Coming Home as Strangers: Dialectical Transformation of Self-Identity in the Study Abroad Experience
Document Type
Honors Project
First Advisor
Dr. Harriet Hayes
Degree Award Date
Spring 2002
Keywords
Dialectical Transformation, Self-Identity, Study Abroad Experience
Disciplines
Place and Environment | Social Psychology and Interaction | Sociology | Tourism
Abstract
The experience of studying abroad is a dynamic opportunity for young adults to explore a new world. Students leave home to enter a new land, seemingly fantastic, yet strangely real. They essentially remove themselves from everything that is known, common, and comfortable to envelop their whole being in an alternate culture with the host group. The student enters a group as an outsider, attempting to understand the insiders' educational system and culture. Yet the student learns more than simply about a different cultural group. The individual emerges with an enhanced sense of personal identity transformation. Georg Simmel's concept of the "stranger" may be appropriate for understanding this transformation in the study abroad participant.
Recommended Citation
Riley, Lori Allison, "Coming Home as Strangers: Dialectical Transformation of Self-Identity in the Study Abroad Experience" (2002). Honors Projects. 407.
https://digitalcommons.bridgewater.edu/honors_projects/407