Study abroad for students of color: a third space for negotiating agency and identity

Consistently low levels of study abroad participation by students of color have fueled extensive anecdotal advice literature and a few empirical studies that examined perceived barriers to access. Literature that explores the experiences of students of color who studied abroad remains extremely limited. The primary goal of this research was to add the narratives of study abroad of students of color to the literature. Documenting these experiences allowed me to investigate the role of identity in the study abroad process and to develop a conceptual framework of the study abroad experience for students of color from a Critical Race Theory perspective. This longitudinal qualitative research included 47 study abroad returnees who participated in six interviews and five focus groups that took place 3-6 and 12-18 months after return. Participants had studied abroad for a semester or year in cross-cultural immersion programs in 16 countries. The findings indicated that study abroad was a unique context for leveraging and building social and cultural capital, critically negotiating intersecting identities, and developing agency. These results helped to re-conceptualize study abroad as a transformative process that begins when students first believe that it is possible and continues well beyond return. Additionally, these findings suggested that study abroad acts as a Third Space for students of color in which they can freely reconsider their social locations and the impact that they want to have on the world. The student narratives in this study lent support to arguments that study abroad can promote citizenship, democratization, and humanization for participants and their host communities.