Destination: Wokeness? Possibilities for exploring domestic educational travel as conscientizing praxis

Abstract

I explore the possibilities for domestic educational travel to impact students’ understandings of racism, and their attitudes and planned behaviors toward enacting change in their communities. Prompted by movements for racial justice and drawing from the critical pedagogies of Paulo Freire, students on the “America’s Race Issues” community engagement program traveled throughout the Northern and Southern US to explore issues impacting the Black experience, such as slavery and the Civil War, the civil rights movement, environmental injustice, contemporary racial justice activism, and community organizing. Six students documented their experiences through photos and participated in interviews that illuminated the program’s impact on their process of conscientization. The program contributed to students’ conscientization in various ways and to varying degrees, yet shortcomings exist. This study suggests that domestic educational travel with a purposeful focus on race and racial justice activism can contribute to student conscientization, but further research and program improvement is needed.