Internationalism, National Identities, and Study Abroad : France and the United States, 1890-1970

This book--the first long-term study of educational travel between France and the United States--suggests that, by studying abroad, ordinary people are constructively involved in international relations. Author Whitney Walton analyzes study abroad from the perspectives of the students, schools, governments, and NGOs involved and charts its changing purpose and meaning throughout the twentieth century. She shows how students' preconceptions of themselves, their culture, and the other nationality--particularly differences in gender roles--shaped their experiences and were transformed during their time abroad. This book presents Franco-American relations in the twentieth century as a complex mixture of mutual fascination, apprehension, and appreciation--an alternative narrative to the common framework of Americanization and anti-Americanism. It offers a new definition of internationalism as a process of questioning stereotypes, reassessing national identities, and acquiring a tolerance for and appreciation of difference. The American quest for knowledge and the French quest for Americans, 1870-1919 Making internationalists? : the Albert Kahn around-the-world scholars' reports on France and the United States, 1898-1930 Internationalism and the junior year abroad : American students in France in the 1920s and 1930s American girls and French jeunes filles : negotiating national identities in interwar France Warm relations in a Cold War atmosphere : resurgence and expansion of study abroad following World War II American national identity and French student life : politicization and educational reform in the 1960s Sexuality, gender, and national identities in twentieth-century Franco-American exchanges. This long-term study of educational travel between France and the United States suggests that, by studying abroad, ordinary people are constructively involved in international relations. It analyzes study abroad from the perspectives of the students, schools, governments, and non-governmental organizations involved, and charts its changing purpose and meaning throughout the twentieth century. The book shows how students' preconceptions of themselves, their culture, and the other nationality - particularly differences in gender roles - shaped their experiences and were transformed during their time abroad This book-the first to study educational travel between France and the United States throughout the twentieth century-asserts that study abroad is a valuable form of international relations based on the transformations that students' perceptions of themselves, their culture, and their host country undergo during their time abroad.