Perspective | Overseas, minorities see race in new light

After hearing friends who studied abroad rave about their experiences, College senior Hayling Price knew he had no choice but to follow in their footsteps.

He considered Spain to further his language skills but decided the cultural element was more important. He looked into Cuba because he has history and family there, but red tape made it infeasible. That brought him to programs in sub-Saharan Africa, where he finally settled on Ghana.

When family and friends asked about his choice, Price, who is black, described a "notion of a spiritual connection with West Africa" that he wanted to explore. And, he wanted to operate outside of his comfort zone.

"I wanted to be in a place that could teach me something about myself and about the world," Price said.

Students who are minorities in their home countries often find living elsewhere an illuminating and transformative experience. Although minority groups are underrepresented in study-abroad programs, those who do participate take home valuable perspectives on race relations and identity.

Penn Abroad associate director Patricia Martin said some minority students choose to study in a place that lets them connect with their heritage. Others choose a location that lets them perfect a language or a spot that simply intrigues them.

Race relations overseas

Wherever they end up spending their semester or year, students of color studying abroad experience race relations in a new light, said Makuu Black Cultural Center director Karlene Burrell-McRae. They're often perceived, for the first time, as American first and a representative of their ethnicity second.

Wharton senior Moses Esema said he was "very much labeled American" as a student in Rotterdam, Netherlands. That helped him see past racial divisions in the United States as well as gain insight into his experience as a black American, as he found that black Europeans don't share the same history or concerns he would find at home.

College senior Rachel Tran's time in Ghana taught her that "identities are constructed by where you are."

"I consider myself mixed here but wouldn't be mixed there," said Tran, whose mother is white American and father is Vietnamese.

And because she was "treated like a white person," aspects of Ghanaian culture that she could relate to because of her Vietnamese heritage - like the importance of extended family - were not acknowledged.

Looking at race relations play out between different groups in a different setting provides a new lens for experiences at home, said Wharton senior John Agbaje.

As he observed how North African students in Lyon, France were treated - the targets of "subtle cues" of racism - he realized his experience as a minority in America is not universal.

He said it's important for minority students to see "racism through stereotypes applied to other races," because they shatter assumptions about "the way the world works" in the U.S.

"When you come back, you're more conscious of the specific attributes people take away from looking at you," he added.

Burrell-McRae said some students are nervous about the role their race will play when they go abroad, while others have not given it a second thought. She leads discussion on the topic during a Penn Abroad 202 information session - one part of Penn's "multifaceted approach" to increasing the numbers of minorities who study abroad, Martin said.

They discuss issues students might confront, like the way the media shapes perceptions of people of color and the differentiation between curiosity and discrimination.

College senior Ling Tran, who works in the Penn Abroad office and studied in China, recalls how locals approached her black roommate on the street and touched her hair without permission.

Tran, on the other hand, learned what if felt like to be in the majority. She was greeted with "welcome back home" - even though she was born in America and is generations removed from China.

"They didn't have the same curiosity toward me," she said. "No one wanted to take pictures with me."

Price also found himself surrounded by people of the same color skin, which he said made him feel "more at home and at ease" in Ghana than in the U.S.

"Race wasn't the defining characteristic of your person," he said. "You interact with other human beings as individuals."

Encouraging the exchange

But the benefits of study abroad are not experienced by as many minorities as educators and experts would like.

According to the Institute of International Education, minority students make up 32 percent of undergraduates in the United States but only 17 percent of those who study abroad.

At Penn, 57 percent of the 685 students who studied abroad last year described themselves as white/caucasian, followed by 13 percent Asian/Pacific Islander and 5 percent Hispanic/Latino and black/African American. Fourteen percent of participants did not disclose their ethnicity, but even if they all belonged to a single minority group, white students would still represent the overwhelming majority.

These numbers motivated Andrew Gordon to launch Diversity Abroad, a Web site that promotes the benefits of global education for underrepresented groups.

Gordon said the disparities stem not just from financial constraints - which cross racial boundaries and can often be accommodated - but from cultural factors as well.

Because college is often considered a fast track to the job market, study abroad may be seen as excessive and irrelevant. Especially against a background of financial constraints, it can be seen as an off-limits luxury.

And more fundamentally, Gordon said, the concept of study abroad is not ingrained in many minority families - especially those in which relatives did not attend college or those who think going off to school is far enough.

Esema, a first-generation U.S. citizen, said convincing his Nigerian parents he should study abroad was a "fight until the very end."

"They said I came to Penn to study at Penn," Esema said. "They had to work hard to get here. Why would I have the desire to go somewhere else?"

The challenge, Gordon said, is communicating the importance of international education for a student's personal, professional and academic growth - and then helping make it a reality.

Penn Abroad promotes funding like the Gilman Scholarship, which targets underrepresented groups, and collaborates with other campus offices to increase awareness.

They also work to break down excuses - like going abroad being unaffordable or impossible with rigid course requirements - and tackle concerns that might make students reluctant to study abroad, from how to practice their religion to how to get their hair done.

"Amid so much information, it's interesting how so many of the myths and barriers continue," Martin said.

Burrell-McRae said a major part of encouraging students to go abroad is educating them and helping them plan as soon as they get to campus. For example, she said, most students who think they can't afford it are shocked to learn their financial aid transfers to accredited programs.

Minorities may also travel overseas in other capacities, like through summer programs and research grants, if a four-month stay isn't their best fit.

In her 12 years at Penn, Burrell-McRae added, students seem to be increasingly engaged in the study-abroad process.

Not only is the University making greater efforts through information sessions and outreach, but as more students go, they are sharing their stories and encouraging their peers to follow suit.

Price said speaking to two students who studied in Ghana the year before he went was compelling. "They felt a really strong connection, as if they had left a part of them back there," he said. And yet, he didn't truly understand until he did it for himself.

Readjusting to the pace of city life and trying to share his experiences with his family at Christmas when he returned was frustrating - he spent most of the holiday in the basement on the phone with friends from the trip.

"The rewards are more far-reaching than most people could imagine," he said. "It was a fundamentally transformative experience."

*This article was edited at 11:06 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2008 to correct an incorrect school and school year attribution to a name.

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