Enacting Interdisciplinarity: Lessons from Crafting a Multi-Dimensional, Experiential Field Study

Abstract

Above and beyond the topical content of any given course— which would be in intent of (higher) education anywhere, even “at home”—the goals of international education are fairly grandiose: “to develop an awareness of self outside one’s own culture, to promote intercultural communication, and to encourage flexibility in adapting to a rapidly changing world” (Rotabi, Gammonley, and Gamble 2006, 453). Opportunities for study abroad have blossomed over the past several decades, though the practice is far from new. The benefits of study abroad are so well known, in fact, that some have begun to advocate for a more generalized conception of “study away” versus (only) “study abroad.” Sobania and Braskamp (2009), for example, argue that the main benefits of study abroad—acquiring a culturally sensitive perspective, improving flexibility and adaptability in unfamiliar situations, and increasing overall confidence and global awareness—are achievable even in domestic locales. The idea is that by relocalizing “away” exercises, program providers and faculty can capitalize on the lower cost of developing domestic programs and the fact the US has become so diverse that one need not travel far to interact with different cultural groups, meaning that students need not worry about going far when they can reach the same goals in a more attainable fashion (Sobania and Braskamp 2009). Though written more than a decade ago, the authors’ argument is especially pertinent in the contemporary moment, wherein the coronavirus pandemic has upended all of our programs, here and abroad. In other words, in a post(?)-COVID world, the notion that quality cross-cultural learning can occur in settings and modalities different from the ones we are used to—namely, those that are closer to home—is a compelling one at this particular time (and, indeed, may prove especially useful if higher education does not return to “normal” promptly). Challenges aside, the benefits of approaching and engaging with the perspectives of another culture—whether that interaction occurs close to or far from home—nevertheless retain their value: “Study abroad is an early form of experiential learning ... that allows students to put into practice the academic and theoretical ... embod[ying] the art of connecting to the other, of cultivating a mutually constitutive definition of self and other” (Carney 2018, 89). So, it seems, in some form or another, “study abroad” is here to stay. So how can we best configure study abroad to capture the widest array of benefits?