Copyright by Tatiana Borisovna Segura 2008 - The University of ...

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STUDY ABROAD: A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE Chapter I: Introduction My interest in the area of study abroad programs grew out of my own experience as a study abroad student. In January 1995, I came to the University of Texas at Austin from Russia for a semester-long study abroad stay. This study abroad trip not only defined my future research interests, but also changed my whole life: several years later I got married and moved to the United States permanently. When I look back at my study abroad stay in the United States, I have no doubt that I went through a long and exhausting process of cultural adaptation. Yet, back in 1995, having received no study abroad orientation from my home university, I had trouble understanding what I was experiencing. I did not know how to cope with the effects of culture shock, how to deal with the tremendous emotional, psychological and even physiological impact it had on me. I still remember quite well the initial euphoria I felt upon landing in the United States: everything was new, exciting, fascinating. Eventually, this happy period of revelation and discovery was succeeded by a period of mild irritation and frustration because I was unable to function efficiently in what seemed to be the most basic everyday situations. I thought that this frustration was caused by the language barrier I was trying to fight so desperately. The feeling of frustration and dissatisfaction gradually led to the feeling of disappointment. It was disappointment with myself as a language learner (and I thought I spoke English fluently before I landed in the US), disappointment with the program I was a part of, disappointment with Americans and their culture (or rather what seemed to be a lack of one). Closer towards the end of my study abroad trip, this state of disappointment gave way to a desire to understand the new cultural 1
environment I found myself in, and with a better cultural understanding came acceptance and even empathy. I realized that cultural differences were natural and unavoidable, that there is more than one way of doing things, and finally, that being different is not always bad. It seems that within the period of six months, I went through a complete cycle of the process of cultural adaptation. Upon my arrival in the United States, I was also surprised to find out how culturally, ethnically and racially diverse this country is. It seems that I experienced the feeling directly the opposite to what many American students visiting Russia on study abroad programs experience. I got overwhelmed with the diversity of American culture, while many American students report being surprised by the cultural, ethnic and racial homogeneity of the Russian society. In the United States, I became much more aware of my own ethnicity or of my own ethnic identity as I would put it in the framework of my current research. I became conscious of the fact that I belong to the ethnic majority in my native country– this was something I never really thought about before. As a result of this new heightened ethnic awareness, I became more sensitive towards issues related to race and ethnicity. Finally, during this first trip to the United States I realized that there is a difference in the interpretation of gender and gender roles in Russian and American cultures. Back in 1995, I came to the conclusion that American women are largely liberated from gender-related stereotypes that still existed in Russia. It seemed that, unlike Russian women, many American women were extremely emancipated. I also observed that, according to my Russian standards, American men were often ill- mannered or impolite. For example, I noticed that my American boyfriend (who eventually became my husband) was rather reluctant to take full responsibility for paying restaurant bills – something I never had to deal with in Russia. Conversely, the famous 2
Page 1 and 2: Copyright by Tatiana Borisovna Segu
Page 3 and 4: Defining Self: Negotiating Cultural
Page 5 and 6: Acknowledgements I would like to ex
Page 7 and 8: Students belonging to ethnic minori
Page 9 and 10: Overview of gender-related research
Page 11: Recommendations for study abroad pr
Page 15 and 16: eproduced through the dominant ideo
Page 17 and 18: Acculturation is the process of ada
Page 19 and 20: their knowledge of the Russian cult
Page 21 and 22: STUDY ABROAD Chapter II: The Review
Page 23 and 24: learning more about self. Instituti
Page 25 and 26: abroad for a short time only, they
Page 27 and 28: proficiency as long-term programs,
Page 29 and 30: Identity and language learning Acco
Page 31 and 32: identities similar, however, is the
Page 33 and 34: Variables that affect acculturation
Page 35 and 36: information on the following topics
Page 37 and 38: In the study abroad context, howeve
Page 39 and 40: gender and, consequently, to the av
Page 41 and 42: called “gender-effect” is no lo
Page 43 and 44: eport in 1980, women do two thirds
Page 45 and 46: literature of the pre-communist per
Page 47 and 48: sex-role identity and women’s des
Page 49 and 50: of glasnost promoted by Gorbachev r
Page 51 and 52: everyday life of Russian women into
Page 53 and 54: influential change in perceiving th
Page 55 and 56: analysis of the experiences of a fe
Page 57 and 58: e arrived at, including the level o
Page 59 and 60: and following Hello’s et al. conc
Page 61 and 62: negative attitude towards Islam in
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against Russia exists. Brym and Deg
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Arminio 20). Since the subject of t
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It is important to keep in mind, ho
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DATA COLLECTING TECHNIQUES This stu
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At the conclusion of the pilot stud
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in abundance, it is the theoretical
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spell out things that are “sensit
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Acculturation Culture shock Cultura
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CULTURE SHOCK Chapter IV: Accultura
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to a new cultural environment, and
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American countries tend towards the
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It just seemed really weird to be b
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cross-cultural adjustment implies t
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stay in the dormitory and living wi
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could be also that women are more w
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eing interested in fashionable clot
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I saw that the Russians took their
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in Moscow: the Independent Women’
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my fate depends on me, and not on t
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Vsekh Form Diskriminatsii v Otnoshe
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socio-cultural context, including t
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sexual freedom or promiscuity of Ru
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As for catcalling situations, two f
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Moscow. The suburbs of Moscow that
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In terms of inter-gender behavior,
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domestic duties. This real inequali
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esearch on Russian women’s attitu
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policemen pulls you over, it’s pr
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favoritism or, on the contrary, bia
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Chapter VI: Ethnicity Analysis ETHN
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among those arrested, prosecuted, i
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Azerbaidzhan are not that rare in R
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Russians were literally segregated
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As an American you stand out… eve
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Azerbaijani, Georgians, Tajiki, etc
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usage; and 2) the confusion non-nat
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hypothesize that Russians use it pr
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purpose of the training of the inha
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The incident described by the parti
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incidents of ethnic intolerance hap
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and cultural background influence h
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She believed that Russians and Amer
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Rita expressed an opinion that Russ
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same way: familial and hospitable.
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I had Russian people telling me thi
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viewed her as “chernaya” [black
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eflecting on physical appearance an
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The results of the study reveal tha
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Another unexpected finding of the r
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going abroad is gradually increasin
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their trip goals more realistic; an
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5. Were you ever denied access to c
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Carlson, J., et al. Study Abroad: T
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Johnson, Ericka. Dreaming of a Mail
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Olson, David H., and Mikhail S. Mat
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Vondrova, Kristine. "The Value of S
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