Sleepless in Albuquerque: diversity,learning through service,and pedagogy of exploration |
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| Authors: | Neriko Musha Doerr |
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| Institution: | Humanities and Global Studies, Ramapo College, Mahwah, NJ, USA |
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| Abstract: | Community service trips are often viewed as educational because students supposedly cross socio-economic, racial, and other borders to engage with people of various backgrounds. However, diversity among students, their differing experiences of the service trip, and the ways they learn from each other’s experiences are rarely discussed. Based on ethnographic research conducted during an alternative spring break trip from the north-eastern United States to New Mexico in 2014, this article examines student narratives about their diverse experiences – particularly regarding staying at a hostel and going on hikes – and shows how they learned about the construction of differences from sharing their experiences. This article’s findings challenge the preconceived border between volunteers and the community members they work for as the only difference and show that service trips are often culturally biased in favour of white middle-class experiences. The article suggests “pedagogy of exploration” that encourages students to examine their own diverse experiences and what caused that diversity. |
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| Keywords: | Alternative break trip border-crossing experiential learning outdoor activities community service student diversity |
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