“We Witnessed You Not Being There”: Colliding With Problematic Leadership on Study Abroad Programs

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the experiences of students and myself with other teacher-mentors during several international education programs. By sharing our experiences, I intend to initiate conversations on how to be more supportive of students and create critically minded international experiences.

Perspectives: As a feminist who does anti-racist work, I paid particular attention to the intersections between race, gender, and class during the international programs I have been a part of as well as research about them. My research was also informed by CRT researchers’ “skepticism of liberal approaches” (Bergerson, 2003, p. 52) to race and racism, such as objectivity (or the belief that one can separate their subjectivities from their teaching or mentoring) and colorblindness (or erasing the importance and impact of race-based experiences).

Methods and Data: This practitioner-based inquiry (Author, date; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009; Hubbard, 2003) was based on my experiences as a leader on three international programs: one program I led to an African country that met up with other study abroad groups, and two iterations of a program that I co-led to a South American country. In all cases, the international experience was embedded within a semester-long education course at a university in the USA. The course covered local history and educational systems, the native language and cultures, globalization, postcolonialism and race, and a critique about US American volunteerism abroad.

The data were: transcribed interviews with 14 students after the most recent study abroad program, my observation notes during the three classes and their international components, and my personal journals. I used a general, interpretive based analysis of the data with open coding (Hatch, 2002).

Results/Conclusions: Three major themes emerged: embodying problematic moments (Kent & Cumming, 2008) about difference across language and disability, antagonism directed toward the students, and not following through on “promises” made to students. These experiences made the students feel “disrespected,” that the leaders should have acted “more appropriately,” and that they could only come to me to talk or ask questions. Also as a result of these instances, I felt that I had to separate myself from the other leaders for the sake of my relationship with the students as well as the impact I foresaw it having on students’ participation in my research. This prompted my conscious attempts to get to know the students and mediate conversations between the other leaders and the students.

Significance: This paper provides both students’ and a leader’s perspective on the impact of problematic leadership in an international program. Quotes from the students clearly reveal how their experience and relationships with the leaders (including myself) were negatively impacted. This paper also shares my strategies for negotiating these problematic moments. Thus, this paper has significance for other international program practitioners and those interested in navigating problematic and cross-cultural experiences.