The Romance of Crossing Borders
The Romance of Crossing Borders
Studying and Volunteering Abroad
Edited by
Neriko Musha Doerr
and
Hannah Davis Taïeb
First published in 2017 by
Berghahn Books
© 2017, 2020 Neriko Musha Doerr and Hannah Davis Taïeb
First paperback edition published in 2020
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Doerr, Neriko Musha, 1967- editor. | Davis Taïeb, Hannah, editor.
Title: The romance of crossing borders : studying and volunteering abroad / edited by Neriko Musha Doerr and Hannah Davis Taïeb.
Description: New York : Berghahn Books, 2017. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016053198 (print) | LCCN 2016058381 (ebook) | ISBN 9781785333583 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781785333590 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Foreign study—Social aspects. | Volunteerism—Social aspects. | International education—Social aspects. | College students—Intellectual life. | Educational anthropology.
Classification: LCC LB2375 .R66 2017 (print) | LCC LB2375 (ebook) | DDC 370.116/2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016053198
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78533-358-3 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-78920-833-7 paperback
ISBN 978-1-78533-359-0 (ebook)
For the McChesneys, my counselor, Priests, Strands, Davises, and Parkers, my host families, and all my friends in Kapiti Coast, Aotearoa/New Zealand, my beloved study abroad destination.
—Neirko Musha Doerr
For my colleagues at the CIEE Paris center, for my fellow resident directors throughout the world, and for my trusted US colleagues, with gratitude for all the wonderful conversations that inspired me to reflect on our practice.
—Hannah Davis Taïeb
Contents
Preface: The Romance of Study Abroadx
Michael Woolf
Chapter 1. Affect and Romance in Study and Volunteer Abroad: Introducing our Project
Neriko Musha Doerr and Hannah Davis Taïeb
Chapter 2. Study Abroad and Its Reasons: A Critical Overview of the Field
Hannah Davis Taïeb and Neriko Musha Doerr
Part II. Studying with(out) Passion: Study Abroad and Affect
Chapter 3. Passionate Displacements into Other Tongues and Towns: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Shifting into a Second Language
Karen Rodriguez
Chapter 4. Sojourn to the Dark Continent: Landscape and Affect in an African Mobility Experience
Bradley Rink
Chapter 5. Thinking Through the Romance
Hannah Davis Taïeb, with Emily Bihl, Mai-Linh Bui, Hyojung Kim, and Kaitlin Rosenblum
Chapter 6. Falling In/Out of Love with the Place: Affective Investment, Perceptions of Difference, and Learning in Study Abroad
Neriko Musha Doerr
Chapter 7. Learning Japanese/Japan in a Year Abroad in Kyoto: Discourse of Study Abroad, Emotions, and Construction of Self
Yuri Kumagai
Part III. Serving with Passion: Romantic Images of Self and Other in Volunteering Abroad
Chapter 8. One Smile, One Hug: Romanticizing “Making a Difference” to Oneself and Others through English-Language Voluntourism
Cori Jakubiak
Chapter 9. “People with Pants”: Self-Perceptions of WorldTeach Volunteers in the Marshall Islands
Ruochen Richard Li
Conclusion
Hannah Davis Taïeb and Neriko Musha Doerr
Student Photo Essay
Morgan Greer, Lee-Anna John, Richard Suarez, Carla Villacís
Index
Tables
Table 4.1. Analysis of student responses (retrospective perception)
Table 4.2. Analysis of student responses (current perception)
Table 9.1. Research Study Participants—Returned WorldTeach Marshall Islands Volunteers and Demographic Information
Table 9.2. Participants’ Interview Transcripts
Preface
The Romance of Study Abroad
Michael Woolf
There are broadly three concepts covered by the word “romance”: romance as a courtship process, as an artistic sensibility, and as a kind of fanciful delusion. In all three, there are demonstrable connections with study abroad. The essays in this collection, explicitly or implicitly, explore these connections that, by way of introduction, I will categorize as “love at first sight/site,” as