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ABSTRACT
The article examines whether short-term study-abroad (STSA) experiences can cultivate the cultural understandings and ethical commitments entailed by a cosmopolitan civic education. We examine students’ critical reflections on their participation in a two-week study-abroad program titled Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Bangladesh. Based on our analysis of student reflective essays, we argue that a well-designed STSA with multiple dialogical encounters with diverse constituents in the host county can provide students with significant opportunities to deepen and complicate their understanding of themselves as citizens with local, national, and global responsibilities. We use the study trip to Bangladesh as a “high impact” case study exploring the possibilities of STSA as a form of “dialogical cosmopolitan education.”
Notes
We should note that our class has drawn students from diverse academic backgrounds. Of the 47 students who have taken this course over its three iterations, nine were political science majors, six were environmental science majors, and five were international studies majors. The remaining 22 students were spread across other majors and academic divisions. Over the years, we had 32 female and 15 male students take our class. The breakdown by academic year is as follows: 15 seniors, 16 juniors, 9 sophomores, and 4 first-year students.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Giacomo Gambino
Giacomo Gambino is Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Philosophy/Political Thought program at Muhlenberg College. He teaches political theory and environmental politics, as well as courses in sustainability studies and Italian studies. He has developed and codirected study abroad programs in London and Bangladesh. He is the recipient of Paul C. Empie Memorial Award and the Donald and Anne Shire Distinguished Teaching Professorship.
S. Mohsin Hashim
S. Mohsin Hashim is a Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He directs the Dana Scholars program at the College. His primary research interest focuses on post-Soviet transitions. He is currently collaborating on a project that investigates Islamist political mobilization in Turkey and Bangladesh. He has been teaching the course Climate Change and Sustainable Development in Bangladesh with Giacomo Gambino since 2009. He also teaches courses on the political economy of development and globalization. He is the recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, the Paul C. Empie Memorial Teaching Award, and an Award for Outstanding Teaching in Political Science presented by the American Political Science Association and Pi Sigma Alpha.