This US Independence Day, watching recent events unfold around the world, you might be considering what the implications of study abroad are to nationalism. Is patriotism compatible with making the most of study abroad?
Traditional thought from an internationalist perspective is that an immersive, meaningful study abroad experience would eliminate or reduce nationalistic tendencies. Patriots or nationalists might see their home country as exemplary—even exceptional—and, if so, can they really take anything meaningful from a study abroad experience?
Beyond public and governmental buildings or the World Cup, few countries will wave national flags more prominently than the United States. Why is that? Some countries associate their national flag with past national blunders or perceived shortcomings of nationalism. Why would that be different?
Can you be a good patriot and get the most out of study abroad? Does studying abroad foment warm feelings and a sense of togetherness? Political scientist Calvert Jones suggests there are a few unexpected outcomes to study abroad for US students. The most interesting is that students return from abroad often with a new understanding that, while we are often quite different from a study abroad host culture, we are less likely to see other nations and peoples as threatening or hostile. Instead of seeing others as enemies or adversaries, we might see them more as competitors or rivals.
As international education professionals, where we see benefits is the new perspectives students develop to help them approach issues and problems in the USA. Imagine you are working on water conservation in California's Central Valley and you spend a semester studying alongside Australians or Israeli students and how they have sought local solutions to similar problems. If you learn lesson from Australian or Israeli professors that you can then adapt to the Central Valley, does that make you more or less patriotic?
If you consider yourself a patriot and you are thinking about study abroad, you might consider some opportunities through the US government for international study, often with the expectation that you pursue employment or service with the US government after your academic career. One thing they often have in common? They expect you to work on a foreign language when many study abroad programs no longer require a foreign language. Here are some federally funded international opportunities for US citizens:
- The Boren Awards support students who pursue critical languages (those deemed critical to US interests) to spend significant focus on the target language during study abroad.
- The Critical Language Scholarship is a fully-funded summer study abroad program for students to pursue one of 15 critical languages. It's offshoot, CLS Spark, supports students pursuing Arabic, Chinese, or Russian online.
- The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship supports students who are eligible for the Pell Grant via financial aid to study abroad. It also offers a critical language supplement targeting the same languages as the Boren Awards.
Can you love your country while leaving it to study abroad? Why not?!
