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Category Stories: Racial and Ethnic Identity

  • For the Student Activist Abroad

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    For the Student Activist Abroad

    By January of my sophomore year, I was feeling emotionally and physically drained. It was almost as if all of the energy I had mustered over a lifetime had been sucked out of me by my academic and social situations, as well as the political climate. I had been working over twenty hours a week,…

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  • What is it Like Studying Abroad While Studying Abroad?

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    What is it Like Studying Abroad While Studying Abroad?

    Exploring Racial and Ethnic Identity as an International Student Studying Abroad Studying abroad can be a very exciting, yet daunting experience. I’ve always had wanderlust and thus knew I had to study abroad. As a British international student pursuing an undergraduate degree for the last three years in the United States, I knew that was…

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  • Heritage Speakers in the Land of Porteños

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    Heritage Speakers in the Land of Porteños

    While many IFSA-Butler students in Buenos Aires learned Spanish in schools, a good number have been speaking it as a heritage or native language. I wanted to find out what it’s like as a native or heritage Spanish speaker on IFSA-Butler’s Argentine Universities Program, so I talked to my classmates about their experiences. The following are excerpts…

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  • From Foreign to Local: A Story of a Young Immigrant

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    From Foreign to Local: A Story of a Young Immigrant

    I met Jeannie at the University College London international students orientation. I was sitting on a bench in the UCL main building waiting for the twelve o’clock campus tour. Jeannie came up to me and asked if I was also going on the campus tour. I replied with an affirmative answer and we introduced ourselves.…

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  • Heritage & Privilege: Multi-Racial Identity Abroad

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    Heritage & Privilege: Multi-Racial Identity Abroad

    When you think about Native Americans, what do you think about? Do you imagine an “Indians and cowboys” scene from the 1800s that involves a lot of shouting and gunfire? Maybe you think of broken English and peace pipes in a smoke filled tipi? Whatever comes to mind, it probably isn’t a modern people that…

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  • Being Caribbean in Cuba

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    Being Caribbean in Cuba

    As an Asian American woman, I spend a lot of time thinking about race, racial perception, and ethnicity, and how each of those words means something different in the United States and in Cuba. Here, racial and ethnic identities have a much stronger impact on day-to-day interactions between both strangers and close friends here than…

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  • How a Hispanic American Made it to Ireland

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    How a Hispanic American Made it to Ireland

    A Diverse Background As I reflect on my journey, I must begin with my family. I come from a diverse background, with my father born in Mexico and my mother born in Ecuador. Both of my parents immigrated to America at an early age and therefore never attended college. When my parents had my brothers…

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  • A Colonized Body in the Colonial Empire

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    A Colonized Body in the Colonial Empire

    Every time I attend my British History course titled Remembering Slavery, I feel a complex array of emotions. As I listen to discussions on Britain’s role in Atlantic slavery and the way it is remembered, I cannot help but feel the weight of my status as a colonized body in the colonial empire. Although I left Jamaica at…

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  • My Journey Home: The Struggles of a Transatlantic Adoptee – A Digital Story

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    My Journey Home: The Struggles of a Transatlantic Adoptee – A Digital Story

    This visit home, to both China and Hunan, enlightened me to who I really am and gave me appreciation for what I’m blessed with. Having been adopted from China by American parents, Caitlin always felt out of place in her family and community. So when she decided to study abroad in Shanghai, she knew she…

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  • Studying Abroad as a Woman of Color

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    Studying Abroad as a Woman of Color

    If you’re a student of color who is interested in going abroad, it can be both exciting and challenging. You learn to navigate a new environment with an entirely different history and because of that, an entirely different political climate. That results in different attitudes about issues of race and ethnicity. I identify as a…

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