Recentering Host Siblings, Reimagining Partnerships: A Case Study on Reciprocity and Equity in Study Abroad Programs

Abstract

This article places young people at the center of knowledge production in study abroad programs. We employ a combination of relational learning and nested community of practice to demonstrate the significant roles that local young people play in cultural exchange, despite the usual marginalization by their parents and other local figures of authority. Using St. Lawrence University-Kenya Semester Program (SLU-KSP) as a case study, we interrogate the disconnects between program design and actual practice in study abroad. The data used in the paper were collected using a combination of methods from more than forty rural host siblings aged between 18-30 years. They were from two different ethnic communities in rural Kenya that have hosted our American undergraduate cultural exchange students for more than ten years. We argue that study abroad practitioners should embrace a cyclical model of cultural exchange and recognize the multilayered nature of local host communities. This would maximize the synergies present, manage expectations, and achieve desired reciprocity towards sustainable partnerships. Our paper therefore contributes to the existing theories on host communities by looking at the host family as a nested community of practice with partly interdependent social categories. Each of these categories, however, has its own agency, domain of knowledge and practices.

Abstract in Swahili                                                                 

Makala haya yanawaweka vijana kwenye kiini cha uzalishaji wa maarifa katika programu za kusoma ughaibuni. Tunatumia mseto wa ujifunzaji wa kihusiano na jamii iliyojengeka katika shughuli ili kuonyesha majukumu muhimu ambayo vijana wa eneo hilo hutekeleza katika mabadilishano na maingiliano ya kitamaduni, licha ya kutengwa kwa kawaida na wazazi wao na viongozi wengine wa eneo husika. Kwa kutumia Programu ya Muhula wa Kenya ya Chuo Kikuu cha St. Lawrence (SLU-KSP) kama mradi wa kutafitiwa, tunahoji mitengano kati ya muundo wa programu na mambo halisi yanayofanyika katika programu za kusoma ughaibuni. Data zilizotumika kwenye makala haya zilikusanywa kwa kutumia mchanganyiko wa mbinu kutoka kwa ndugu wenyeji zaidi ya arobaini wa vijijini wenye umri wa kati ya miaka 18-30. Walitoka katika jamii mbili tofauti katika maeneo ya mashambani nchini Kenya ambao wamekuwa wenyeji wa wanafunzi wetu wanaosomea shahada ya kwanza kutoka Marekani wa mabadilishano ya kitamaduni kwa zaidi ya miaka kumi. Tunajadili kuwa wataalamu wa masomo ya ughaibuni wanapaswa kukumbatia mtindo wa mduara wa mabadilishano ya kitamaduni na kutambua matabaka mengi ya jamii za wenyeji. Hii ingeongeza mashirikiano yaliyopo, kudhibiti matarajio, na kufanikisha usawa unaotarajiwa kuelekea ubia endelevu. Kwa hivyo makala yetu inachangia nadharia zilizopo kuhusu jamii wenyeji kwa kuiona familia mwenyeji kama jamii iliyojengeka katika shughuli iliyo na kategoria za kijamii zinazotegemeana kwa kiasi fulani. Kila moja ya kategoria hizi, hata hivyo, ina wakala wake, uwanda wa maarifa na shughuli.