The Power of Being There: Study Abroad in Cuba and the Cultivation of a “Culture of Peace”

Abstract

While our primary motivation for carrying out this study has been to explore the power of US study abroad in Cuba for promoting a culture of peace, this work may have import beyond this specific setting for several reasons. First, participant evaluations designed to document transformative changes in the direction of cross-cultural deepening5 remain relatively rare in the study abroad field, despite clamor (e.g., Barber, 1983) from some international education circles to evaluate more systematically program outcomes (see Chieffo & Griffiths, 2004 for a review of the current status of this research). Even less common are studies that include groups from more than one sending institution and program, such as this study. This study is of further interest because it exclusively examines short term programs. In recent years, this program format has been rapidly increasing in prevalence (see Chin, 2003) but continues to provoke debate regarding program outcomes, particularly in relation to cross-cultural learning and adjustment. Many question how much an undergraduate really can learn about another country and about themselves in a cross-cultural setting in only a few weeks. With few exceptions (e.g., University of Delaware’s 2004 study cited by Chieffo & Griffiths, 2004), there is little sound research available to address the question of whether short-term programs are anything more than just glorified tourism, packaged as an academic course.