational opportunity to interact with and learn from different people and ways of living.
