Transporting “Race” Abroad: Supporting Study Abroad Students & International Students through Racial Identity Exploration & Development

By Lauren Chow

Study abroad can play a valuable role in a student’s development throughout their college career. According to IIE’s Open Doors Report, over 330,000 US undergraduates participate in some type of education abroad every year, and study abroad students have been shown to have higher graduation rates, retention rates, and GPAs. Internationalization has emerged as a hot buzzword on campuses across the country over the past decade as the higher education community recognizes the value of international education experiences and their impact not only on students’ development, but also on the institution’s prestige and strength. 

What makes study abroad such a high-impact practice? The AAC&U named diversity/global learning one of its 10 High-Impact Educational Practices for its impact on helping students “explore cultures, life experiences, and worldviews different from their own.” Experiential learning through study abroad can be augmented by courses and programs on campus. Since college is such an integral time for students’ identity development, it is particularly important for them to investigate how these identities may translate abroad and across cultures. 

One such identity is racial/ethnic identity. When we talk about race in the United States, we are often navigating difficult conversations surrounding privilege and oppression, histories of slavery and immigration and land, and violence both physical and systemic. All of these conversations, however, are situated uniquely within the US context that has been inextricably shaped by those histories. When a student is suddenly thrust into a place where that has not experienced those same histories and has different cultural contexts and norms around these conversations -- what then? A student who identifies as and is commonly read as Black in the US could easily be read as white in another country that did not have a “one drop rule.” An Asian-American student from the US may encounter confusion when explaining their hyphenated identity in a country that draws different boundaries on the concepts of nationality and ethnicity. Students used to being a minority may suddenly be part of the majority, and vice versa. While all of these situations can be challenging without the right support, they can also be great opportunities for learning, exploration, and reflection. 

I have seen similar challenges and learning opportunities arise in my work with incoming exchange students who come to study for a semester or year in the US. International students coming from their own cultural and historical contexts surrounding race may take some time to adjust to and learn about the complex racial system in this country and how to navigate conversations about race here. Students who were part of the majority racial group in their home country and are now perceived as people of color in the US may experience racism for the first time; students who are perceived as White in the US but come from places where Whiteness is constructed differently may need to understand their positionality in this new context. 

For international students, language may also be an additional factor depending if English is their first language and how comfortable they feel using it. I have spoken to international students who feel confused and isolated when they have used terminology to refer to certain races that was perceived as offensive by domestic students, but which the student had no knowledge of the connotations associated with those words. Many seemingly ordinary English words can carry a great deal of historical weight in race conversations in the US, and some international students might feel as if they are navigating a minefield if they are not familiar with the norms of these dialogues and have no education around them.

What are strategies that we can use to support students through identity shifts as they sojourn abroad, whether “abroad” for them is outside the US or here on our campuses? In my work as an education abroad advisor, my team and I make identity and culture a primary module in our pre-departure orientation programming. Students complete written assignments online that ask them to reflect on how their identities may shift in the place where their study abroad program is located; an in-person session covers differences in cultural values and prompts students to discuss scenarios which not only they may be navigating, but also which friends and classmates may need support in. In my dual role supporting exchange students at my institution, I also have co-presented a session on “Race in the US” during international student orientation which explains the basics of the racial system here and prompts new students to think about how they will navigate race here. 

However, more can always be done. How can we follow up with students both during and after their programs abroad, when they may understand these ideas even better having experienced them? Partnering with student affairs professionals in other areas of campus is essential here, as study abroad and international student services offices often do not have significant contact with students once they have made it past arrival to their destination, and especially not after they return home. Residential life, career services, wellness and counseling services, student life, and diversity and inclusion professionals can all play a part in this learning process. Going beyond “How was __ country? / It was great!” to probe deeper into how study abroad returnees’ identities have developed can cement their understanding of another context as well as a new perspective on their own. Making norms around discussing race explicit for international students who may be wanting to engage, but don’t know how, can make a big difference between them feeling isolated and avoiding these conversations, to engaging and contributing to our campus communities. Together, we can make international education not only represent an exciting time of discovery while students are abroad, but also to become a pivotal learning opportunity for identity exploration and cross-cultural understanding that continues long after they return.

Bio of Lauren Chow

Lauren (Lo) Chow, is an Education Abroad Advisor at Babson College outside Boston, MA, where she advises students for education abroad and also supports incoming exchange students. She is also ACPA Commission for Global Dimensions of Student Development Directorate Board Member-at-Large.

She holds a BA in cognitive science and educational studies from Carleton College in Minnesota and is currently pursuing an MA in international higher education and intercultural relations from Lesley University, where her research focuses on the intersections of international and multicultural higher education.

Lo has studied abroad in Kyoto, Japan; Dubai, UAE; and Malang, Indonesia (the last through the Critical Language Scholarship program); as well as completing 2 years as a Fulbright grantee in Kodiang, Malaysia. She currently serves on Diversity Abroad's LGBTQ+ task force and the planning committee for the Lessons From Abroad New England Conference.