This paper is based on primary fieldwork conducted in Lugufu refugee camp in the rural Kigoma Region of western Tanzania. It is an anthropological inquiry into the paradox of refugee food aid based on the prevailing dynamic of domination and submission currently advanced by the international aid community. This inquiry asks fundamental questions…

More than one billion people do not have access to an adequate water supply. In Gambia and Haiti, people live on less than 4 liters of water per day. By contrast, most toilets in the West use several times that amount of water for a single flush. The global distribution of water is making it increasingly difficult for poor people to access it, and…

The East Gobi Basin (EGB), which covers over 1.5 million square kilometers in southeastern Mongolia, is one of several basins in eastern China and Mongolia that was formed by extension and intracontinental rifting during the late Mesozoic. For reasons that are poorly understood, the continental lithosphere covering areas that are now known as…

Study abroad provides many opportunities for students. My own college's goals for international programs state that "students are expected to gain new perspectives on their fields of study, develop intercultural competencies and communication skills, learn others' perspectives, and reflect on their own assumptions and values while abroad" (Beloit…

This project seeks to determine the effect of the mass media on political attitudes and behaviors in Chile between the years 1970 and 2000. The relationship between the media and "political socialization" is just now gaining recognition in scholarly research, and Chile offers an excellent case study. This paper traces these two variables during…

In Sweden, governmental decision-making is based on a social-democratic ideology and a system of representative democracy. In citizens' meetings, the democratic values and norms, that are both a requirement and goal, at are formed. This concept of democracy, and the value system behind it, permeates Swedish culture, and its institutions and…

Coming upon Devon McKenna's entry one might ask two questions. First, why send undergraduates, specifically potential early childhood professionals, abroad? Second, why send them to Sweden? To both, the answer drawn from a comprehensive worldwide review of early childhood program provision provides an elegant recognition: "It is said that the…

The last twenty years have witnessed the explosion of a worldwide epidemic. AIDS is a syndrome that crosses national borders and renders obsolete the distinctions between the public and private spheres. Researchers and historians who try to understand the social nuances of AIDS often classify it as a cultural illness that underlines national…

The UK has the highest rate of cannabis use among young people worldwide. Dr. Alan Leshner, Director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse reports, "Every year more than 100,000 people, most of them adolescents, seek treatment for their inability to control their marijuana use." According to the Scottish Drug Misuse Statistics in Scotland 2002,…

In this paper, the authors report the results of a study that compared differences in the linguistic gains made by native English-speaking students from the United States who were studying Spanish in one of two different contexts of learning. One was a regular university classroom situation in Colorado; the other was a study abroad program in…

In this paper, the authors explore a methodology for assessing learners' meta-pragmatic awareness of variation in French language use. "Meta-pragmatic awareness" is defined as knowledge of the social meaning of variable second language forms and awareness of the ways in which these forms mark different aspects of social contexts, and is therefore…

In this article, the author discusses the necessity of challenging the widely-held belief that students inevitably make second language progress through studying abroad. Through administering a series of pre- and post-tests, quantitative and qualitative, to students enrolled in three different programs of varying lengths in Spain, the author…

Higher education in general and study abroad programming in particular are hardly strangers to stringent demands for accountability. What is new to higher education and to study abroad is the demand for accountability in terms of measurable student learning outcomes. This article is a first report from a system-wide initiative to document learning…

Michigan State University (MSU) is strongly committed to the idea that study abroad is deeply beneficial and important for undergraduate students. However there is a relative scarcity of systematically gathered qualitative and quantitative information that assesses the impact of study abroad. In the summer of 2000, MSU implemented a broad plan to…

In this article, the authors describe the Georgetown University Consortium Project (GCP), a three-year assessment study designed to document the learning abroad of students from Georgetown University, The University of Minnesota, Rice University, and Dickinson College. Funded by two Department of Education Title VI grants, this ongoing three-year…